This was always my favorite of the Dragonriders series when I was younger (despite the badness of the cover, but that's another rant). I loved watching Pern, as I knew it, come together out into a fantasy story out of this science fiction. In retrospect. I feel that the characters have a little more depth, are a bit more developed and work just a bit more than usual. And glimpsing this behind-the-scenes of Pern is just cool.
It held up pretty well, all things considered.