Rich detail, warm, memorable characters in an interesting, tradition-based society, dragon-like animals with psi powers, absorbing action, and a dash of sex and romance add up to Anne McCaffrey's highly successful "Dragonriders of Pern" series….

This series is so popular … that it has almost transcended genre categorization. Anne McCaffrey succeeds so well because she presents a colorful, ideally-traditional culture in which each person has his or her place, with corresponding duties and privileges; in which the moral choices are clear; and in which, "if you try hard enough, and work long enough, you can achieve anything you desire."… [The White Dragon is a] major work that should be in all collections.

Gary K. Reynolds, "Fiction: 'The White Dragon'," in Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Review (copyright © 1979 by The Borgo Press), Vol. 1, No. 6, July, 1979, p. 70.