The Girl Who Heard Dragons (Pern #8.5)
Anne McCaffrey's dragons are the stuff of which SF/fantasy legends are made. The Girl Who Heard Dragons is a feast for McCaffrey fans and for all readers—a big, satisfying compilation of her fiction. Best of all, it opens with an original short novel of Pern, "The Girl Who Heard Dragons," the story of Aramina, a teenage girl whose special skill does not seem likely to help solve her family's problems. They are "holdless," and must constantly roam the land, trying to hide from bandits. Aramina's mother fears losing her daughter completely to the life of a dragonrider, but McCaffrey has another fate in mind for her young heroine. Romance, humor, colorful description, and affecting characters are Anne McCaffrey's hallmarks and the fifteen stories herein have these virtues in abundance.