View source for Dragonflight (novel)

{{Short description|1968 novel by Anne McCaffrey}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox book
| name          = Dragonflight
| image         = AnneMcCaffrey Dragonflight.jpg
| caption       = First edition
| author        = [[Anne McCaffrey]]
| cover_artist  = 
| country       = United States
| language      = English
| series        = ''[[Dragonriders of Pern]]''
| genre         = [[Science fiction]]
| publisher     = [[Ballantine Books]]
| pub_date      = July 1968
| media_type    = Print ([[Paperback#Paperback originals|paperback original]]; 1969 [[hardcover]])
| pages         = 309  
| oclc          = 2485369 
| dewey         = 
| congress      = <!-- none in Harvard U online catalog -->
| followed_by   = [[Dragonquest]]
}}

'''''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 [[novella]]s which between them had made McCaffrey the first woman writer to win a [[Hugo Award|Hugo]] and a [[Nebula Award]].<ref name="first"/>

In 1987, ''[[Locus (magazine)|Locus]]'' ranked ''Dragonflight'' at number nine among the 33 "All-Time Best Fantasy Novels", based on a poll of subscribers.<ref name="locus-atp"/>

== Origins ==
Two components of ''Dragonflight'' were award-winning novellas published by ''[[Analog Science Fiction and Fact|Analog]]'' science fiction magazine. The first segment, "Weyr Search", illustrated by [[John Schoenherr]], had been the cover story for the October 1967 issue.{{sfn|"Weyr Search", ISFDB}} The second segment, "Dragonrider", appeared in two parts, beginning in December 1967, and was also a cover story illustrated by Schoenherr.{{sfn|"Dragonrider", ISFDB}}

"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 [[Pern]]. "Dragonrider" features the growth of Lessa's queen dragon, Ramoth, and their training together. ''Analog'' editor [[John W. Campbell]] asked "to see dragons fighting Thread", Pern's menace from space, and he also suggested time travel. In response, McCaffrey wrote a third story titled "Crack Dust, Black Dust", which was not published separately, but provided crucial material for the novel.<!-- Todd McCaffrey's account is confusing about the published stories and unpublished work, perhaps including one story or segment called "Dragonflight". That would make four titles, if not stories, one becoming the overall title. It's plausible to me that the original "Dragonflight" is the climactic short back and forth in time. -->{{sfn|''Dragonholder''|1999|p=49}}

== Plot introduction ==
''Dragonflight'' takes place in the far future on [[Pern]], a planet colonized by humans. The colonists had originally intended to gradually adopt a low-technology agrarian lifestyle, but were forced to move more quickly after they encountered the deadly Thread raining down from the sky. By harnessing and riding the indigenous, flying, fire-breathing dragons (with genetic alterations to make them larger and telepathic), the colonists destroyed the Thread in the skies over Pern, creating pockets of safety over its surface, before it was able to burrow into the land and breed. Humanity finally managed to find equilibrium and began to create a thriving culture, society, and economy, eventually expanding right across Pern's northern continent. However, when this narrative begins, an unusually long interval between Thread attacks has caused the general population to dismiss the threat as myth and gradually withdraw support from the Weyrs where dragons are bred and trained. By the time of this narrative, only one Weyr remains (the other five having mysteriously disappeared at the same time in the last quiet interval), maintaining a precarious existence.

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&nbsp;– 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.

== Plot summary ==
''Dragonflight'' is the story of [[Lessa (Dragonrider)|Lessa]], the sole survivor of the noble ruling family of Ruatha Hold on the northern continent of Pern. When the rest of her family is killed by a cruel usurper, [[Fax (Pern)|Fax]], she survives by disguising herself as a drudge (a menial servant), partly through simply adopting a slovenly appearance, but also by using her hereditary telepathic abilities to make others see her as far older and less attractive than she actually is. Her only friend is a watch-wher, a somewhat telepathic animal related to dragons, that guards the Hold. Lessa psychically influences other Hold workers to do less than their best work, or to become clumsy or inefficient, in order to sabotage Ruatha as part of her strategy to make it economically unproductive, so that Fax will renounce it and she can retake her Hold.

[[Characters in Dragonriders of Pern#F'lar|F'lar]], wingleader at Benden Weyr, and rider of the bronze dragon Mnementh, finds Lessa while searching for candidates to impress a new queen dragon. The current queen has a batch of eggs due to hatch shortly, including a crucial golden egg. After killing Fax in single combat, following the rules of the Pernese [[code duello]], he realises that she manipulated him emotionally to kill Fax and engineered Fax's renouncement. F'lar recognizes that Lessa possesses both unusually strong psychic abilities and great strength of will. He recognizes her potential to be the strongest Weyrwoman in recent history, and the path to his own leadership at Benden Weyr. F'lar convinces a reluctant Lessa to give up her birthright as Lord Holder of Ruatha Hold for the larger domain of the dragonweyr and she agrees to pass the title on to [[Jaxom|Fax's newborn son]] (who later features in ''[[The White Dragon (novel)|The White Dragon]]''). F'lar takes Lessa to Benden Weyr, where she Impresses the queen hatchling Ramoth and becomes the Weyrwoman, the new co-leader of the last active Weyr. On Ramoth's first mating flight, Mnementh catches her, and by Weyr tradition, this makes F'lar the Weyrleader.
 
