Dragonriders of Pern
#1834.13 in the official ranking · full ranking
Books 20 books Status Complete 1968–2012 Reading commitment High Anne McCaffrey Last reviewed 2026-08-05
Overview
Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern (1968-2012) follows the telepathically-bonded dragonriders of the planet Pern across three generations of authorship, beginning with Dragonflight (1968), in which Lessa, the sole survivor of a destroyed Hold, bonds with a queen dragon and is drawn into the Weyrs' struggle to defend Pern against Thread, a deadly spore that falls periodically from a neighboring wandering planet. This database tracks credited authorship exactly: fifteen solo Anne McCaffrey novels plus five further novels co-credited "Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey" on their original editions, spanning stories set across three widely separated eras of Pernese history. This is the database's first universe with a genuine science-fiction/fantasy boundary question: Pern's dragons are explicitly stated within the books to be genetically engineered from native fire-lizards by Pern's original colonists, yet the series is, per the SF Encyclopedia, "normally experienced as fantasy," the basis on which it is admitted here. Dragonflight was a Hugo and Nebula finalist and helped establish dragon-telepathy as a recurring subgenre convention.
Epic fantasy · For Adult
Core Canon: Reading Order (20 works) counts toward ranking
The Dragonriders of Pern (original trilogy) Anne McCaffrey
| Work | Year | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Dragonflight | 1968 | core | 4.07 (146,070 ratings) |
 | Dragonquest | 1971 | core | 4.10 (54,017 ratings) |
 | The White Dragon | 1978 | core | 4.20 (51,559 ratings) |
Dragonflight is a fixup of two Analog novellas, 'Weyr Search' (Oct 1967) and 'Dragonrider' (Dec 1967/Jan 1968), both individually award-recognized (see Awards).
Harper Hall Anne McCaffrey
| Work | Year | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Dragonsong | 1976 | core | 4.26 (59,804 ratings) |
 | Dragonsinger | 1977 | core | 4.31 (49,490 ratings) |
 | Dragondrums | 1979 | core | 4.11 (38,958 ratings) |
Marketed as YA; set concurrently with the original trilogy's timeframe.
Moreta / Nerilka Anne McCaffrey
| Work | Year | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern | 1983 | core | 4.04 (30,302 ratings) |
 | Nerilka's Story | 1986 | core | 3.87 (18,873 ratings) |
A duology set generations before the original trilogy ('Sixth Pass' era).
Dragonriders of Pern: the Third Pass era Anne McCaffrey, Todd McCaffrey
| Work | Year | Canon | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Dragon's Kin | 2003 | core | 3.99 (11,103 ratings) |
 | Dragon's Fire | 2006 | core | 4.02 (10,379 ratings) |
 | Dragon Harper | 2007 | core | 4.11 (11,212 ratings) |
 | Dragon's Time | 2011 | core | 4.01 (5,608 ratings) |
 | Sky Dragons | 2012 | core | 4.05 (5,281 ratings) |
5 novels co-credited 'Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey' on their original editions, set in the 'Third Pass' prequel era (~500 AL). Sky Dragons (2012) was completed and published after Anne McCaffrey's November 2011 death but retains joint credit as the concluding volume of a collaborative project begun while she was alive.
Dragonsdawn (1988) core · 4.23 (42,143 ratings)
The Renegades of Pern (1989) core · 3.94 (21,609 ratings)
All the Weyrs of Pern (1991) core · 4.24 (27,597 ratings)
The Dolphins of Pern (1994) core · 4.04 (19,640 ratings)
Dragonseye (1996) core · 4.06 (15,203 ratings); UK first edition (Bantam); US edition (as Red Star Rising's reissue title 'Dragonseye') followed January 1997.
The Masterharper of Pern (1998) core · 4.27 (25,858 ratings)
The Skies of Pern (2001) core · 4.13 (16,641 ratings)
Library / Expanded (6 works)
Dragonsblood (2005) ; Credited to Todd McCaffrey alone; 'Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern' is used as a series-branding subtitle, not a co-authorship credit.
Dragonheart (2008) ; Credited to Todd McCaffrey alone; series-branding subtitle only, not co-authorship.
Dragongirl (2010) ; Credited to Todd McCaffrey alone; series-branding subtitle only, not co-authorship.
Dragon's Code: Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern (2018) ; Credited to Gigi McCaffrey (Anne's daughter) alone, 7 years after Anne's death; series-branding subtitle only, not co-authorship.
The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall (1993) ; 5-story collection covering the original colonization era.
