"Worthy entry in the long running series"
When the colonists landed on Pern, they didn't know that
the red star would align with the planet every two hundred
and fifty years. When that event happens, spores from the
red star fall onto Pern destroying anything organic in its
path. To combat this problem, geneticists changed fire
lizards into telepathic dragons that bond with a human;
together they unite to fight spores or thread as it is now
called in 507 years after the initial landing of the
spaceship. In AL 507, Lorana sends her fire lizards away when she
thinks she is dying, but she is saved and brought to
Bendon Weyr where she bonds with a hatchling dragonet
Arith. A plague infects the dragons killing many including
Arith just when thread is coming. Lorana and Lorana's two
fire lizards go back to 42 AL where geneticist Wind
Blossom concludes that the three visitors come from Bendan
Weyr in the future. She devises a plan to help her
descendents battle the deadly dragon killer plague if the
future people can interpret the clues she left behind to
save them. This is the first solo Pern story not written by the
immortal Anne McCaffrey, but her son who obviously
inherited the writing gene as readers will not be able to
tell who wrote the novel without reading the cover. Two
women living centuries apart work to find a cure to save
the dragons and ultimately their world. There is plenty of
action scenes especially when dragons and their human
rider battle thread, but it is the strong
characterizations especially the grieving Lorana who can
communicate with any dragon while reminded of the loss of
her Arith to the plague that make this a worthy entry in
the long running series. Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted December 4, 2004
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted January 25, 2007
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