Dragongirl

By Todd J. McCaffrey
Del Rey, $26.00, 429 pages

Deadly Thread is falling once again on Pern, and as they’ve done for generations, the dragons of Pern rise with their riders to flame it from the sky.  This time they have more than one foe to battle — a devastating plague has been cured but not before decimating the populations of all weyrs.  Hailed as a savior of Pern after her successful trip back in time, Fiona struggles to meet new challenges and the complex relationships that develop around her as she takes her place as the senior weyrwoman of her own weyr.

As a long-time fan of the Dragonriders of Pern series, I was delighted to see that Todd McCaffrey has stayed true to the incredible world originally created by Ann McCaffrey.  Unfortunately, Dragongirl feels slightly overpopulated with various characters that seem to clog the story without really moving the plot forward. I would also recommend reading Dragonheart, the first book in this particular series, before picking up Dragongirl, as McCaffrey offers absolutely no backstory or summarization of the events that lead up to the second book, which makes for a somewhat confusing read if this happens to be the first book you read in the series.

Reviewed by Heather Ortiz