Shards!

Telepathic Dragons, deadly silver rains, and brave and foreseeing dragonriders. Who could put them together better than the Dragonlady herself? First in Anne McCaffrey’s thrilling series, the "Dragonriders of Pern", Dragonflight begins the story of Lessa and F’lar and how they saved Pern from the ravages of Thread.
"’There is danger...’ she began in a bare whisper, glancing apprehensively eastward." And indeed there was. The Long Interval was at an end, but it had taken with it much knowledge, dragons, and people. Now, not many believed F’lar when he told that the deadly Thread would fall once again. Yet, it did. The dragons seared it mid-air, but too many were injured and unable to fly again. They couldn’t make it through another Fall. Not without help...
If you think you know what dragons are, think again, for the Pernese dragons are a breed apart. This isn’t a tale of princesses and knights in shining armour. Quite the contrary actually. The book is set in the future on a planet (much like Earth) named Pern. But this isn’t an all computerised future either. The inhabitants of Pern have discarded most technology. This also attracted me. The fact that the book tried out something different from many others set in the future.
I fully admire Anne McCaffrey’s writing style. She usually writes in third person, which makes her books all the more gripping as she jumps from mind to mind.
The characters were extremely realistic and believable. Even the main characters had flaws. For example, for all that Lessa saved Pern with her heroism, she has a pretty bad temper. Perhaps this adds to the charm of the book. The plot was quite fast and absorbing. One moment you were flying high in Pern’s skies fighting Thread, the next you were in the council room. There was always something to find out when you turned the page over.
All in all, I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. You’ll see, you’ll be glued to it all day long. I didn’t find it very hard to read. There are, however, many different terms which you might need to look up in the index, but after finishing Dragonflight you’ll probably find that you remember most of them. You might even find yourself using Pernese oaths!
After you have read Dragonflight, you can continue with Dragonquest.