What is the best book of the Pern series?

Question

I've been looking for a good fantasy genre book to read and I've decided to try the Pern series. Only problem is there are a ton of them!

I don't think they're connected really, so what would you recommend to be the best one to read first, if you don't want to read all of them?

And Why?

Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

I'd go with the first two original books to start, Dragonflight and Dragonquest.  They're both well written with a fully realized world, good action/adventure tales with a romance.  Later she sort of went back in time and wrote stories that took place earlier to explain some references in the books. Some of them worked for me and some didn't.  The freshest take on the world and  society were, for me, those early books.  Some of the same characters appear in those two books, plus in the YA books Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums and the White Dragon.  I'd read those six, in that order.  (Dragondrums came out after White Dragon, but you meet get to know some characters in DD who play roles in WD and it makes more sense that way.)

Most of the rest are standalones, though really all of them are.  If you start with Dragonflight, you don't HAVE to go on and read the others. It's a complete story, but if you get interested then you have more books with the same characters.

happy reading!

Answer 2

There are a couple connected series within the whole Pern series, but generally the books are standalone. However, my favorites are actually the trilogies within the series.

The first series McCaffrey wrote was the trilogy with Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and The White Dragon. These three are all very good and a really nice introduction to the series. I read these first.

McCaffrey also wrote a YA series. This one, the Harper Hall trilogy,  includes Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums. I think this series is my favorite - the main character, Mennolly, is really likable and makes the series great.

My favorite standalone novel by her is The Masterharper of Pern. It ties in a bunch with the Harper Hall trilogy.

I hope this helps!