Not bad, some stories better than others.
So there are five short stories contained in here, though a couple of them are quite long. They range from way before the landing at Pern to a few decades after.
The first is the initial Pern survey and though it is mildly interesting there is not much here for the casual fan.
The second I think was probably taken from the initial draft of Dragonsdawn. This tells the story of the ship evacuation of Landing to the Northern continent that was just referenced in the main book. It’s not bad but I did find myself skim reading it more often than not as you know exactly how it turns out.
The third story is great. It tells the story of the founding of a new holding and is set almost a decade after the end of Dragonsdawn with a lot of familiar characters. We learn it has not all been plain sailing after the founding of the dragon riders and there is a lot of pressure for housing and privacy. I really enjoyed this one.
The fourth is also great and tells the story of the founding of Benden Weyr. Again lots of familiar characters but there is also a new generation of dragon riders who have grown up with the new structure. The Pern from the main novels is more pronounced here and though it deals with a lot of the same themes as the previous it’s still a good read.
The final story deals with the aftermath of the rescue signal that was sent in the Dragonsdawn. Again not so interesting for the casual fan though it does explain why Pern has seemingly been forgotten by humans elsewhere.
A bit of a mixed bag though I think the third and fourth stories are great to round out the previous book.
3 stars
Barry's Bloody Books 