Dragon’s Code
by Gigi McCaffrey
★★★★★
Can Piemur prevent a war that pits dragonrider against dragonrider?
What an awesome addition to the world of Pern! Gigi McCaffrey has done her mother proud! Menolly, Piemur, and Jaxom have been my favorite characters in all the Pern books. How wonderful to have a new Pern story starring Piemur with parts for our other favorite characters, although a few, such as Lessa and F’lar, are almost cameos. Dragon’s Code takes up where Piemur’s changing voice left off. He’s now a wandering journeyman mapping the southern continent and spying on the Oldtimers exiled there for Masterharper Robinton.
As usual, although more serious and mature than in the previous books he shares with Menolly, Piemur is in the thick of things. He manages to insert himself where he can hear the plotting of disgruntled Southern dragonriders as they plot a way to get themselves out of a dead-end exile, where their female dragons are too old to fly to mate and they and their dragons are ill from an unknown lung disease. They are depressed, angry, and ready for rebellion, their days of heroically traveling through four hundred years to save Pern a distant regret. They’re ready to do whatever it takes to be in power again, even if it means betraying other dragonriders. It will take all Piemur’s wit to save them, Sebell, and himself from the dangers and enemy plans afoot.
This books stands alone, even though incidents in the story originally occurred in other Pern books and this story explains what was happening behind the scenes that created those incidents, who the perpetrators were, and how everything turned out in the context of Pern as a whole, since the other books were limited by their POV.
If you love dragons, fantasy, or Anne McCaffrey’s Pern, you will love Dragon’s Code. Highly recommended.
I received this book as an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) through NetGalley. My opinions are my own.
Book description
In honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the Dragonriders of Pern series, Gigi does her mother proud, adding to the family tradition of spinning unputdownable tales that recount the adventures of the brave inhabitants of a distant planet who battle the pitiless adversary known as Thread.
The last time Thread attacked Pern, the world was unprepared for the fight—until the Oldtimers appeared. These courageous dragonriders arrived from the past, traveling four hundred years to help their descendants survive. But the collision of past and present took its toll. While most of the displaced rescuers adapted to their new reality, others could not abide the jarring change and found themselves in soul-crushing exile, where unhappiness and resentment seethed.
Piemur, a journeyman harper, also feels displaced, cast adrift by the loss of his spectacular boyhood voice and uncertain of his future. But when the Masterharper of Pern sees promise in the young man and sends him undercover among the exiled Oldtimers, Piemur senses the looming catastrophe that threatens the balance of power between the Weyrs and Holds of Pern.
When the unthinkable happens, Piemur must rise to the challenge to avert disaster and restore honor to the dragons and dragonriders of Pern. Because now, in a world already beset by Thread, another, more insidious danger looms: For the first time in living memory, dragons may be on the verge of fighting dragons.
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