As a young (about 11 year old) child, the Dragonriders of Pern was hands-down my favorite series.
About a decade or so ago, I went back and re-read the series with adult eyes. Or rather, I tried to. I couldn't make it all the way through. Both from a technical perspective and from a storytelling perspective, they simply aren't good books.
Technically, the writing has a lot of flaws. Continuity errors, weird writing style (as you observed), plot holes, poor characterization, you name it. From a storytelling perspective, I found the plots contrived, and I didn't like the subtle undercurrents of misogyny. I also found it interesting that the society described in the book is a slave society, but she glosses over that point to such an extent that the 11-year-old me didn't even notice.
