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Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Dragonsdawn (Pern: Dragonriders of Pern, #6) in Books

Nov 12, 2019

The first of the Pern novels that fills in the backstory of the main sequence of books, this tells the tale of the first few years of the colonisation of Pern from a delegation from Earth. They find a lush paradise full of interesting plants and animals and spread out across the warm southern continent. And then the Thread starts to fall...

Teased by the end of The White Dragon, this is a full-blown science fiction novel. The various plot points don't just cover the details of the human habitation and the devastating impact of Thread on an unprepared populace, but also provides dramatic tension in the greed of a small number of the colonists in trying to secure what riches there are on the planet.

This is a more-or-less essential read for anyone who enjoys the Pern novels, so much of the way the later society works, and the dragons themselves, are explained. It is not perfect, however. It is a pretty much by-the-numbers story, with a lot of the outcomes already known and some of the sub plots are superfluous and slow some parts down too much. Also the need to namecheck every Weyr and reference from the original novels is a little tiresome - and unnecessary.

Still, a solid entry on the impressive list of novels that does deliver what it promises.

Kudos

Dillon Jacoby-Rankin (202 KP) rated Dragon's Gold in Tabletop Games

Jan 18, 2020

Dragon's Gold

2015 | Fantasy, Medieval, Mythology

6.3

(3 Ratings)

Tabletop Game Rating

Great Components (4 more)

Easy to learn to play

Quick Turns

Fast Decision Making

Card Placement Strategy

Shields could be bigger (1 more)

Hard to tell difference between silver and gold in certain lighting

Fast Paced Fun

Players: 2-4

Components: The gems are very good quality of either some sort of plastic or acrylic. They are colored very well except for the silver and gold which can be hard to tell apart depending on how the light hits them. There are limited amounts of each color for different reasons. The cards are nice and the artwork is decent enough but nothing I found to be out of the ordinary that struck me as amazing. The real focus isn't on the cards anyway but the gems.
Easy to Learn: Rules are quite simple. Players will lay down cards until a dragon is defeated. (The strength of the cards is more than the dragon's) then all players involved have a minute to split the loot or no one gets anything. Certain objectives depending on the game being played will make for end game scoring strategies. The mage and thief cards allow for extra bonuses especially when played together.
Quick Turns: Splitting loot only takes a minute keeping the game moving along fairly quickly.
Shields: I feel like the Shields could have been a little taller or something.