Bringing fresh wonders and dangers to light in the skies of\nPern, Anne McCaffrey and her son, Todd, who demonstrated his\nwriting talents in the bestselling novels Dragon’s Kin and\nDragonsblood, return with their second collaboration: a thrilling\nadventure of discovery and fate.

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Pellar is an orphan taken in by Masterharper Zist. Though born\nmute, Pellar is a gifted tracker, and when Zist sets off to take\nover as harper for Natalon’s coal-mining camp, Pellar–along with\nhis fire-lizard, Chitter–joins him on a secret mission of his own:\nto find out if reported thefts of coal are the work of the Shunned,\ncriminals condemned to a life of wandering and hardship.

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Halla is one of the children of the Shunned. Though innocent of\ntheir parents’ crimes, these children have inherited their cruel\npunishment. Lack of food, shelter, and clothes is their lot; hope\nis unknown to them. And what future would they hope for? Without a\nhold to call their own, there will be no protection for them when\nthe lethal Thread inevitably falls again. Life is even tougher for\nHalla. Her family gone, she must fend for herself. Yet despite the\nbrutality of her surroundings, Halla is kind and gentle, devoted to\nthose more helpless than she.

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As depraved as Halla is good, Tenim is in league with Tarik, a\ncrooked miner from Camp Natalon, who helps him steal coal in\nexchange for a cut of the profit. But Tenim soon realizes there is\na lot more to be made from firestone, the volatile mineral that\nenables the dragons of Pern to burn Thread out of the sky. Tenim\ndoesn’t care what he has to do, or whom he has to kill, in order to\ncorner the market.

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Cristov is Tarik’s son. Dishonored by his father’s greed and\ntreachery, the boy must make amends somehow, even if it means\nrisking his life by mining the volatile firestone, which detonates\non contact with the slightest drop of moisture.

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When the last remaining firestone mine explodes in flames, a\ndesperate race begins to find a new deposit of the deadly but\nessential mineral, for without it there can be no defense against\nThread. But Tenim has a murderous plan to turn tragedy to his own\nadvantage, and only Pellar, Halla, and Cristov can stop him–and\nensure that there will be a future for all on the world of the\nDragonriders.

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From the Hardcover edition.

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