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i_read_whatSo last time, before my impromptu vacation, we saw Lessa's bad idea come to a climax and Jaxom break all the rules. Which is still bullshit, IMO. If Jaxom can be Lord of Ruatha, then Lessa could have too.
Give Lessa her goddamn kingdom, 2k19.
So, FINALLY, in the penultimate chapter of the book, we get back to Brekke's POV. You know, the girl who basically lost everything in one fell swoop, whose trauma has been a driving force for the last few chapters. God forbid we get anything from her perspective before now.
She does appear to be on the mend though, Berd (her fire lizard) has "shown her the way" out of her despair. I won't make fun of that. I'm glad she has a lizard. Would that we all had one. (Though I doubt my cat would share.)
We're told that Berd led her to F'nor and Manora, who looked tired and sad. And that she tried to talk, but they'd hushed her, and F'nor carried her up to his weyr. Ugh. I really really hate this dynamic. I know I've said that before. I'll say it again. Fuck off, F'nor. At least Lessa gets to yell at F'lar.
Brekke tells F'nor, who admittedly does look wrecked, that he needs cozening, and there's hugging which I would enjoy if I cared remotely about F'nor and Brekke as a couple. We do get to hear Brekke's perspective on her trauma:
“It was in my mind,” Brekke admitted in a tremulous voice, burrowing against his chest, as if she must get even closer to him. “I was trapped in my mind and didn’t own my body. I think that’s what was wrong with me. Oh, F’nor,” and all the grief that she’d not been able to express before came bursting out of her, “I even hated Canth!”
Poor Brekke. F'nor, showing a grasp of human emotion more suited to his brother, immediately beckons toward Manora when Brekke starts to cry. Manora reassures him that crying is good. F'nor is grateful to his "blood mother" (such a creepy way to put that. I hate Weyr society) for opposing a re-Impression, though he doubts she knows why he was against it.
Why were you against it, F'nor? I'm curious and the book doesn't immediately tell us. Aside from Ms. McCaffrey 'proving' to us that you understand Brekke better than Lessa does.
Manora loses me here, because when Brekke can't stop crying she tells F'nor to slap her. When F'nor doesn't, she does. Then she orders F'nor to put her in the bathing pool. God, I hate this whole family.
So anyway, we continue with Brekke being grateful to F'nor for never leaving her side while she was suffering. Then, angrily, she asks how they could force her on the Hatching Sands to try to bond another Queen.
F'nor quickly passes the buck to F'lar and Lessa, claiming it was their idea. And I'm irrationally annoyed at this. I mean, he's right. He and Manora were opposed to Brekke taking part in the Hatching. But I have trouble giving him due credit, given how he and Manora seemed to seize complete control over her recovery. (Though now that she's conscious, she doesn't seem to mind them, so insert shrug emoji here I guess.)
Actually, I think I know what annoys me. F'nor said specifically, "That was F'lar's idea. And Lessa's.". It was Lessa's idea. She thought it would work. F'lar is too busy dying of sepsis, or whatever could cause someone to still be feverish a whole week later.
If F'nor had said it was Lessa's idea, he would be stating a fact. It was. But he blames his brother too, which makes it seem like he's trying to just shove the blame somewhere else. Actually though, it does strike me as interesting. We get very little about F'lar and F'nor's upbringing. What we do see of their interaction now is F'lar being driven and socially inept, and F'nor being laid back and occasionally being an errand boy. We see a LITTLE of F'lar's fondness for F'nor, mostly in his reaction after F'nor was stabbed. But we don't really get a parallel insight into F'nor's view of the relationship.
One could read F'nor's instant blaming of/hiding behind his brother here as being something unconscious and automatic. Like something he's used to doing since they were kids: let his brother get the attention, praise and blame. (Though let's be honest here, it doesn't seem like F'nor ever is short of praise. I'm still annoyed at how the intro in this book basically gave him equal billing to Lessa.) He rides his coattails but dodges the fire, and in the meantime, gets to be the "humble" and "low drama" sibling.
I think my proposed Shadowhunters style deconstruction could do a lot of interesting things with the brothers.
Anyway, Brekke has a lapse briefly where she remembers her grief and emptiness, and Canth and F'nor pull her out of it. The lizards help too, psychically, which surprises Brekke, because she can hear them saying they care about her. They're learning.
