Dragonsong
core novel 1976 Dragonriders of Pern
Record
| First published | 1976 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.26 (59,804 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780689305078 |
Synopsis
Dragonsong is the first book of the Harper Hall trilogy, following Menolly, a girl with musical talent who flees an unhappy home and bonds with fire lizards. Menolly's gift for music and composition is dismissed and actively discouraged by her traditional father, who believes such pursuits are unsuitable for a girl in their isolated seaside hold. After a painful injury and a final clash with her family, Menolly runs away to live alone along the coast, where she discovers and Impresses an entire clutch of the small, telepathic fire lizards that have only recently become known to Pern. Her survival skills and her bond with her unusual companions eventually bring her to the attention of Pern's dragonriders, opening the possibility of a very different future from the one her family tried to force on her.
Where it sits
- Universe: Dragonriders of Pern
- Series: Harper Hall core; position 1 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Anne McCaffrey
Awards (verified)
- Locus Award (SF Novel), 1977: finalist; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 16th.
Notes
- From the series record (Harper Hall): Marketed as YA; set concurrently with the original trilogy's timeframe.
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 Harper Hall: position 1 of 3: next Dragonsinger (1977)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pern_books
- https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/pern_series
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonsong
- https://www.sfadb.com
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