A deadly plague has killed most of the dragons of Pern and without the dragons, there is no defense against the next thread fall.  Trying to save Pern from devastation, a group of dragonriders go back in time led by Xhinna, the first female blue dragonrider, and the first female weyrleader.  They arrive at a deserted island and begin to create a new home where they hope to breed enough new dragons.  There they must fend off the tunnelsnakes that feast on dragon eggs and ferocious Merows that feast on everything.  There are plenty of other obstacles, not the least of which is Xhinna’s struggle to have her authority recognized by the male riders.  And there are babies everywhere.  This is a really fertile bunch.

I didn’t expect this book to be the “old” Pern.  Todd is not Ann. No one is.  Her writing was great, capable of transporting the reader to another world.  He is a competent writer, but his style is different and he doesn’t write with the same color and depth of character.  His books are usually enjoyable, though.  But this book just wasn’t polished . . . there were too many characters popping in and out and I was confused much of the time. There really wasn’t much of a plot. It didn’t add to the lore of Pern, only rehashing the old theme of “timing it” to save the planet.

 NetGalley review    Publication date 6.26.12