Mirrim comes in to break up the moment bearing food and Authority, and makes them eat. F'nor recognizes her mannerisms as a blend of Manora and Brekke. Hm. I doubt it, Brekke would have to have had a backbone first.
But anyway, there's a sweet moment later as, when Brekke panics at seeing F'nor and Mirrim leave (to feed Canth), all the other dragons, including Ramoth and Mnementh, speak to her to show that they're there. Aw.
Happily for me, the scene shifts over to Lessa. Lessa makes everything better. She is feeling unaccountably sad, though right now, things aren't too bad. It's the post Hatching banquet/party. Brekke is back to herself, F'nor is apparently eating with the guests now (...really? Look, I get leaving to feed your dragon, but Brekke JUST snapped out of it), F'lar is recovering AND learing to delegate, and Robinton has gotten Lytol drunk.
God, poor Lytol. I really can't get over how awful his life is.
Though we're told he has a surprisingly pleasant tenor singing voice. Which is good to know!
Anyway, Lessa is thinking about a lot of things. N'ton and F'lar have slipped away. And Jaxom's situation is still a problem. Lessa doesn't think about how unfair the situation is to her, specifically, because she's a better person than I am. But if Jaxom can rule a land and have a dragon, Lessa damn well could too. And it's her damn kingdom.
Anyway, the consensus is that Ruth probably won't mature. But since the next book in the series is "The White Dragon" I'm guessing he does. Lessa notes the presence of the Lords with their fire lizards and wonders if that will influence them to support Jaxom.
We do get to hear some of Lessa's thoughts about the succession. She specifically relinquished her Hold to Jaxom, because he was Gemma's son, and had some quality of the blood. She'd contest it going to anyone else. (She does however think that it's too bad that Lytol doesn't have sons. Aw. I like the implication that she'd be fine with it staying with Lytol if he did.)
But Lessa's practical and she's pretty sure Ruth won't survive and certainly won't be full sized. She compares him to a large fire lizard, which offends Ramoth a little. Ramoth states that Ruth will prosper. Mnementh also gets a significant look, and Lessa wonders if they know something she doesn't.
Meanwhile, Lytol is being drunkenly verbose and it's so sad!:
'I love the boy. I love him more than if he were flesh and blood of me, of me, Lytol of Ruatha Hold. Proved I love him, too. Proved I care for him. Ruatha’s rich. Rich as when the Ruathan Bloodline ruled it. Undid all Fax’s harm. And did it all, not for me. My life’s spent. I’ve been everything. Been a dragonrider. Oh, Larth, my beautiful Larth. Been a weaver so I know the Crafts. Know the Holds now, too. Know everything. Know how to take care of a white runt. Why shouldn’t the boy keep his dragon? By the First Shell, no one else wanted him. No one else wanted to Impress him. He’s special, I tell you. Special!'
Then there's lots of back and forth among the Lords. Raid of Benden insists Jaxom should stay with the Weyr. Larad supports Jaxom staying at Ruatha (again mentioning that Lytol has no sons, and hasn't fostered long enough for a promising candidate. I love that the mass opinion seems to be that Lytol could totally just be Ruatha's Lord outright if he had kids), Asgenar thinks they should actually ask Jaxom what he wants.
You are growing on me, Asgenar.
Meanwhile, Lessa is doing her best to 'lean' on Raid until Robinton catches her in the act. Now that IS interesting.
When Jaxom is brought to them, he is able to eloquently plead his case. First, he points out that the Lords present are not a Conclave, that Ruth is not a proper dragon and has little chance of maturing and thus would be useless to the Weyr.
We're told the disturbing fact that old dragons who can't chew firestone got retired to Southern Weyr. What happened to them before Southern Weyr was an option? Also, that's really kind of gross, F'lar and Lessa.
But anyway, Jaxom acquits himself nicely in his speech, and then Lytol steps up to support him and it's a great scene, ruined only by Lessa turning to leave and running into F'nor, who gets a smug line about "A weyr is where a dragon is."
Seriously, F'nor, go back to your sick girlfriend.
He ACTUALLY tells Lessa 'I told you she wouldn't Impress'. Fuck you, F'nor. Lessa points out that at least it snapped her out of the shock. Which is fair enough. She fills F'nor in on current events, such as N'ton bringing Thread to F'lar. She realizes he's not quite up for teasing, so she reassures him that no one can take his place. (Which is sweet, but in a narrative sense, he's done NOTHING useful this book except find Fire Lizards, so he kind of is replaceable.)
