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i_read_whatLast time on Dragonquest, we basically resolved the main plot of the book. The wedding happened. F'lar and T'ron had their confrontation. F'lar won, and earned the loyalty of most of the Oldtimers in a way that actually felt mostly deserved.
And yet, there's still a pretty big chunk of book left. Why?
Oh right. F'nor and Brekke. Egads.
The chapter starts with F'nor teasing his brother about not warning him before rearranging the social and political structure of the planet. It's a cute moment that makes me wish the series had done more to show us the brothers actually being brothers.
It occurs to me that I'd probably find the F'nor and Brekke part more palatable if it were remotely connected to anything interesting. I mean, F'nor and F'lar basically share lead status in this book, to the point of alternating chapters, but F'lar's chapters involved like the fate of the world. Or at least the fate of the Weyrs. F'nor's involved finding cute pets and a crappy rape-romance.
And it's particularly annoying because we still have very little understanding about what happened between Dragonflight and now to make things so bad. We get hints, like the odd dynamic between T'ron and F'lar, but nothing that makes sense. The Old Timers are characterized with such broad strokes that it's impossible to understand why they seem to be willing to actively endanger the world.
I feel like this could have easily been fixed. Say, instead of sending F'nor off to Southern, to do next to nothing, he actually recovered at one of the Oldtimer Weyrs. Maybe T'ron says "since a Fort rider injured him, we should be the ones to help him." Brekke could be an Oldtimer herself, or maybe still just a craft girl who Impressed a Gold, but still trained from the Oldtimer point of view. We could actually see why they're doing this.
Maybe they could have worked among the younger riders, convinced them to F'lar's side, turning the fact that most of Fort Weyr didn't follow Mardra into less of a "Hah, see how bitchy she is" moment (which is still infuriating because T'kul outright ignored Threadfall and his Weyr still follows him, T'ron actively impeded cooperation every step of the way, but we're supposed to hate Mardra because...she's bitchy?), and into a personal triumph of F'nor and Brekke. It wouldn't fix the rape part, but it would at least make them even remotely relevant.
They could still find fire lizards on a trip to Ista or something.
Okay, so anyway, F'nor is filled in and reacts appropriately. There's another snipe at Mardra that is at least on Lessa's behalf this time, though Lessa reacts with polite unconcern.
I love you Lessa, this book would have been much better from F'lar and Lessa's point of view. We hear a bit of repetition from last time: Kylara's in High Reaches. P'zar is acting Weyrleader of Fort. And N'ton's been sent to assist. F'lar elaborates more on his plan here: namely, he intends to have an open flight for the next queen that flies in Fort (...um, shouldn't her rider have a say? Fuck you, F'lar). He doesn't intend to have any of the big modern bronzes there, except N'ton's, and by that time N'ton will be known and accepted as a Fort rider rather than a replacement.
So basically F'lar is pimping out N'ton as a political coup, which I appreciate for being peacefully diabolical, but also am appalled at for ethical reasons. Lessa seems disgusted on N'ton's behalf, pointing out that "He doesn't have much choice at Fort Weyr."
There's no concern at all for the poor Queen rider who will have to sleep with N'ton of course. I should be used to this grossness by now. I suppose I have to accept that this is the society that F'lar and F'nor are raised in, and Lessa comes from worse, so none of them are able to see how disgusting this is. But still.
F'nor complains lightheartedly about being moved from Southern right after finding a new clutch, and then finally seems to notice that F'lar got KNIFED last chapter. Which, you're not very observant are you, F'nor.
Anyway, Lessa's annoyed at F'lar because she thinks he should be in bed. F'lar is annoyed at being inactive. And F'nor points out that he's fit to fly between again and so can do all of F'lar's "popping about".
Hopefully that means he'll actually be relevant to the plot now?
Anyway, we hear F'nor's account of how T'kul and company took charge of Southern and basically would challenge anyone who stayed behind. F'lar is happy to hear that T'ron is still alive and would recover, and also orders F'nor to work with Manora to rig something to swipe the eggs that F'nor found. He has plans.
