Dragonheart Audiobook By Todd McCaffrey cover art

Dragonheart

Dragonriders of Pern, Book 20

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

Dragonheart

By: Todd McCaffrey
Narrated by: Emily Durante
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $32.89

Buy for $32.89

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel
When young Fiona impresses a queen dragon, she doesn't realize the perils and privileges that come with her new role. The challenges of becoming a Weyrwoman - co-leader of an entire dragon Weyr - can be overwhelming. And then, on top of it all, she faces the possibility of losing her dragon to the sickness that has already claimed so many others. Now Fiona is forced to confront the question: What is she willing to give up in order to truly be a queen rider?Pay another visit to Pern.©2008 Todd McCaffrey (P)2008 Brilliance Audio, Inc. Adventure Dragons & Mythical Creatures Epic Epic Fantasy Fantasy Fiction Science Fiction Time Travel Dragons

Featured Article: 16 of the Best Fantasy Authors Ever


There is no feeling quite like falling in love with a great fantasy listen, doing a little digging, and joyfully discovering that the author has an extensive catalog of audiobooks for you to dive right into. Fantasy as a genre is particularly blessed with a wealth of diverse authors writing all different kinds of stories. From classic epics to standalone novels that were published in the last few years, it's the perfect genre for losing yourself in a full day’s worth of listening. These brilliant fantasy authors will transport you to another world—whether a parallel universe or a post-apocalyptic version of Earth.

Featured Article 16 of the Best Fantasy Authors Ever
Interesting Concept • Detailed Worldbuilding • Pleasant Voice • Strong Female Character • Immersive Setting
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
I have really enjoyed the return to Pern. The stories have been good and Todd has done a great job.

Glad to revisit Pern

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A different way to get the most important thing is that the is a good day

And

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Not my favorite narrator. Good story line.
looking forward to more. Thanks Todd McC love you and your Mom!

Time Traveling Dragons and PERN

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Impressive intermingling of stories! I loved immersing myself in the story! Very hard to stop long enough to sleep.

Excellent addition to the collection

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Todd is following in his mom's literary footsteps.

Loved it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Narration was brilliant but the story was filled with cringy hard to get into dreck.

What did I just read?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Dragonheart is one of a group of the Dragon Riders of Pern series featuring the multitalented harper/healer Kindan and his friends. Though still a young man, Kindan has already had multiple adventures in different parts of Pern and befriended several awesome people who, even while youngsters like himself, have gone on to become important and useful citizens of Pern. One of these is Fiona, the younger daughter of the Fort Holder, who he saved from plague and starvation during the people plague.

Dragonheart is Fiona’s story.

About ten years or so after the people plague has died out, things have begun to return to normal, or as near as it gets on Pern with the arrival of the next episode of Thread imminent. Fiona, as a Lord Holder’s daughter, has the opportunity to visit a hatching at Fort Weyr, the nearest Weyr to the Hold where she has grown up. She is only about thirteen or so, still practically a little kid, and is not among the official candidates to impress a dragon. But the newly hatched gold dragon comes up into the stands to find her, and now Fiona is a dragon rider.

Times are still tough on Pern. In addition to the approach of Thread and the lingering depleted population of the planet, a new plague seems to be starting up. This one affects the dragons. Long before Fiona feels like she knows what she is doing, a large group of dragons becomes ill and decides to take off for Between, the mysterious space through which the dragons fly to travel long distances in a hurry. Only, in this case, they aren’t coming back anywhere on Pern, and worse, they are taking their riders with them. Among these missing riders is Fort’s second Weyrwoman, who has been acting as Fiona’s mentor teaching her the things a Weyrwoman needs to know.

Things go from bad to worse. The first threadfall brings more injuries than expected. Between sick dragons and injured dragons and riders, Fort barely has enough dragons to fly Thread, and not enough to do a good job of eliminating it. There are plenty of young healthy dragons and riders from the same hatching as Fiona and her dragon, but they are barely old enough to fly and have no experience with anything.

So, the leadership of the Weyr decides on a risky plan to attempt to remedy the situation. The young dragons and their riders, along with a small number of more experienced people to train them, will attempt to “time it” – travel back in time to an abandoned Weyr where they can grow up and learn what they need to know.

But the most interesting part is that Fiona, as the only Weyrwoman who can go with them, is in charge of almost the whole thing.

This is Fiona's story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love the pern stories, and I didn't think I'd really be able to tell that Anne didn't write this, but it is surprisingly very different. I don't prefer Todd's style of describing every little thing the main characters feel (mostly Fiona). It's too much description in the sense that it leaves nothing for the reader to infer so it feels more like a lecture than a story absorbing you. I was actually irritated at points during Dragonheart because it was stretching so long unnecessarily. The overall story arch is an interesting concept and should make for an intriguing read (listen) but I was very glad to finish it and will have to put off reading the next one so I don't end my beloved pern on a sour note.
The narrator is actually much better in Dragonheart than she is in Dragon's Time (which I mistakenly read prior to this one which chronologically comes before it), she has much more feeling in her voice and doesn't sound like an AI at all.

Not the best Pern story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story and writing is decent enough, but the person reading the story makes it almost unlistenable. Speaks way to fast, slurs names and has awkward sentence breaks. Really makes it impossible to enjoy the story. Would not buy again.

Poorly read by performer

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story is the worst DRoP so far (reading chronologically) that is just a struggle to get through. I find myself wanting to ffwd through large parts just to get it over with. No character attachment and just poor story pace. Narrator is by far the worst I have ever heard her voice is like nails on a chalkboard and it's like she is reading an adult book to children. Very bad and just makes this iteration of a pern story that much harder to stomach.

Dry and boring, worst narrator ever.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews