Dragonsdawn - Anne McCaffrey

===Who is the author?=== Anne McCaffrey is one of the world's best -loved science/fiction fantasy writers, who has won the Hugo and Nebula Awards, as well as many others. She is probably best known for her' Chronicles of Pern' series, of which this is the eighth full-length novel (it is actually the ninth book, but the one immediately before it - 'Nerilka's Story' - is really more of a long short story!). ===What kind of book is it?=== Interestingly, since all the previous Pern books are distinctly works of fantasy, this particular novel has much more of a pure science fiction feel. This took me by surprise a little when I first started ...  Read the complete review

Colonists from the Federated Sentient Planets set out on a 15 year journey to the planet Pern, to establish a new home in a remote corner of the galaxy. This immediately throws up common themes from the science fiction genre - the main one being that in the future, we will set aside our petty conflicts and colonize our galaxy. A very pretty idea, which I've no doubt we'd all like to believe in after years of being jaded by various wars that have sprung up across Earth. In this 9th novel in the Dragon series by McCaffrey, we get an explanation of how and why colonists set out for Pern and, also, how the fantastic dragons were created. This seems rather ...  Read the complete review