I have a dozen books that I started reading sitting on my shelf. All books that I really want to read. But this isolation thing (which I am in day 46 of) has made it difficult to finish anything new. So what have I been doing?
Re-reading every Anne McCaffrey book in my possession. It started with my husband and I ordering books from Bookshop and realizing that my favorite Anne McCaffrey book was available. The moment The Skies of Pern was in my holding, I picked it up and didn’t put it down. Tai and F’lessan’s story has always been my favorite of the entire series.
Then, of course, once I finished The Skies of Pern, I had to go back and read Dragonsong and Dragonsinger, pause for a moment to read through the short stories in A Gift of Dragons (which also has a suggested reading order for all of the Dragonriders of Pern series). Then, lacking Dragondrums, I went straight into The White Dragon, which oddly enough, even though I owned it, I had never read.
This all, of course, prompted the sad realization that somehow I no longer have a copy of Dragonflight, and yet I have two copies of Dragonquest. My best assumption is that I got it backward, gave away Dragonflight and am only now realizing that I did this the wrong way around. Which is a bummer because Dragonflight has always been my favorite right after The Skies of Pern.
It also turns out that I have never actually finished all of the Dragonriders of Pern books – so I have more on the way now. Dragondrums for one. That one I have read before, but it was a library book, so returning to Piemur’s adventures was impossible until I got my own copy. All the Weyrs of Pern and The Dolphins of Pern are also en route. And finally – a replacement copy of Dragonflight, because again – it’s my second favorite.
If four paragraphs detailing my trip back to Pern were not tip off enough – Anne McCaffrey’s world of Pern is probably one of my all-time favorites. Her characters are real. Her dragons are amazing. She merges together the worlds of Science Fiction and Fantasy in a way that I’ve never quite seen elsewhere. And the politics of the world are incredibly realistic. These are books that suck you in and don’t let you go. And for someone in the midst of a pandemic that’s having a hard time reading anything new, going back to Pern is as close as I can get to traveling anywhere right now, and it feels like a second home.
The Dragonriders of Pern in their suggested reading order (according to A Gift of Dragons):
- Dragonflight
- Dragonquest
- Dragonsong
- Dragonsinger
- The White Dragon
- Dragondrums
- Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern
- Nerilka’s Story
- Dragonsdawn
- The Renegades of Pern
- All the Weyrs of Pern
- The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall
- The Dolphins of Pern
- Dragonseye (published in the UK as Red Star Rising: The Second Chronicles of Pern)
- The Masterharper of Pern
- The Skies of Pern
The Dragonriders of Pern continuation written by Todd McCaffrey (starred books were co-authored by Anne McCaffrey):
- Dragon’s Kin*
- Dragonsblood
- Dragon’s Fire*
- Dragon Harper*
- Dragonheart
- Dragongirl
- Dragon’s Time*
- Sky Dragons*