A Guide to Reading Anne McCaffrey’s “Dragonriders of Pern” by Threadfall
You can read the events in each Pass without spoilers
Depending on their starting point in the world of Dragonriders of Pern, readers will passionately argue in favor of the series being classified as either fantasy or science fiction. However, when considering the series’s overall arc, Dragonriders of Pern is a blend of science fiction and fantasy.
Since the early eighties, when McCaffrey first started to write outside the Ninth Pass, differing approaches to reading the Dragonriders of Pern series sprung forth. When approaching a series that spans around two thousand years, the best place to start is usually the beginning. Those in favor of reading the series chronologically argue that makes the best sense. Reading chronologically launches the series as Science Fiction — which can surprise readers who start in the pre-industrial Ninth Pass.
But reading the Dragonriders of Pern chronologically does involve spoilers for the later books. Sometimes, too much knowledge is not a good thing.
Others recommend you should approach the series by publication order. Dragonflight is the first novel set on Pern Anne McCaffrey wrote. It’s within the pages of Dragonflight that the world-building begins. Where you first read…
