[books] Dragonflight

  Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Loved this book. I discovered this completely by accident while looking for fast reads in sci-fi off amazon. Since it was only 5 bucks, I took a chance and was very pleased at the result.

Dragonflight was first published in 1967. It is set on an earth-like planet that is part of a twin planet system. The basic idea is that when the second planet comes close to Pern, deadly Threads fall on Pern destroying any vegetation that they touch. Pern combats this using indigenous dragons that can teleport. Each dragon has a rider and the man-beast combination is used to destroy the Threads before they cause too much damage.

After reading the description, I will admit that I was not thrilled about the book. It seemed like a stretch; moreover, a story about a battle to save a planet from a recurring natural disaster? Sounds mildly depressing.

The book is anything but: it is very well written; McCaffrey's command over the language is commendable,  the story is extremely engaging, fast paced and mind bending. There is an interesting twist to the tale and I would recommend not reading up about the book on wikipedia a priori.

Strongly recommended if you're in the mood for some quick sci-fi.

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