Dragon’s Code: Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern

This underdeveloped first novel from the daughter of the late Anne McCaffrey disappointingly drags out the latter’s legacy with a halfhearted return to one of the first stories set on the world of Pern, where humans and dragons form telepathic bonds. The near-nonexistent story gets away from the teenage main character, Piemur, forcing him to be passive and reactive as important events from the original series swirl about him, almost as if the author is afraid to do more than peer at established canon; she neither develops it in a new direction nor tells new stories in the classic setting. The clunky dialogue, heavy exposition, and generally novice writing make the lack of substantive plot uncomfortably apparent, and the lazy characterizations mostly involve noble dragonriders looking beautiful and graceful while antagonists are ugly and uncouth. (One character’s only notable feature is a speech impediment, which is put on display in a cartoonish, discomfiting way.) Sadly, this volume comes across as an attempt to trade on the McCaffrey name rather than an effort to nurture and extend the much-beloved franchise. Agent: Diana Tyler, MBA Literary. (Oct.)