Dragonheart-Todd McCaffrey

Dragonheart
Todd McCaffrey
Del Rey, Nov 2008, $27.00
ISBN: 9780345491145

On the planet Pern, Fort Hold Lord Holder Bemin and his daughter Fiona sit in the audience observing the young candidates trying to impress the newborn dragons. However everyone is stunned when Talenth leaves the staging area to enter the audience as that has never occurred before. The dragon chooses Fiona as his future rider in the fight against thread which periodically falls, destroying organic matter.

However, due to a Plague, the dragon-rider teams are way below the battle strength numbers needed to win. Thread is coming soon while the pandemic infection is killing the dragons. At Fort Weyr a mysterious weyrwoman convinces Fiona to take the injured into the past so they can heal and spend years training before returning to the present to fight thread. Heeding the advice, Fiona takes them back one decade to Iser Weyr so they can heal and train under the tutelage of experience dragon riders with the goal to come home to fight thread.

Continuing the tradition of his mother, the great Anne McCaffrey, Todd McCaffrey provides an exciting Pern thriller (his second – see DRAGONSBLOOD) starring a feisty female who will remind the audience of Lessa (see DRAGONFLIGHT). However the enjoyment is in watching how a weyr functions; especially insightful is the class distinctions between Traders and Riders, etc. Talenth like all fledgling dragons owns the book as he innocently charms his rider and readers. DRAGONHEART is an entertaining Pern fantasy.

Harriet Klausner