Sat 9 May 2026
ANNE McCAFFREY – Dragonrider. Serialized in Analog SF, December 1967 – January 1969. Novella. Nebula winner. Reprinted in Nebula Award Stories Four, edited by Poul Anderson (Doubleday, hardcover, December 1969; Pocket, paperback, January 1969).
This is the sequel demanded by the story “Weyr Search” that appeared in the October 1967 issue of Analog. Once again there seems to be the feeling of watching an alien culture from the outside, as the deadly Threads begin falling from the Red Star. A synopsis of the previous story would have been useful but is not given. It is only gradually the threads of the earlier tale are woven back into place.
There is only one weyr of dragons and riders remaining to fight the Threads. All of the others have been mysteriously vacated soon after the previous threat was over, 400 Turns before. But Weyrwoman Lessa’s discovery that the dragons can travel between times as well as place makes a solution become clear at once. That the story then falls precisely into place helps the reader relate more to the unfamiliarly named characters and their problems.
Not Analog’s usual fare by a long way.A refreshing change, but I probably won’t be getting this in book form, when it comes along.
Rating: ****½
May 10th, 2026 at 4:46 am
I never cared for her Dragon series and, as a result, never read much of her other work — probably very unfair of me. I met her once — a charming and gracious woman, despite the fact that she was convinced my name was Paul.
May 10th, 2026 at 12:24 pm
After polishing off the earlier story “Weyr Search,” followed quickly by this one, I think it was two and done as far as my reading any more in the series. The abundance of “dragons,” no matter how well established they may have been scientifically (a fact which I do not recall as actually being true) made the stories read more as fantasy than SF, and at the time, I wasn’t interested. My loss, I’m sure.
May 16th, 2026 at 2:40 am
Little could you imagine what this started.