I am writing this review a considerable number of months after finishing the book, because I do that sometimes. 
 I decided to pick up the Dragonriders of Pern trilogy a few years after reading the first two Harper Hall books and realizing I'd started in the wrong place and was missing some important world-building. This book was a quick and entertaining read, though I had some problems with it. 
 My biggest problem is one that possibly no one will share with me, and that is the use of unadvertised (view spoiler)[time travel (hide spoiler)] as a plot device. Obviously, I get that it's a spoiler. But I'm very picky with my (view spoiler)[time travel (hide spoiler)] books, and I dislike when authors casually toss it around as a problem-solver in books that are, for the most part, about other things. 
 Also, I'm still not sure if I liked any of the characters. So, there's that too. But I'm definitely going to finish this trilogy, because I want to get back to the Harper Hall books.