- Dragon's Kin
-
Dragon's Kin 
Youll cover of US editions[a]Author(s) Anne McCaffrey and Todd McCaffrey Cover artist Paul Youll
Les Edwards (UK)Country United States Language English Series Dragonriders of Pern Genre(s) Science fiction novel Publisher Del Rey Books Publication date November 2003 Media type Print (Hardcover & Paperback) Pages 292 (first hardcovers) ISBN ISBN 0-345-46198-3 OCLC Number 53447747 Dewey Decimal 813/.6 22 LC Classification PS3563.A255 D78 2003 Preceded by The Skies of Pern Followed by Dragonsblood Dragon's Kin is a fantasy or science fiction novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey and her son Todd McCaffrey. Published by Del Rey Books in 2003, it is the eighteenth book in the Dragonriders of Pern series and the first with Todd as co-author.[1]
Dragon's Kin may be considered the first of a trilogy by the McCaffreys, preceding Dragon's Fire and Dragon Harper. Primarily the three books feature Kindan as a boy and young man, about 500 years after landing on Pern (500 AL).
Contents
Collaboration
Anne McCaffrey (born 1926) created Pern in the novella Weyr Search (1967) when her second child Todd was eleven. In 2001 and 2002 she published her fifteenth Pern novel and second collection of short stories. Dragon's Kin was their first collaborative work.
Todd later recalled that a Del Rey editor in the 1990s "pitched it to me that someone ought to continue Mum’s legacy when she was no longer able. At the time I had misgivings and no story ideas."[2]
Previously, as Todd Johnson, he had contributed the chapter "Training and Fighting Dragons" to The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern (1989).[3] Mother and son had also discussed Pern and its setting for years, and she had suggested that he "write the military science fiction prequels" to the colonization, but that never progressed far.[4]
As of June 2011, they have co-authored four Pern novels and Todd has done three alone. All are set just before and during the "Third Pass", about 500 years after human settlement on Pern and 2000 years before the "Ninth Pass" events chronicled in most of Anne McCaffrey's Pern books.
Plot summary
The story tells how the people of the fictional planet Pern discover the special abilities of the watch-whers or whers, a distant relative of the dragons. Subsequently, these beasts are used in mines to warn miners of gas pockets and also to locate stranded miners, should there be a cave-in.
The story begins some years before the 3rd Pass in Camp Natalon, a mining camp. There, the reader is introduced to a young boy Kindan, whose father owns a watch-wher called Dask. During a mining cave-in, Kindan loses his entire family as well as Dask, and is adopted by the Master Harper Zist, who begins to train him to be both an entertainer and a spy, something that Harpers do. This is how Kindan learns that the camp is divided into two parties, Natalon's and his uncle, Tarik's.
Meanwhile, the camp is without a watch-wher and minor accidents keep delaying the work. Despite the protests from Tarik and his group, Natalon decides to trade an entire winter's worth of coal for a chance for Kindan to ask a queen watch-wher for an egg. He succeeds and begins the difficult task of raising a nocturnal animal. As no records exist on how to raise or train the watch-wher, Kindan has no clue but is luckily aided by the mysterious Nuella. Together, they train Kisk and, in the process, learn a great deal about this species. This proves to be vital as, towards the end of the novel, Kisk's abilities will save many lives, including that of the camp leader, Natalon.
Notes
- ^ Dragon's Kin publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database lists cover artist Paul Youll for all US editions as of 2011-10-12, two distinct ISBN; same for Les Edwards (UK), two ISBN.
References
- ^ Dragonriders of Pern series listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 2011-10-09.
- ^ Todd McCaffrey, Dragonholder: The Life and Dreams (So Far) of Anne McCaffrey by her son, Ballantine, 1999. Pages 3, 6.
- ^ Jody Lynn Nye with Anne McCaffrey, The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern, Ballantine, 1989. Pages 54-65.
- ^ "Letter from Nathan" (2009-12-26). Todd McCaffrey blog. Retrieved 2011-07-13.
External links
Dragon's Kin publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey The Dragonriders of Pern trilogy The Harper Hall trilogy Other novels Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern · Nerilka's Story · Dragonsdawn · Renegades of Pern · All the Weyrs of Pern · The Dolphins of Pern · Dragonseye · The Masterharper of Pern · The Skies of PernShort Story Collections The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall · A Gift of DragonsOther publications Novels with Todd McCaffrey Novels by Todd McCaffrey Companion books The Atlas of Pern by Karen Wynn Fonstad · People of Pern by Robin Wood and Anne McCaffrey · Dragonlover's Guide to Pern by Jody Lynn Nye and Anne McCaffrey · Jody Lynn Nye · Jody Lynn NyeCharacters 
This article about a 2000s fantasy novel is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
