Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey

This marks the beginning my first full reread of the Pern series. This time, I'm reading in the chronological order recommended by the Pern Fandom Wiki. So far, this reread has been interesting. I think I was more fully invested this time, than my last time reading. Sallah, Sean, and Sorka, being the main touchstones. Sean and Sorka, in my honest opinion, just fell into that category of "you know we're going to grow up together and end up married just because" thing... which is fine. I didn't really need this to be a sweeping romance.

Dragonsdawn did exactly what it needed to do, in terms of telling the story of how Pern was first settled. It didn't feel like a check-list, either, which tends to happen with some prequels. Having read it, and a good chunk of the Pern series before, I really feel like this did a good job. Dragonsdawn is also told in such a way that is can definitely serve as the first book of the series proper, as well. There are definitely bits that are kind of Easter Eggs for those reading the series in publication order (or however you're reading it where this isn't the first book), but it's not overburdened by them.

I found the Avril Bitra storyline rather "meh." Her plan just seemed really silly to me. Doable, apparently, according to the story, but very silly. Add Nabol, a name that tends to produce antagonistic characters in the Pern series, and I was just checked out of the whole thing. Greedy humans will greedy human their way to death and that's fine. Honestly, it's interesting that the names Bitra and Nabol long outlasted their namesakes, especially as Bitra, at least, didn't have any descendants.

I found myself incredibly enraged at Ted Tubberman as he stubbornly lobbied for calling for help. He reminded me a lot of certain Right Wing people who just refuse to listen to reason... or even the majority. I vaguely remember some mention of felines being hunted on the Southern Continent later in the series, but I don't know that I was interested enough to really care about where they came from. Good to know, I guess.

I love the dragons. I had honestly been expecting Sean and Sorka to Impress first, so it was surprising when they didn't. I really enjoyed the Dragonriders figuring out how the Dragons worked, mostly on their own. That part of the book kind of flew by in a 1980's-style montage, even if it was satisfying. The ending, despite knowing full well the Dragons would be fully functional, made me cry.

So yeah, Dragonsdawn is a very good prequel and a very good beginning. I've been looking forward to this reread and continue to do so.