It was OK. I wouldn't recommend it as a first or one of the first Pern books one reads. I was a fairly big fan of Anne McCaffrey a couple of decades ago, especially the Pern books. Saw this used recently and thought it might be fun to read a book about watch-whers and their people. It did fulfill that goal, plus some of the Pernese mining culture stuff was interesting.
It seemed like a slow starter, and I thought there were usually more visuals in Pern books. Overall I'm glad I read it, but very glad that I got it cheaply as a used paperback.