Dragonflight
core novel 1968 Dragonriders of Pern
Record
| First published | 1968 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.07 (146,070 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780345284266 |
Synopsis
Published in 1968, Dragonflight is the first novel in Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. As the threat of deadly Thread returns to the planet Pern with the approach of the Red Star, bronze rider F'lar seeks a rider for a newly hatched queen dragon to restore the weakened Weyrs to their former strength. Lessa, a young woman who has been living in disguise as a servant after her family's hold was violently seized years earlier, is offered the chance to Impress the golden dragon and step into a position of authority she never expected. As she adjusts to her new life and bond, Lessa and F'lar must work together, and often clash, over how to prepare Pern's scattered and complacent population for the return of an ancient enemy that most no longer believe is real.
Where it sits
- Universe: Dragonriders of Pern
- Series: The Dragonriders of Pern (original trilogy) core; position 1 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Anne McCaffrey
Awards (verified)
- Hugo Award (Best Novella), 1968: won; For the constituent novella 'Weyr Search'; a rare TIE with Philip José Farmer's 'Riders of the Purple Wage'; this tie made McCaffrey the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction.
- Nebula Award (Best Novella), 1968: won; For the constituent novella 'Dragonrider' (SFWA labels this the 1968 award, for 1967-eligible work); this made McCaffrey the first woman to win a Nebula Award.
- Nebula Award (Best Novella), 1968: nominated; For the constituent novella 'Weyr Search', nominated separately from 'Dragonrider' (which won).
- Hugo Award (Best Novella), 1969: nominated; For the constituent novella 'Dragonrider'; lost to Robert Silverberg's 'Nightwings'.
Notes
- From the series record (The Dragonriders of Pern (original trilogy)): Dragonflight is a fixup of two Analog novellas, 'Weyr Search' (Oct 1967) and 'Dragonrider' (Dec 1967/Jan 1968), both individually award-recognized (see Awards).
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within the series The Dragonriders of Pern (original trilogy): position 1 of 3: next Dragonquest (1971)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pern_books
- https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/pern_series
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonflight_(novel)
- https://www.thehugoawards.org
- https://nebulas.sfwa.org
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