Book Review: Dragon's Time by Todd McCaffrey

Dragon's Time
Author: Todd McCaffrey
Series: Pern: The Dragonriders of Pern
Publication: Del Rey; 1 edition (June 28, 2011)

Description: Even though Lorana cured the plague that was killing the dragons of Pern, sacrificing her queen dragon in the process, the devastating disease has left too few dragons alive to fight the fall of deadly Thread. As morale at Telgar Weyr plunges in the wake of the widespread loss, and Weyrwoman Fiona and the harper Kindan struggle to keep hope from vanishing, a pregnant Lorana decides she must take drastic steps. Nothing short of manipulating time itself will undo the damage done by the plague. But attempting time travel could have devastating consequences—altering history, and destiny, forever. Now, somehow, Lorana must find a way to accomplish what seems impossible: bending the natural laws of the universe without wreaking havoc on existence itself. To ensure the future of Pern, she’s willing to take the fateful chance—even if it demands yet another, far greater, sacrifice.

My Thoughts: This wasn't my favorite of the Pern books - too much time travel for me. It is closely linked to the others that I have been reading lately in my quest to finally finish reading this whole series which I began reading in 1968.

The plague killing the dragons has been cured but it has left too few dragons to fight Thread which will be falling for many years. Our main characters are all busy trying to find solutions to the problem which is requiring that they have their dragons travel back into time. One character - Lorana - travels to multiple times. I got confused about where she had been and when.

I do like the characters in the story. It was nice to reconnect with Fiona, Lorana, Kindan, and other favorites. There were a number of new characters introduced too. Tenniz was an especially interesting one because of his gift of visions. I couldn't imagine seeing my own death and was enthralled by his reaction to the vision. I also liked F'jian who promised his love that he would never leave her and kept his promise in a very interesting way.

Given that this group of books takes place in an earlier time period than other novels in the series, I shouldn't have felt the tension I did wondering if they were going to survive. It is a credit to the author that I was still worried.

Fans of stories with lots of time travel will enjoy this one more than I did but I am glad I read the story.

Favorite Quote:

"It is strange," Tenniz began again, in a softer, less emotional tone, "how those who expect to see tomorrow have so little appreciation for it."

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.