A Gift of Dragons (2002) ; 4-novella collection.
Quick answers
- How many books are in Dragonriders of Pern? Dragonriders of Pern's Core Canon is 20 books, plus 6 more in the wider Library/Expanded material.
- What is the reading order for Dragonriders of Pern? Publication order, starting with Dragonflight. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
- Is Dragonriders of Pern finished? Complete (1968–2012).
- How much reading does Dragonriders of Pern take? High reading commitment (estimated from 20 Core Canon books).
- How is Dragonriders of Pern ranked? #183 in this site's official ranking, based on 661,347 reader ratings across 20 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.
Why is it ranked #183?
Ranked #183 in the official ranking.
- Average reader rating of 4.13 across 20 core books.
- Backed by 661k reader ratings.
- Uneven reception: its books range from 3.87 to 4.31.
- Less than 0.01 behind #182, Nightrunner / The Tamír Triad (a finer tie-break level decides the order).
- Below the top-10 average of 4.45.
Why explore this universe?
Highly rated · 20 books · Complete · 661k ratings · Ranks #183 overall
Good choice if you want a long-running epic fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.
Reading order
Publication order (20 Core Canon books)
- Dragonflight (1968)
- Dragonquest (1971)
- Dragonsong (1976)
- Dragonsinger (1977)
- The White Dragon (1978)
- Dragondrums (1979)
- Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern (1983)
- Nerilka's Story (1986)
- Dragonsdawn (1988)
- The Renegades of Pern (1989)
- All the Weyrs of Pern (1991)
- The Dolphins of Pern (1994)
- Dragonseye (1996)
- The Masterharper of Pern (1998)
- The Skies of Pern (2001)
- Dragon's Kin (2003)
- Dragon's Fire (2006)
- Dragon Harper (2007)
- Dragon's Time (2011)
- Sky Dragons (2012)
Internal/in-story chronology is not tracked for this universe. Pern's own in-story timeline is explicitly non-linear (time travel between historical “Passes” features directly in the plot), not merely undocumented, but not resolvable into a single ordinal at all. Publication order is treated as primary.
Awards (verified)
- Hugo Award (Best Novella), 1968: won: Dragonflight; 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: Dragonflight; 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: Dragonflight; For the constituent novella 'Weyr Search', nominated separately from 'Dragonrider' (which won).
- Hugo Award (Best Novella), 1969: nominated: Dragonflight; For the constituent novella 'Dragonrider'; lost to Robert Silverberg's 'Nightwings'.
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 1972: nominated: Dragonquest
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 1979: nominated: The White Dragon
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 1984: nominated: Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 1992: nominated: All the Weyrs of Pern
- Gandalf Award (Best Book-Length Fantasy), 1979: won: The White Dragon
- Ditmar Award (Best International Fiction), 1979: won: The White Dragon
- Locus Award (SF Novel), 1972: finalist: Dragonquest; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 5th.
- Locus Award (SF Novel), 1977: finalist: Dragonsong; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 16th.
- Locus Award (SF Novel), 1978: finalist: Dragonsinger; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 9th.
- Locus Award (SF Novel), 1979: finalist: The White Dragon; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 3rd.
- Locus Award (SF Novel), 1980: finalist: Dragondrums; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 8th.
- Locus Award (SF Novel), 1992: finalist: All the Weyrs of Pern; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 5th.
- Locus Award (SF Novel), 1995: finalist: The Dolphins of Pern; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 10th.
- Locus Award (Collection), 1994: finalist: The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall; Locus reader-poll placement, ranked 10th.
- HOMer Award (SF Novel), 1992: won: All the Weyrs of Pern; Tied win; reader-voted award (CompuServe SF/Fantasy forum).
- Balrog Award, 1980: won: Dragondrums
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Official resources
Research details
Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.13 across 661,347 ratings on 20 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.
How do we know this?
Admission: Dragonriders of Pern admitted; Core Canon by credited authorship; SF/fantasy boundary noted accepted 2026-08-05
Sources: (see source tier definitions)
Last reviewed: 2026-08-06
Rule: Core = 20 novels: 15 solo Anne McCaffrey novels (1968–2001) + 5 novels co-credited 'Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey' (2003–2012). Expanded = 3 Todd-McCaffrey-solo novels, 1 Gigi-McCaffrey-solo novel, and 2 short-fiction collections. The Core/Expanded line is credited authorship, a bright verifiable line independently corroborated by award history: every Hugo/Nebula/Locus placement found sits within the Anne-credited set.