The Dragonriders of Pern - Publication Order
Enter the pseudo-medieval world of Pern, where dragons & their bonded riders live & work together to protect all from the destructive entity, Thread.
Publication order is arguably the best way for new readers to approach this series, and is the author's preference.
I've included Todd & Gigi McCaffrey's books.
See pinned comment for notes on order. Note esp that there are 3 multi-author compendiums in the list, to indicate the short stories within.
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created by KittenInACave
last updated August, 2026
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Please note:
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I have another list for the chronological order.
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I placed The White Dragon and The Smallest Dragonboy after the Harper Hall trilogy, though technically published between the trilogy books, to keep the trilogy together.
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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!
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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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Good to know! I have Gift already, but couldnât find Smallest Dragonboy. đ. I guess I wasted $14 buying anthologies today though, since I had Gift all along. Ah well, itâs â double points dayâ.
Oh nooooooo đ Phew for double points to soothe the soul, at least, lol! (Any way to get a refund??)
Itâs okay. Theyâre anthologies, so thereâs other stuff, and I used points, so it wasnât ârealâ money. đ
Oh btw I got the list up for the chronological order today. Not easy to sort, but hopefully makes enough sense to pass, lol đŹ đ€
Are we reading chronological or publication?
Either is fine. What d'ya fancy?
Chronological every time if I have a choice. đđ
Phew, me too! Memory fuckery like mine doesn't mix all that well with time jumping all over the place đ
Which I realise makes it sound like I chickened out of giving a preference. Which, ofc, I realised when writing this, I did. Because I'm useless like that. đ
đ Donât worry about it.
Giggles
When do you fancy starting our read? I'm wanting to finish Magical Innkeeping today because I keep spending so much time in the forum it's taken me way longer to read it than it would've given how much I'm enjoying it (lol), but otherwise, really, whenever you like! I can merge my other reads around it, and I'll probably just pause the other eyeball read I have going on right now so I don't over tax my wee brain!
I'm also doing another buddy read with my friend off PB, but they read a lot less than me so I'm waiting with 25% to go till they catch up heh.
Also... Have you done one on PB before... Is there a best way to do so that works well? đ€
I havenât. Letâs just go one book at a time, and wait for the other before we start the next? We can start whenever youâre ready.
FYI, Iâm going to Oregon for two weeks in August to visit family, and they let me read almost never, so thatâs going to be a slow spot for me.
I did find out yesterday from someone that you can actually see each other's book journeys, which I didn't know and is AMAZING!! So I guess that could be a way to touch base whilst reading?? đ€
I finished the book that was big taking my attention, so am ready to go whenever, too, so I guess we can just go for it!?
Absolutely no worries... Advantage to always having multiple books on the go anyway! (AKA ADHD brain lol) Heck, I can't promise no slow times myself. Big disability, plus I'm again mid heatwave. Bad combo for Kindle reads over audio! đ (God I hate the rich!)
Let me know when youâre ready to start Dragonsdawn, and Iâm there! (I donât have Survey)
You know, we just have the forum to ourselves here, which makes it very easy lol!
That works out great because I just finished survey - couldn't resist this evening! đ (it is so wee!)
Edit... I just realised though... Does that mean you don't have First Fall? Cos it's the first short story in that - which apparently I missed saying in the pinned post above! đ€Šââïž I knew I'd forget to say something and then just presume I had because I meant to! đ It's edited in now! âĄ
I have Chronicles of Pern: First Fall. Is that what you mean?
That's the one! It has the survey in it.... It's only like... 20 something pages I think, without opening it again as I'm on my way into the shower haha. It's the first short story in that book (it's a collection of stories rather than A Book, actually)
Either way, absolutely happy to start Dragonsdawn, though it'll be tomorrow now :)
Also, ooh, I'm excited!!
Why does it have to be so confusing? Anne was a little sadistic I fear. đ
Okay, I found it. Iâll read Survey tonight, then weâll start Dragonsdawn tomorrow. â„ïž
To be fair, I think we can blame us fans for doing that, because Anne always said she thought publication order was the best way to read it! đ
Yay! This will be so fun! I've never read it WITH anyone before, despite my mum and sister both being huge fans lol!
I just realised we're chatting on the publication order list, and that's why the info wasn't there đ
Shall we start Dragonsdawn then? Iâm game. Maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow morning.
Phew! đ
Oh nooooooo! đ Glad it's at least double points day, but that sucks! (Any chance of a refund??)
