Dragonseye (Cassette Edition)
by Anne McCaffrey
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Book Summary Information
Author: Anne McCaffreyReader: Dick Hill
Edition: Audio Cassette
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1997-03-01
ISBN: 156100734X
Publisher: Bookcassette
Book Reviews of Dragonseye (Cassette Edition)
Book Review: The return of the Thread
Summary: 5 Stars
It has been over two hundred and fifty years since the first humans arrived on Pern. The original colonists had been, for the most part at least, dedicated to the idea of establishing a human society that was not dependent on technology, that would go back to a simpler way of life than the war torn world they had left behind. What they had not realized until it was too late to turn back or call for outside help was that their new, idyllic world had it's own problems. Every two hundred years an errant planet brought an invading lifeform to Pern. This lifeform, which the colonists named Thread, devoured organic matter in a matter of seconds. The colonists had been able to survive by relying on their technology but knew that they would not be able to maintain or replace their machines and so had genetically engineered dragons to help fight the invading Thread.
As DRAGONSEYE opens it has been two hundred years since Thread had last fallen on Pern, the colonists had prospered, the population had grown, Pernese culture and society had become established and the dragons had increased in both size and number in anticipation of the upcoming Threadfall. Unfortunately there were also problems, much of the remaining technology from the original settlers had either broken down or was in danger of doing so soon. With each passing generation more was lost of both the advanced machinery, materials and the knowledge needed to preserve them. Pern was entering a Dark Age and desperately needed to adapt to these new circumstances even if that meant abandoning the past.
DRAGONSEYE covers various subplots, including a young journeyman painter who sees both the best and worst that Pernese society has to offer. Also we are shown much about the workings of Pernese government, and life inside a Weyr. Overshadowing everything is the steady approach of Pern's own special enemy, the Red Star with it's accompanying fall of Thread.
As always with series books in general those who are fans will anxiously await the next installment to discover what has happened next. The Pern series is no exception to this even though many of the books skip forward many generations resulting in entirely new casts of characters. McCaffrey manages to tread the fine line of making each novel more or less independent of the previous book and so enabling the reader to read them in any order, without endlessly rehashing old material for the benefit of new readers and the boredom of fans. One bit of recycling that does occur though is that certain incidents seem to reappear in different novels, sometimes to the point of making the reader wonder if they hadn't read this particular book before. This may just be a case of a writer repeating herself over the course of a long series or of making the point that those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat it.
Overall though, this is an excellent entry into a wonderful series, one that has this reader on the lookout for the next installment, or an earlier one that has been missed.
Summary of Dragonseye (Cassette Edition)
Thread: deadly silver strands that fall from the sky like rain, devouring every organic thing in their path - animals, plants, and people alike. Who could believe that such a horrible thing could exist? After all, it's been two hundred years since Thread supposedly fell on Pern. No one alive remembers that first onslaught. There's no sign of it anywhere in the world. Only the dragons, originally created to be a weapon against Thread, are still around to remind people that once before their population was decimated, their hopes and dreams and livelihoods almost destroyed forever.For two centuries the dragonriders have been practicing and training, passing down from generation to generation the Threadfighting techniques learned on the fly by their besieged ancestors. And most of the Lord Holders are prepared to protect their people, to provide sanctuary, to assemble groundcrews to search out and destroy any Thread that might be missed by the dragons soaring overhead. All but one.
Even now the ominous signs are appearing: the violent winter storms and volcanic eruptions that are said to herald the approach of the Red Star and its lethal spawn. Impossibly, one stubborn Lord Holder, Chalkin of Bitra, refuses to believe - and that disbelief could spell disaster for all of Pern. So while the dragonriders desperately train to face an enemy they've never fought before, they and the other Lord Holders must find a way to deal with Chalkin and protect Bitra.
When the volcanoes rumble and the powerful storms begin brewing on Pern, it means one thing: Thread. For 257 years Pern has been free of the life-destroying Thread, but now the Red Star has reappeared in the sky and soon the deadly Threadfall will follow. In the holds and weyrs across the land, the genetically-engineered dragons of Pern and their human riders begin feverishly training to combat the Thread, for only dragon fire can destroy the silvery invaders. But, incredibly, one Lord Holder refuses to believe the Thread will fall again, and he may endanger the entire planet.
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