The White Dragon : Volume III of The Dragonriders of Pern

Volume III of The Dragonriders of Pern#174;, the influential series by sci-fi/fantasy titan Anne McCaffrey Never in the history of Pern has there been a dragon like Ruth. Mocked by other dragons for his small size and pure white color, Ruth is smart, brave, and loyalqualities that he shares with his rider, the young Lord Jaxom. Unfortunately, Jaxom is also looked down upon by his fellow lords, and by other riders as well. His dreams of joining the dragonriders in defending Pern are dismissed. What else can Jaxom and Ruth do but strike out on their own, pursuing in secret all they are denied? But in doing so, the two friends will find themselves facing a desperate choiceone that will push their bond to the breaking point . . . and threaten the future of Pern itself. NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • FINALIST FOR THE LOCUS AWARD • The third novel in the legendary and magical series featuring dragons, adventure, romance, and heroism, from Hugo and Nebula Award–winning author Anne McCaffrey, “one of my favorite authors of all time” (Brandon Sanderson) “Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels are truly foundational books; it's hard to imagine the modern-day landscape of fantasy and science fiction without them.”—Naomi Novik, author of the Temeraire series When Lessa chose a dragon over her birthright, the hold she was to have inherited passed to Lord Jaxom instead. But Jaxom then muddied generations of Pern tradition by impulsively Impressing Ruth, the small and singularly unique white dragon, as a child. From that moment on, the debate has raged. Is Jaxom now a dragonrider, or a lord holder? All anyone agrees on is that he cannot be both. But perhaps it is all academic anyway, for no one expects Ruth to survive.But Ruth not only survives, he thrives. With Jaxom on the cusp of adulthood, the thing the pair most desire is to fight Thread side-by-side with the larger dragons. Jaxom knows what his dragon is capable of, and now that he is—mostly—grown, he is determined to buck tradition. Fortunately, a teenage rebellion may be the key to both Pern's salvation and winning the woman of his dreams. Don't miss the original trilogy from Anne McCaffrey's beloved Dragonriders of Pern series:DRAGONFLIGHT • DRAGONQUEST • THE WHITE DRAGON On the planet Pern, which was colonised hundreds of years ago by Earth folk looking for a more agrarian lifestyle, "dragons" help humans to fight a deadly Thread that falls from a neighbouring planet as it cycles past once every couple of hundred years. When dragons hatch, each gold (the Queen), bronze, blue or green dragon makes a telepathic connection with a child, and they beome inseparable. Naturally, lads destined to inherit and rule the semi-autonomous Holds cannot be part of this Thread-fighting life, but when young Lord Jaxom sees the struggle the last small egg is having, he can't help himself and runs to its assistance. The poor little runt is white and nobody expects it to live long, so Jaxom is allowed to keep Ruth. Jaxom, a rebellious young aristocrat, and Ruth, his white dragon, fly into another time to retrieve the queen's stolen egg, thereby averting a dragonrider war, and find their planet threatened once again by a Threadfall