Dragonsdawn: Anne McCaffrey

Book IX of The Chronicles Of Pern. Before Thread, before the Dragons, before the Holds, the Weyrs and the elite dragonriders of Pern, there was just the great ship, gliding through space, with three thousand colonists aboard ready to begin a new world on a strange planet. It was a jewel of a planet - rivers and seas, mountains and breathable air and green vegetation - then came the Terror. The strange unidentifiable circles in the grass suddenly revealed their meaning and every living thing was at risk. Many died, a horrible, consuming death. All resources, every man, woman and child had to fight the terrible nightmare of Thread. But a new creature was about the save the planet - from the delicate fire lizards, a new life was born and with it a new symbiosis between man and beast. Cover art by Steve Weston.