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Dragonflight
Dragonquest
The White Dragon
Dragonsong
Dragonsinger
Dragondrums
Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern
Nerilka's Story
Dragonsdawn
The Renegades of Pern
All the Weyrs of Pern
The Skies of Pern
The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall
Humans have colonized the planet Pern in the Rukbat star system, but have lost much of their technology and history (including their origin on Earth) due to periodic onslaughts of Thread, a mycorrhizoid spore that voraciously consumes all organic material, including humans and their crops, given the opportunity. Thread comes from the Red Star, actually another planet. The Red Star has a 250-Turn (Pernese year) elliptic orbit around Rukhbat, and when its orbit brings it close enough, Thread rains down on Pern at predictable intervals over about 50 Turns.
The Pernese use intelligent firebreathing dragons to fight Thread. A human rider has a telepathic bond with their dragon, formed by Impression at the dragon's hatching. The bonding instantly creates a very close, lifelong relationship – the dragon almost invariably commits suicide at the rider's death and a rider whose dragon died bears a deep emotional wound which can never be fully healed. Later books deal with the initial colonization of Pern and the genetic modification of small native animals into creatures capable of carrying humans in flight.
The Pernese live in a pre-industrial society, with lords, holds, harpers (musicians, entertainers, and teachers), and dragons, with occasional examples of higher technology (like flamethrowers, the telegraph, chemical fertilizers, and powerful microscopes and telescopes). There are four basic social classes: Weyrfolk (including Dragonriders) who live in Weyrs, Holders who rule Holds (cities, towns and farms), crafters, and the Holdless who have no permanent home (including traders, displaced Holders, and brigands). The society resembles Feudal Europe, but with some significant differences – especially, farmers are organized in their own guild, independent of the Holders – rather than being serf as in historical Feudal societies. Also, there is no formal religion and nothing like the Medieval Church, the closest equivalent being in fact the Dragonriders, who have a planet-wide organization and to whom a tithe is due – though they are in no way sworn to celibacy (rather the reverse).
The series as a whole covers over two and a half millennia.