Dragonflight (novel)
OCLC 2485369 | | |
Followed by | Dragonquest |
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Dragonflight is a science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It is the first book in the Dragonriders of Pern series. First published by Ballantine Books in July 1968, it was a fix-up of two novellas which between them had made McCaffrey the first woman writer to win a Hugo and a Nebula Award.[1]
In 1987, Locus ranked Dragonflight at number nine among the 33 "All-Time Best Fantasy Novels", based on a poll of subscribers.[2]
Origins
Two components of Dragonflight were award-winning novellas published by Analog science fiction magazine. The first segment, "Weyr Search", illustrated by John Schoenherr, had been the cover story for the October 1967 issue.[3] The second segment, "Dragonrider", appeared in two parts, beginning in December 1967, and was also a cover story illustrated by Schoenherr.[4]
"Weyr Search" features a young woman named Lessa being recruited to establish a telepathic bond with a queen dragon at its hatching, thus becoming a dragonrider, and the leader of a Weyr community on the fictional planet
Plot introduction
Dragonflight takes place in the far future on
Dragons are telepathic and are capable of forming a lifelong bond with one particular human in a process called Impression. Tradition, established thousands of years before the narrative, dictates that selected young humans with empathetic and telepathic talents are taken to the Hatching Grounds as candidates for Impression. The dragons come in several colors which generally correlate with their sizes; blue males, green females, brown males, bronze males, and golden females – queens. Bronzes, the largest males, are by tradition the only ones who compete to win the queens in their mating flights. The green females are banned from breeding as they produce only small, less talented dragons. The golden queens are not only the largest dragons, they also hold a subtle control over their dragon communities Weyrs. The Queen sets out on a Mating Flight, pursued by several bronze males; the one who wins and mates with her assumes a leading position among the dragons, and his rider automatically becomes the leader of the human dragon riders. The passion of the male dragon and queen mating up in the air can telepathically transfer itself to their male and female human partners, inducing them to a passionate human lovemaking (at least, that is how it happens in the case described in the book).
Plot summary
Dragonflight is the story of
One Weyr by itself is not enough to defend the planet; there had been six, but the other five Weyrs are now empty, deserted since the last Pass centuries before. In a desperate attempt to increase their numbers, a new queen, Prideth, and her rider, Kylara, are sent back between times (a recently rediscovered skill) ten turns, to allow Prideth time to mature and reproduce. Lessa travels four hundred turns into the past to bring the five 'missing' Weyrs forward to her present. This is a huge strain for both her and Ramoth. She convinces the dragonriders of the five Weyrs to go with her to their future, and they use the Red Star as a guide to make smaller, less strenuous hops forward in time. This not only provides much needed skilled reinforcements in the battle against Thread, but explains how and why the five Weyrs were abandoned: they came forward in time.
Awards
Dragonflight includes the novellas "Weyr Search", which won the 1968
In 1999, the
References
- ^ a b Publishers Weekly review of Robin Roberts, Anne McCaffrey: A life with dragons (2007). Quoted by Amazon.com. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
- ^ "The Locus Index to SF Awards: 1987 Locus All-time Poll". Locus. Archived from the original on 13 January 2004. Retrieved 12 October 2011. Originally published in the monthly Locus, August 1987.
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• See also "1987 Locus Poll Award". ISFDB. Retrieved 2012-04-12. - ^ "Weyr Search", ISFDB.
- ^ "Dragonrider", ISFDB.
- ^ Dragonholder 1999, p. 49.
- ^ "Hugo Nominees List". The Locus Index to SF Awards. Locus. 2010. Archived from the original on 20 September 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
- ^ "Nebula Nominees List". The Locus Index to SF Awards. Locus. 2010. Archived from the original on 24 April 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
- ^ "1999 Margaret A. Edwards Award Winners". Young Adult Library Services Association. American Library Association. Retrieved 14 November 2011.[permanent dead link]
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-345-42217-0.
- Dragonflight title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2011-11-05.
- "Weyr Search". Analog October 1967 publication contents at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
- "Dragonrider" part 1. Analog December 1967 publication contents at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
- "Dragonrider" part 2. Analog January 1968 publication contents at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2011-10-25.
External links
- "Weyr Search" title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- "Dragonrider" title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Dragonflight title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database