Dragonquest

Dragonquest, a science fantasy novel by American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey, serves as the sequel to *Dragonflight* and is the second book in the Dragonriders of Pern series. The story takes place seven years after the events of its predecessor. Ballantine Books first released it in May 1971.

According to McCaffrey’s son Todd, her agent Virginia Kidd and editor Betty Ballantine offered key guidance as she worked on the follow-up to *Dragonflight*. After reading an early draft, the agent advised McCaffrey to “burn it,” which she did. The author then held lengthy meetings with her editor. The manuscript was nearly finished when McCaffrey emigrated to Ireland in September 1970, accompanied by her two younger children, Todd and Georgeanne, one month after divorcing her husband. She completed the novel shortly after settling there.

The plot opens with growing conflict between the Oldtimers—dragonriders who traveled forward in time 400 turns (Pernese years) to bolster the undermanned contemporary riders protecting Pern from the destructive Thread—and the current dragonriders. F’nor, rider of the Brown dragon Canth (a beast rivaling Bronze dragons in size), tries to mediate, but tensions escalate. An Oldtimer named T’reb, disturbed by his green dragon being in heat, stabs F’nor. Sent to the Southern Continent to recover, F’nor falls in love with Brekke and uncovers the malicious actions of Weyrwoman Kylara. He also rediscovers the legendary fire-lizards, from which dragons were bred thousands of turns earlier. F’lar, F’nor’s half-brother, is eventually forced into a duel with T’ron, the Oldtimer leader. The duel ends with the banishment of Oldtimers who refuse F’lar’s leadership and leaves F’lar gravely injured. Brekke’s queen dragon, Wirenth, rises in mating flight but is attacked by Kylara’s queen, Prideth; both dragons die, leaving their riders in near-catatonic states. Only Brekke recovers, largely because she can still hear other dragons besides her own. With the Lords Holder insisting that dragonriders try to eliminate Thread at its source, F’nor attempts to direct himself and Canth to the Red Star. They find the atmosphere unbreathable and fall back to Pern, badly hurt. Brekke’s cry for F’nor not to leave her later inspired a song by Menolly, who discovered that a certain guitar chord sounded remarkably like Brekke’s scream; this is chronicled in *Dragons