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 [[Hugo Award for Best Novella]] (voted by members of the annual [[World Science Fiction Convention]])<ref name="hugo-list"/> and "Dragonrider", which won the [[Nebula Award for Best Novella]] (voted annually by the [[Science Fiction Writers of America]]) in 1969.<ref name="nebula-list"/> McCaffrey was the first woman writer to win either award.<ref name="first"/>

In 1999, the [[American Library Association]] cited the two early Pern trilogies (''Dragonriders'' and ''[[The Harper Hall Trilogy|Harper Hall]]''), along with ''[[The Ship Who Sang]]'', when McCaffrey received the annual [[Margaret A. Edwards Award]] for her lifetime contribution in writing for teens.<ref name="ALA-Edwards"/>

== References ==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="first">''Publishers Weekly'' review of Robin Roberts, ''Anne McCaffrey: A life with dragons'' (2007). [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/157806998X Quoted by Amazon.com]. Retrieved 16 July 2011.</ref>

<ref name="locus-atp">{{cite journal |url=http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/LocusAT1987.html |title=The Locus Index to SF Awards: 1987 Locus All-time Poll |journal=Locus |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040113221818/http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/LocusAT1987.html |archive-date=13 January 2004 |access-date=12 October 2011 |postscript=. Originally published in the monthly ''[[Locus (magazine)|Locus]]'', August 1987.}}
<br />• See also [http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ay.cgi?Lc1987 "1987 Locus Poll Award"]. ISFDB. Retrieved 2012-04-12.</ref>

<ref name="hugo-list">{{cite web|url=http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/HugoNomList.html |title=Hugo Nominees List |year=2010 |work=The Locus Index to SF Awards |publisher=[[Locus (magazine)|Locus]] |access-date=20 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110920202744/http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/HugoNomList.html |archive-date=20 September 2011}}</ref>

<ref name="nebula-list">{{cite web |url=http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NebulaNomList.html |title=Nebula Nominees List |year=2010 |work=The Locus Index to SF Awards |publisher=Locus |access-date=20 May 2010 |archive-date=24 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424095142/http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/Db/NebulaNomList.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>

<ref name="ALA-Edwards">{{cite web |title=1999 Margaret A. Edwards Award Winners |url=http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/bookawards/margaretaedwards/maeprevious/1999awardwinner.htm |work=Young Adult Library Services Association |publisher=American Library Association |access-date=14 November 2011}}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>
}}

===Sources===
* {{cite book |last=McCaffrey |first=Todd |author-link=Todd McCaffrey |year=1999 |title=Dragonholder: The Life and Dreams (So Far) of Anne McCaffrey by her son |location=New York |publisher=Ballantine |isbn=978-0-345-42217-0 |ref={{sfnRef|Dragonholder|1999}} |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/dragonholder00mcca}}
* {{isfdb title |5530}}. Retrieved 2011-11-05.
** {{wikicite
    |ref={{sfnRef|"Weyr Search", ISFDB}}
    |reference="Weyr Search". {{isfdb contents|56815|title=Analog|issue=October 1967}}. Retrieved 2011-10-25.<!-- p8-60, cover & interior (3) illus Schoenherr; map p10; 46+ pp text -->
}}
** {{wikicite
    |ref={{sfnRef|"Dragonrider", ISFDB}}
    |reference="Dragonrider" part 1. {{isfdb contents|56786|title=Analog|issue=December 1967}}. Retrieved 2011-10-25.<!-- p8-61, cover & interior illus (3) Schoenherr; 48+ pp text -->
}}
** "Dragonrider" part 2. {{isfdb contents|56793|title=Analog|issue=January 1968}}. Retrieved 2011-10-25.<!-- p112-163, interior illus (3) Schoenherr; 48- pp text -->

== External links ==
* {{isfdb title | 40797 | title="Weyr Search"}}
* {{isfdb title | 41466 | title="Dragonrider"}}
* {{isfdb title | 5530}}

{{Hugo Award Best Novella}}
{{Nebula Award Best Novella 1965-1980}}
{{Pern stories}}

[[Category:1968 American novels]]
[[Category:1968 science fiction novels]]
[[Category:Dragonriders of Pern books]]
[[Category:Hugo Award for Best Novella–winning works]]
[[Category:Novels by Anne McCaffrey]]
[[Category:Nebula Award for Best Novella–winning works]]
[[Category:Ballantine Books books]]
[[Category:Novels about time travel]]