When the first humans came to settle the planet Pern, they did not come alone: intelligence-enhanced dolphins also crossed the stars to colonize Pern's oceans while their human partners settled the vast continents. But then disaster struck.
The deadly silver spores called Thread fell like rain from the sky, and as human colonists' dreams of a new, idyllic life shattered into a desperate struggle for survival, the dolphins were forgotten.

Now, centuries later, as the dragonriders of Pern prepare to complete the momentus task of ridding their world of Thread forever, T'lion, a young bronze rider, and his friend Readis, son of the Lord Holder of Paradise River Hold, make contact with the legendary "shipfish." And as the dragonriders grapple with the end of an era, T'lion, Readis, and the dolphins face the start of a new one: reviving the bond between land- and ocean-dwellers - and resurrecting the dreams of the first colonists of Pern. ( )

Anne McCaffrey is the quintessential writer of fantasy books pertaining to dragons. These books are always wonderful, well written, and perfectly characterized. All of her series are great but the ones that take place on Pern are the best of all. This is one of the Pern novels I most enjoy! I wish she had written more about the dolphins of Pern. ( )

This is a shorter novel, but explores the sea life that came with the first colonists to come to Pern. ( )

Signed copy ( )

Another view of Pern, starting around the middle of "All the Weyrs of Pern" and ending somewhat later. Short and simple compared to some of the other books, but advances the overall Pern plot. Definitely a rehash of the Menolly tale, but poorly motivated, showing the somewhat appealing protagonists of previous books to be real losers. Also, what all the women mostly seem to do, except for Lessa, is be pregnant, which is not really all that women should be doing in a novel like this. I'll keep on reading, though, just one more to go. ( )