The Dragonriders of Pern - Chronological Order
Enter the pseudo-medieval world of Pern, where dragons & their bonded riders live & work together to protect all from the destructive entity, Thread.
I've enjoyed chrono reads of this series so much, as it lends a different perspective for fans doing re-reads! Worth doing at least once, for sure!
See pinned comment for notes on order. Chronological gets complex, so I summed it up as well as poss! Note esp that there are 3 compendiums in the list, to indicate the short stories.
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created by KittenInACave
last updated August, 2026
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Please note:
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It was honestly not possible to do this perfectly with the limitations of lists here (especially as the few short stories and placeholders I have added may soon be removed as librarians check them), so there's a few vital notes to check before reading! Sorry it's all so complicated!
I'll lay it all out in this comment as best I can. Do note that many of the books also overlap in chronology.
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The P.E.R.N. Survey is the first short story in the compendium The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall. Survey comes first in the series chronologically, then you switch to Dragonsdawn, then it's back to First Fall for the other 3 short stories within!
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Dragonsblood mostly takes place where I've set it in the list (during the third pass, after Dragon Harper), but a small section is actually set during the beginning of the first interval, after First Fall.
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One short story is undateable - it's called Ever the Twain, and as such, I listed it at the very end. It can be found in A Gift of Dragons. You could really read it wherever you like!
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The Smallest Dragonboy and Runner of Pern are short stories that can be found in the book, A Gift of Dragons.
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The anthology book The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern is in the list to point to the story The Impression, found within.
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The anthology book Legends 1 also contains Runner of Pern, and Legends 2 contains the short story Beyond Between.
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Red Star Rising is called Dragonseye in the US.
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It's of course not necessary to read the Todd and Gigi McCaffrey books, but I've added them in for those readers who want to know where they fit! Personally I rather like how Todd's books at least round things out. (I haven't actually finished Gigi's addition to Pern.)
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I have a second list for the publication order.
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Please do let me know if I've missed something or placed something wrongly. It's a sprawling chronicle and this sure taxed my fogged brain! đ
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I applaud your work! I want to explore the world of Pern and did my online research toođ
Iâm SO EXCITED that I get to join you for your first Pern experience. đđ„°đ€©
That is legitimately SO exciting! I'm so happy for both of you!! đ„° đ đ
Thank you! I've read it this way before and unfortunately lost my list of order, and had to research it all over again đ
It's such a fantastic chronology, honestly. There's aspects of it that are dated now ofc, but it was also ahead of its time in so many ways... And the bonds between dragon/fire lizard and their bond mates are just so beautiful. Absolutely timeless mythology, that has really been foundational in fantasy!
Something absolutely my alley. And I have again the call to explore older SF and fantasy.
I think even if you've never read some of the foundational texts, it's really fascinating to read them AS that, and see where the newer fantasy has its roots!
It's honestly even better for the female authors like McCaffrey, who managed to get a foot into the genre way back, given it was relatively rare. (I struggle a LOT to read some of the older male fantasy authors - I mean they're bad enough in the present, but back then? Yeesh!)
Delightful list! Iâm going to be buddy reading Dragonflight with @deirdriu next month which is probably going to kick off a publication-order reread, but I eventually want to do an internal chronological reread as well sometime in the future!
I love finding other people who also appreciate classic SFF written by women! There are always aspects that havenât aged well, but itâs so meaningful to me to go back and see how these women were blazing trails in the 60s/70s/80s that became the roads that other marginalized authors are still using today.
What a fun coincidence... I'm gonna be trying a pern buddy read with @Ameliapei, too! (It'll be my first on PB, actually, haha!)
The chrono reads are so fun, honestly. I love them!
I put up a publication order list the other day, too, in case it helps x
Lol lol I was just replying literally this same thing about female fantasy authors back then, in the comment thread above you! WILD! đ€Ż
I go back and forth between chronological and publication order rereads for long series like this. Chronological is so cool as likeâŠa pseudo history, but it can be so jarring when two books you read back-to-back contradict each other because the author wrote them 20 years apart. đ€Ł Itâs why I always tell people that their first read of any series should be publication order, lol!
You đ€ Me Appreciating the cultural impact of early female genre authors!
Iâm going to try to post a bit in the forums as I go through! Itâll be fun to see how our respective rereads cross paths!
That's where my shoddy memory comes in handy! đ
And I thoroughly agree about a first read. Heck, even Anne herself preferred the publication order. But for long time fans I feel like doing it chrono at least once is really valuable!
Did you read David and Leigh Eddings works? I dread to think how those books might have turned out without her, and I am ever mad her name was left off for decades!!!
Look forward to seeing you in the forums!
And @laurasparkleâșïž I see I was not alone with the thought that we read the whole series through. At one hand, I feel I missed some piece of fiction from my childhood (which is pretty irrational cause I'm not from English speaking country and not much expositon to such classics), but on the other I'm happy to explore it as the established reader.
Oh nice! I missed (or forgot, whoops đŹ) that @laurasparkle is joining us too! This is going to be delightful! (But seriously PB, I am begging for ANY way to more easily organize buddy reads. đ€Ł đ)
And I think the beautiful thing about books, especially older books, is that we never actually have to miss anything. Because dragons can be just as fantastical to those of us that are nearing 40 as they were when we were 14! đ The main difference is that for some older books it might be harder to find other people who still enjoy them because newer releases are always going to dominate the reading culture because theyâre by definition more relevant to modern readersâ experiences and sensibilities than older books.
Oh and also let me know if you run into any questions coming to such an old book from a non-English/non-American background! Itâs been forever since my last reread, but Dragonflight is almost 50 years old so McCaffery probably uses some language that meant one thing back in the 60s and something totally different in 2026!
Let me know when you finish Survey, that was one of the two I couldnât find. Iâm ready with Dragonsdawn! Meet you in the forum. đ
