I just love the Pern Series. I feel like I am right there along with the characters.

this is a great book. all i can say is that i hope this is not the end of anne mccaffrey's pern books. i want more on the characters in this book!!!! the book is well written and i never wanted to put it down!!

This book deals with the question of how Dragonriders would continue to play a role in Pernese society once thread is gone and Takes up more or less where All the Weyrs of Pern had left off. The dragonriders had made sure that they staked out a huge chunk of the southern continent for their future needs so that they would not be dependent on holders after the last pass ends. Still, there are hints that things could be dicey for them in the future as Pernses society evolves. Certainly, many dragonrides in earlier books have been capable of greed and meglomania. Could future generations of dragonriders be drawn into the disputes of holders as Pern fills up and industrializes and the threat of thread no longer requires everyone to (mostly) stick together? Will dragons' fertility decline the way they did in long passes and eventually dwindle to nothing? Could future generations of dragonriders fight with holders or even each other for resources once usable land starts to run out? Will Pern begin to experience some of the environmental issues that Earth had once Pern begins to industrialize somewhat (and cut down its tropical rainforests)and its population is no longer constrained by the need for thread protection? Is it possible that Pernese could eventually try to go back to the stars or perhaps become industrialized ebough that they could be rediscovered by spacefaring humans? Could dragonkind be of assistance to space travelers as they were in All the Weyrs of Pern and would greedy and unscrupulous people from elsewhere perhaps want to exploit draconic abilties? Could all this lead to new opportunities? It's occurred to me that any or all of these questions could make excellent future novels that could depart somewhat from the patterns of earlier noves (potential spoiler follows).

But very conveniently, a comet splashes down on Pern. Dragonriders are able to mitigate much of the tragedy thanks to draconic abilities. Now future generations of dragonriders have a uniting purpose that will be as compelling as thread...watching the skies for meteors or comets and using draconic abilites to deflect them. Although the story is suspenseful and well enough plotted, this is a bit too pat for me (comets are few and far between and if dragonriders grew indolent and the holders forgetful during long intervals, then surely the erratic and even longer intervals between comet or meteor srikes would cause interest in these projects to lose steam quickly). I suppose it does not forsestall the possibility of the issues mentioned above still being raised in a future novel.

The most interesting aspect of this book was the development of F'lessan's character at last. Despite being the biological son of Lessa and F'lar (though not raised by them), he was always a minor character in earlier novels (though the subject of one short story). He was likeable but a bit "feckless". In this story he grows up, finds love and suffers (though how even 2 large bioengineered tigers could seriously injure a dragon the size of a L10-11 jet and his rider is a bit of a puzzler). Tai is a nice introduction as she is an interesting character. At last, young women are being allowed to impress the green dragons again (it was never explained fully why homosexual or effeminite men can impress greens (and presumably the blues and browns who often fly them) and are available in such large numbers on Pern but homosexual or emmasculate women never end up with blues or browns, even as an occasional accident). Green dragons, somewhat looked down upon in previous books, turn out to have interesting abilities after all.

Recent McCaffrey dragonrider novels are collaborations with (or written by) her son Todd and focus on the time around the second pass. The skies of Pern had a too-convenient comet and left the dragonriders with a purpose, but it ended kind of abruptly and left enough questions about the future of Pern tha

Thirty years or more have past since the hatching of Ruth, the White Dragon, and the Lost Colony of Pern is experiencing what most hope is the last Threadfall ever. The new problem facing the dragon and their riders is what will they do if there is no more thread. The dragons and their riders have protected Pern for thousands of years but now they need to start thinking of what other skills they have to offer. The innovations from AVAIS are changing traditional ways of life and some are not happy about the changes. They try to sabotage the new inventions. Many of the familiar characters reappear in this novel including Weyrleader F'lar, now in his 60's, and his Weyrwoman Lessa. ). The maim story is about F'lessan, son of F'lar and Lessa, and on Tai, who proves to have been severely psychologically impacted by her dragon's previous mating flights. This is a good read for any fan of the series.

This review contains one slight spoiler

Recent additions to this series have been lacking a certain cohesiveness between the characters, with the stories seeming to be a cross between fictional prose and docudrama. The story was there, but too much of the story was being told in brief narratives that would detail years of events. A great deal to tell, perhaps, but if that's the case, surely All the Weyrs of Pern or the Dolphins of Pern could've been trilogies in their own rights? Or perhaps the two could've been part of a trilogy themselves, with a bridging novel to fill in some of the details. In any event, these novels were entertaining, but I'd begun to fear that Ms. McCaffrey had lost something in her writing.
She very deftly sets my mind at ease with the Skies of Pern. I found myself glad to visit with these characters again, and worrying what would happen next to them. The Holders are all back, and as usual, the author does a deft job of creating conflict between quarelling men and women, each with thier own ideas about the future of the planet. This novel sees the return of some great characters, as well as some new, interesting folks. Although another reviewer hit the mark well when commenting that the villains were rather watered down (remember how evil Fax was? And he was only in the first couple chapters of the first book!) In this book, the villains have motive, but no real humanity (semi-spoiler alert!!!!


...except for one person in particular, who has been well developed over the course of several books.)


The story is overall good, well-paced, and features some juicier action than we've seen in the series in awhile.

In spite of its flaws, this is definitely one of the better novels in the series.