We also learn that Ramoth's eggs will hatch soon, and F'lar intends to invite all of the notables again. He wants that to be standard procedure. And he's assigning riders to each Hold and Hall.
He ALSO wants F'nor to bring back a pot of grubs from the southern Continent as well as the lizards. He has a project.
F'lar is awful, but he really is the only one in the book actually doing fucking anything of worth. Though at least now F'nor gets to pull his weight.
After F'nor leaves, T'bor arrives to vent about how badly T'Kul mishandled the High Reaches. Basically people are running and hiding from dragonmen, no watch fire or watchmen, and plenty of burn signs. To his credit, T'bor took initiative, leaving some dragons with the nervous Lords to reassure them of the change of power, and he gave some of the left over fire lizard eggs to each of the Lords and the Master-fishermen. F'lar is happy to hear that.
They're then joined by D'ram, G'narish, P'zar and the Wing-Second from Telgar, M'rek. The meeting goes a lot more smoothly than the ones we saw before. D'ram, in particular, has had his eyes opened at the wedding and gives us probably the closest thing we'll ever get into insight into what happened with the Oldtimers:
'Yesterday, I think I finally realized just how big Pern is and how narrow a man can get, worrying so much about what he ought to have, forgetting what he’s got. And what he’s got to do. Times have changed. I can’t say I like it. Pern had got so big—and we Oldtimers kept trying to make it small again because, I guess, we were a little scared at all that had happened. Remember it took us just four days to come forward four hundred Turns. That’s too much time—too much to sink into a man’s thinking.' D’ram was nodding his head in unconscious emphasis. 'I think we’ve clung to the old ways because everything we saw, from those great, huge hour-long sweeps of forests to hundreds and hundreds of new Holds and Crafthalls was familiar and yet—so different. T’ron was a good man, F’lar. I don’t say I knew him well. None of us ever really got to know each other, you know, keeping to our Weyrs mostly and resting between Threadfalls. But all dragonmen are—are dragonmen. For a dragonman to go to kill another one—' D’ram shook his head slowly from side to side. 'You could’ve killed him.' D’ram looked F’lar straight in the eye. 'You didn’t. You fought Thread over Igen Hold. And don’t think I didn’t know T’ron’s knife got you.'
I really do wish we'd gotten to see more of this than F'nor and Brekke's mooning for half of the book. But I've complained enough. D'ram is on board, though he is still a bit hesitant about F'lar's tendency to run roughshod over tradition, which is probably a good thing. Everyone should have someone able to call them out.
Anyway, Lords and Craftsmen arrive for a larger, more impactful meeting. They determine that Thread will fall in Telgar and Ruatha, and the Dragonriders are ready.
Lord Groghe however is still pushing the idea of the dragonriders going straight to the Red Star, which strikes me as a stupid idea even granting that they don't know about the vacuum of space or if it has an atmosphere. Thread FALLS from the Star. So wouldn't any dragonrider going there get a face full of Thread? Does he think the dragons can burn a whole planet?
But anyway, F'lar and Groghe clash a bit about what exactly a full scale expedition would require. F'lar does promise that if they can distinguish acceptable jumping coordinates though, volunteers would go to explore. He makes the point to say that he's often wondered why no one has gone before then, or what happened if they did. Which is, I admit, a very good question. F'lar does a good job with the confrontation, but worries that he may have alienated Groghe in the process.
The other Lords seem to be impressed that F'lar has clearly been planning/thinking about this for a very long time. The meeting finally ends with F'nor's return, carrying 32 fire lizard eggs. F'lar leaves the Lords to decide who gets precedence (with Asgenar, having two already, as the impartial judge).
I like the political stuff a lot, but I'm still not really sure what's left by way of plot. Whether Canth flies Wirenth, I suppose. Something I cared little about before F'nor raped Brekke, and I care far less about now. It's not like there's any leadership at stake. The Red Star venture, which we KNOW will go badly, because there's like 30 books in this series. And Ramoth's hatching, which will set future book events in motion. Yay.
And yet, there's still a pretty big chunk of book left. Why?
Oh right. F'nor and Brekke. Egads.
The chapter starts with F'nor teasing his brother about not warning him before rearranging the social and political structure of the planet. It's a cute moment that makes me wish the series had done more to show us the brothers actually being brothers.
It occurs to me that I'd probably find the F'nor and Brekke part more palatable if it were remotely connected to anything interesting. I mean, F'nor and F'lar basically share lead status in this book, to the point of alternating chapters, but F'lar's chapters involved like the fate of the world. Or at least the fate of the Weyrs. F'nor's involved finding cute pets and a crappy rape-romance.
And it's particularly annoying because we still have very little understanding about what happened between Dragonflight and now to make things so bad. We get hints, like the odd dynamic between T'ron and F'lar, but nothing that makes sense. The Old Timers are characterized with such broad strokes that it's impossible to understand why they seem to be willing to actively endanger the world.
I feel like this could have easily been fixed. Say, instead of sending F'nor off to Southern, to do next to nothing, he actually recovered at one of the Oldtimer Weyrs. Maybe T'ron says "since a Fort rider injured him, we should be the ones to help him." Brekke could be an Oldtimer herself, or maybe still just a craft girl who Impressed a Gold, but still trained from the Oldtimer point of view. We could actually see why they're doing this.
Maybe they could have worked among the younger riders, convinced them to F'lar's side, turning the fact that most of Fort Weyr didn't follow Mardra into less of a "Hah, see how bitchy she is" moment (which is still infuriating because T'kul outright ignored Threadfall and his Weyr still follows him, T'ron actively impeded cooperation every step of the way, but we're supposed to hate Mardra because...she's bitchy?), and into a personal triumph of F'nor and Brekke. It wouldn't fix the rape part, but it would at least make them even remotely relevant.
They could still find fire lizards on a trip to Ista or something.
Okay, so anyway, F'nor is filled in and reacts appropriately. There's another snipe at Mardra that is at least on Lessa's behalf this time, though Lessa reacts with polite unconcern.
I love you Lessa, this book would have been much better from F'lar and Lessa's point of view. We hear a bit of repetition from last time: Kylara's in High Reaches. P'zar is acting Weyrleader of Fort. And N'ton's been sent to assist. F'lar elaborates more on his plan here: namely, he intends to have an open flight for the next queen that flies in Fort (...um, shouldn't her rider have a say? Fuck you, F'lar). He doesn't intend to have any of the big modern bronzes there, except N'ton's, and by that time N'ton will be known and accepted as a Fort rider rather than a replacement.
So basically F'lar is pimping out N'ton as a political coup, which I appreciate for being peacefully diabolical, but also am appalled at for ethical reasons. Lessa seems disgusted on N'ton's behalf, pointing out that "He doesn't have much choice at Fort Weyr."
There's no concern at all for the poor Queen rider who will have to sleep with N'ton of course. I should be used to this grossness by now. I suppose I have to accept that this is the society that F'lar and F'nor are raised in, and Lessa comes from worse, so none of them are able to see how disgusting this is. But still.
F'nor complains lightheartedly about being moved from Southern right after finding a new clutch, and then finally seems to notice that F'lar got KNIFED last chapter. Which, you're not very observant are you, F'nor.
Anyway, Lessa's annoyed at F'lar because she thinks he should be in bed. F'lar is annoyed at being inactive. And F'nor points out that he's fit to fly between again and so can do all of F'lar's "popping about".
Hopefully that means he'll actually be relevant to the plot now?
Anyway, we hear F'nor's account of how T'kul and company took charge of Southern and basically would challenge anyone who stayed behind. F'lar is happy to hear that T'ron is still alive and would recover, and also orders F'nor to work with Manora to rig something to swipe the eggs that F'nor found. He has plans.
