Anne McCaffrey (and it seems her son Todd as well) has the knack of keeping those pages turning far into the night. What is their secret? A magic combination of world building taken to its limits, characters the reader cares about, those charismatic dragons and some good stories that deal with real situations. Young Pellar comes to terms with his inability to talk, Cristov has to deal with his shady background, Halla is homeless and tries to keep out of trouble and more. It is difficult not to become involved in this type of story, and though other writers have mined these books for inspiration there is nothing quite like the original. Writing a book a few years back where Thread was defeated was a mistake, as now the books are set far in the past, this one almost five hundred years after the Landing. Maybe one day the McCaffreys will come up with a story dealing with a Threadless Pern, but until then it is so enjoyable to read about those dragons and their riders that I don’t care if the day never comes... highly recommended.