The White Dragon
core novel 1978 Dragonriders of Pern
Record
| First published | 1978 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.20 (51,559 ratings, collected 2026-09-13) |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780345253736 |
Synopsis
The White Dragon is the third book of the original Pern trilogy, following young dragonrider Jaxom and his unusual white dragon Ruth as they help resolve threats to Pern. Ruth hatched undersized and off-color, and many on Pern initially believed he would not survive or properly bond, leaving Jaxom, heir to Ruatha Hold, in an unusual position: a Lord Holder's son who is also a dragonrider, a combination without real precedent in Pernese society. As Jaxom grows older, he chafes against the restrictions placed on him by both his Hold duties and his dragonriding responsibilities, wanting to be trusted with real work rather than kept safely on the sidelines. When Ruth's unusual abilities turn out to be more useful, and more unusual, than anyone expected, Jaxom finds himself drawn into efforts to solve long-standing mysteries about Pern's past and the nature of Thread itself.
Where it sits
- Universe: Dragonriders of Pern
- Series: The Dragonriders of Pern (original trilogy) core; position 3 of 3 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Anne McCaffrey
Awards (verified)
- Gandalf Award (Best Book-Length Fantasy), 1979: won
- Ditmar Award (Best International Fiction), 1979: won
- Locus Award (SF Novel), 1979: finalist; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 3rd.
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 1979: nominated
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 3 of 3: previous Dragonquest (1971)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pern_books
- https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/pern_series
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Dragon
- https://www.thehugoawards.org
- https://sf-encyclopedia.com
- https://www.sfadb.com
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