Red Star Rising (US: Dragonseye)

1996

First Fall had come and gone, successfully combated by the early dragon and their riders and Pern entered the two hundred years of freedom from Thread.

Two hundred turns during which the colonists spread throughout the northern continent of Pern along with new Weyrs full of the dragons that had been the saviours of the Colonists.

But not all was good. AVAIS had been buried under tonnes of volcanic ashes decades before, losing access to it's vast store of information. Data that the colonists had managed to rescue had been lost as people died without the means of passing on their accumulated store of knowledge and the computers that still operated reached the end of their useful life, failing more often than working . The youth of Pern were not interested in learning of Earth or the Federated Sentient Planets either; just myths far from the realities they faced on a daily basis.

There were ominous signs in the skies and the land around them as winter storms became more violent and volcanoes spewed forth once more. The long dreaded Second Pass of the Red Star with it's deadly store of Thread was finally on the way.

By and large the people rallied round their leaders with will and enthusiasm but not all were so accommodating - Lord Chalkin of Bitra refused to believe that such a thing could happen but his peers knew his actions imperilled not only the people of Bitra but the whole of Pern!

By hook or by crook he had to go!

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Please note that the title Red Star Rising is supposed to have been Ms McCaffrey's preferred title for the American edition as well. The publishers thought that it would not sell if it did not have the word Dragon in the title.

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