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The first book from Anne McCaffrey is Dragonflight. The first in the PERN series. The book revolves around Lessa, a slave in the Ruatha Hold. Fax, the leader (Lord Holder) of Ruatha took the position by murdering the previous Lord Holder. The previous lord Holder was Lessa’s farther, thus the Hold belongs to her as Holds are family run and succession is from said family. However, nobody knows Lessa is the daughter of the former Lord. She also has a secret; she is telepathic. One day a Dragon Rider, named Flax, arrives at the Hold to find a new Dragon Rider. Lessa is eventually convinced by Flar to leave Ruatha and forget her intended revenge on Fax. Lessa needs to meld with the last egg laid by the Golden Queen Dragon so that she can raise the next Queen Dragon. Flar is especially anxious for this to happen as he believes the dreaded ‘Thread’ and the Red Star are about to return to PERN.

Book Blurb

How can one girls save an entire world? To the nobles who live in Benden Weyr, Lessa is nothing but a ragged kitchen girl. For most of her life she has survived by serving those who betrayed her father and took over his lands. Now the time has come for Lessa to shed her disguise-and take back her stolen birthright.

But everything changes when she meets a Queen dragon. The bond they share will be deep and last forever. It will protect them when, for the first time in centuries, Lessa's world is threatened by Thread, an evil substance that falls like rain and destroys everything it touches. Dragons and their Riders once protected the planet from Thread and the blood-red star, but there are very few of them left these days. Only the gigantic, golden Queen can breed new dragons. And the Queen is fading... dying...

Now brave Lessa must risk her life, and the life of her beloved dragon, to save her beautiful world...