We also learn that Ramoth's eggs will hatch soon, and F'lar intends to invite all of the notables again. He wants that to be standard procedure. And he's assigning riders to each Hold and Hall.
He ALSO wants F'nor to bring back a pot of grubs from the southern Continent as well as the lizards. He has a project.
F'lar is awful, but he really is the only one in the book actually doing fucking anything of worth. Though at least now F'nor gets to pull his weight.
After F'nor leaves, T'bor arrives to vent about how badly T'Kul mishandled the High Reaches. Basically people are running and hiding from dragonmen, no watch fire or watchmen, and plenty of burn signs. To his credit, T'bor took initiative, leaving some dragons with the nervous Lords to reassure them of the change of power, and he gave some of the left over fire lizard eggs to each of the Lords and the Master-fishermen. F'lar is happy to hear that.
They're then joined by D'ram, G'narish, P'zar and the Wing-Second from Telgar, M'rek. The meeting goes a lot more smoothly than the ones we saw before. D'ram, in particular, has had his eyes opened at the wedding and gives us probably the closest thing we'll ever get into insight into what happened with the Oldtimers:
'Yesterday, I think I finally realized just how big Pern is and how narrow a man can get, worrying so much about what he ought to have, forgetting what he’s got. And what he’s got to do. Times have changed. I can’t say I like it. Pern had got so big—and we Oldtimers kept trying to make it small again because, I guess, we were a little scared at all that had happened. Remember it took us just four days to come forward four hundred Turns. That’s too much time—too much to sink into a man’s thinking.' D’ram was nodding his head in unconscious emphasis. 'I think we’ve clung to the old ways because everything we saw, from those great, huge hour-long sweeps of forests to hundreds and hundreds of new Holds and Crafthalls was familiar and yet—so different. T’ron was a good man, F’lar. I don’t say I knew him well. None of us ever really got to know each other, you know, keeping to our Weyrs mostly and resting between Threadfalls. But all dragonmen are—are dragonmen. For a dragonman to go to kill another one—' D’ram shook his head slowly from side to side. 'You could’ve killed him.' D’ram looked F’lar straight in the eye. 'You didn’t. You fought Thread over Igen Hold. And don’t think I didn’t know T’ron’s knife got you.'
I really do wish we'd gotten to see more of this than F'nor and Brekke's mooning for half of the book. But I've complained enough. D'ram is on board, though he is still a bit hesitant about F'lar's tendency to run roughshod over tradition, which is probably a good thing. Everyone should have someone able to call them out.
Anyway, Lords and Craftsmen arrive for a larger, more impactful meeting. They determine that Thread will fall in Telgar and Ruatha, and the Dragonriders are ready.
Lord Groghe however is still pushing the idea of the dragonriders going straight to the Red Star, which strikes me as a stupid idea even granting that they don't know about the vacuum of space or if it has an atmosphere. Thread FALLS from the Star. So wouldn't any dragonrider going there get a face full of Thread? Does he think the dragons can burn a whole planet?
But anyway, F'lar and Groghe clash a bit about what exactly a full scale expedition would require. F'lar does promise that if they can distinguish acceptable jumping coordinates though, volunteers would go to explore. He makes the point to say that he's often wondered why no one has gone before then, or what happened if they did. Which is, I admit, a very good question. F'lar does a good job with the confrontation, but worries that he may have alienated Groghe in the process.
The other Lords seem to be impressed that F'lar has clearly been planning/thinking about this for a very long time. The meeting finally ends with F'nor's return, carrying 32 fire lizard eggs. F'lar leaves the Lords to decide who gets precedence (with Asgenar, having two already, as the impartial judge).
I like the political stuff a lot, but I'm still not really sure what's left by way of plot. Whether Canth flies Wirenth, I suppose. Something I cared little about before F'nor raped Brekke, and I care far less about now. It's not like there's any leadership at stake. The Red Star venture, which we KNOW will go badly, because there's like 30 books in this series. And Ramoth's hatching, which will set future book events in motion. Yay.
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Date: 2019-02-04 06:07 pm (UTC)