Dragonsdawn - Anne McCaffrey

Dragonsdawn is the ninth volume of the Chronicles of Pern series. As the title implies, it deals with the dawn of the series - the early 'history'.

The first volume of the series, Dragonflight, was essentially a work of fantasy - and a fairly slender one at that. There were some interesting ideas, loosely tacked together by an incredulous storyline. Some people, living on a rural planet in the galactic sticks so-to-speak, rode around ...
...was at this point that Dragonsdawn was published as a fill-in-the-gaps volume and, as with many prequels, it is significantly better written and more interesting than its earlier 'sequels'.

The Plot
=========

At some point in our future, Mankind sets out to colonise various parts of the universe. One large group of colonists sets out for Pern, a beautiful planet similar to an early Earth (a few continents, mostly ... more

Dragonsdawn is the ninth volume of the Chronicles of Pern series. As the title implies, it deals with the dawn of the series - the early 'history'.

The first volume of the series, Dragonflight, was essentially a work of fantasy - and a fairly slender one at that. There were some interesting ideas, loosely tacked together by an incredulous storyline. Some people, living on a rural planet in the galactic sticks so-to-speak, rode around on dragons and burned mysterious deadly "threads" in the skies. Unless you're terribly keen on fantasy, you'd probably be completely turned off the entire series based on that first book.

However, as further volumes came along - Dragonquest, Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, The White Dragon, Dragondrums - McCaffrey began to seriously develop the world of Pern and flesh out her stories with more details. More thought was given to characters' behaviour and personalities and the stories became more 'believable'. Finally, with a view to developing the 'background' of Pern, there was a marked swing into science-fiction - Moreta, Nerilka's Story, Renegades of Pern, All the Weyrs of Pern - and the fantasy element was carefully toned down.

In these later volumes, we finally grasped that Pern was a planet settled by humans in the distant future, and that something went badly wrong during the colonisation - forcing the settlers to regress to a more simple way of life, as technology gave way to hand-to-mouth survival. It was at this point that Dragonsdawn was published as a fill-in-the-gaps volume and, as with many prequels, it is significantly better written and more interesting than its earlier 'sequels'.

The Plot
=========

At some point in our future, Mankind sets out to colonise various parts of the universe. One large group of colonists sets out for Pern, a beautiful planet similar to an early Earth (a few continents, mostly water, lush and green). The original survey team did a rather rush job so the colonists have a few gaps in their knowledge and are puzzled by such oddities as circles of dead matter amongst the vegetation and a nearby planet with an erratic orbit.

A few years into the colony, the mysterious circles are horrifying explained as long omnivorous 'Threads' fall from the skies, resulting in the deaths of many colonists and livestock and the destruction of vegetation. The only way to kill the deadly Threads was to employ extreme temperatures - it drowns in water or dies in extreme cold or heat - so the colonists set about flaming the Threads in the skies before they can land.

Unfortunately, the idyllic pastoral colony was intended to be based on low-level agricultural technology and such aircrafts that they possessed were fast worn down through constant use. However, their biologists came up with an ingenious solution - the colonists bio-engineered a native species, fire-lizards (a type of scaly avian) to create the first 'dragons'. Retaining the natural abilities of the fire-lizards - flight, ability to belch fire - but with the added improvement of increased size and telepathy. The colonists would use the dragons to replace their mechanical aircrafts so they could continue their fight for survival by burning the Threads in the skies.

The Book
=========

The book is split into three parts: Landing, Thread and Crossing. The first part deals with the voyage to Pern and the initial colonisation of one of the continents. The second part deals with the arrival of 'Thread' and how the colony attempts to deal with the deadly problem. The third part deals with the evacuation from one continent to another, due to volcanic eruptions and the need to find more suitable building sites, which could be better defended from Thread. It ends on a upward note, looking towards the colony's future hopes and dreams.

The book also includes two maps detailing the main continent and patterns of Threadfall, and a sort of appendix detailing various places, stakeholders (colonists) and areas affected by Threadfall.

The Characters
===============

Unlike the other volumes in the Chronicles of Pern, all the characters mentioned will be unfamiliar to readers. This prequel is set hundreds of years before the other stories.

The main characters are Paul Benden, Sallah Telgar and Sorka and Sean Connell; the first three are all introduced within the first chapter, and the other character, Sean, is introduced in the third chapter. Paul Benden is co-leader of the colony, along with Emily Boll, and, with his years of experience as a navy Admiral, brings strength and organisation to the colony - particularly during its time of crisis. I won't dwell on Sallah Telgar too much so as not to give away a dramatic part of the plot but it is sufficient to say her actions help shape the colony and bring hope and stability to their future. Sorka and Sean Connell are the first 'Dragonriders', and they help monitor and nurture the first dragons - the hopes of the colony.

Although the characters are unfamiliar, the names are not - providing you've read some of the other Pern books. Benden and Telgar are both place names, which readers will recognise from elsewhere in the series. Quite a few of the characters' names have been taken from places - presumably so they can be later 'bequeathed' and thus add a feel of continuity to the series. For example, other characters' names include: James Tillek, Avril Bitra and Ezra Keroon.

Conclusion
===========

At 467 pages, this is a hefty book and it is crammed with detailed descriptions, sub-plots and series tie-ins. The story rattles along at a fair rate and - the mark of a good 'series' book, I think - can easily be read as a 'stand alone' novel.

Obviously, a large part of the appeal will be to readers of the Pern series - especially later readers - but, trying to be objective, I think it would appeal to light sci-fi readers too. The story presents an interesting view of the future and includes several of the 'standard' sci-fi theories e.g. united human government, colonisation of other planets, advanced technology and surgical techniques.

I feel this book goes some way to pushing up the standard of this series; if you read all the volumes, you will notice how certain characters and their behaviour/abilities are retrospectively altered as McCaffrey seems to become embarrassed (and rightly so) by the early Dragonflight story. (For example, readers may notice how Lessa's 'power' of telepathically influencing people in Dragonflight appears to have completely disappeared by All the Weyrs of Pern.)

In fact, let me go so far as to recommend reading this book and perhaps a few others (Moreta, All the Weyrs of Pern, First Fall, Dolphins of Pern, and, Red Star Rising) and then ignoring the rest of the series. At least that way you'll have a fairly enjoyable read and you won't have any disappointing comparisons to make!
 

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