They (including a surprisingly sober Robinton) end up joining F'lar, who greets F'nor in an interesting exchange:
As soon as F’lar caught sight of F’nor, he smiled broadly and quickly crossed the room to clasp his half-brother’s arm.
'Manora said Brekke had snapped out of shock. It’s twice a relief, believe me. I’d have been happier still if she’d brought herself to re-Impress . . .'
'That would have served no purpose,' F’nor said, so flatly contradictory that F’lar’s grin faded a little.
He recovered and drew F’nor to the tubs.
I'm not sure why this interests me so. Maybe it's just that F'nor and F'lar have essentially been the two leads of this book and they've had very little interaction so far. I really would like to see more of their dynamic, because right now it comes across to me as being a little one-sided. Though to be fair to F'nor, he's had a lot of other concerns throughout the entire book.
Anyway, F'lar has brought the Masterfarmer to show him (and everyone) how the grubs eat Thread. Initially the Masterfarmer is vehemently opposed to the grubs, calling them parasites and pointing out that they'd been trying to get rid of them for year s. F'lar, socially adept as always, suggests that the farmers have been working against Pern's interest. But thankfully Robinton brings his diplomacy to bear.
Eventually though Andemon (the Masterfarmer, he has a name!) begins to listen, and he realizes that the Records, which told them to "watch the grubs" didn't say to DESTROY the grubs and that they misunderstood.
Dude, it's not your fault. That's a shitty message, previous Pern generations. Next time just write "DON'T DESTROY THE GRUBS" or "GRUBS ARE GOOD" if space is a premium.
We're told that Robinton is working on ways to preserve Records better for future generations to avoid this happening again.
Andemon also realizes that if F'lar is right, eventually, they wouldn't need dragonmen. I'm not sure that's true, because Thread still does damage on the way down, but McCaffrey wants to bring us back to the idea: "what happens to Dragonriders if they're not necessary anymore."
F'lar is very composed about the whole issue. But I still think that this question doesn't work as well when we remember that per Dragonflight, they'd gone 400 years without Thread. This question would make far more sense coming from the Oldtimers, who've never known lives without Thread.
F'lar freaks out Andemon a little by asking how long it'd take to seed a continent with grubs. Because F'lar is like that, and he doesn't hesitate. F'nor thinks his half-brother must have some plan in mind. Which, yes, obviously. Keep up, F'nor.
Anyway, F'lar finally gets Andemon completely on board. We also FINALLY learn something significant about Brekke's past. Andemon asks after her because she's from his own Crafthall. If only we could actually have learned about that from BREKKE, but I'll take what I can get.
He's also, like everyone, mad at Kylara, who he calls an "adulterous transgressor", and this boils me so much. You can't tell me that the Weyrs are more open-minded, when you keep slut-shaming a Weyrwoman, Ms. McCaffrey. But Kylara has "no more mind or wit than a babe". So there we go. We're also told that Dragonfolk take no lives, and I think Fax might be a little surprised by that one.
It occurs to me that one of the reasons I might have softened toward F'lar is that he's one of the very few characters who doesn't treat Kylara with disgust or revulsion. He gets annoyed at her when she inconveniences him or makes trouble at the Weyr, but we've never seen him comment on her sleeping habits (which would be a bit hypocritical, considering they'd slept together off page, but hypocrisy has never stopped any of these men), and he was in support of the idea of her becoming a Weyrwoman (albeit not in Lessa's Weyr.).
The chapter ends with F'nor FINALLY rejoining his sleeping lover. Seriously dude, why the fuck were you at the party to begin with? Hmph.
Give Lessa her goddamn kingdom, 2k19.
So, FINALLY, in the penultimate chapter of the book, we get back to Brekke's POV. You know, the girl who basically lost everything in one fell swoop, whose trauma has been a driving force for the last few chapters. God forbid we get anything from her perspective before now.
She does appear to be on the mend though, Berd (her fire lizard) has "shown her the way" out of her despair. I won't make fun of that. I'm glad she has a lizard. Would that we all had one. (Though I doubt my cat would share.)
We're told that Berd led her to F'nor and Manora, who looked tired and sad. And that she tried to talk, but they'd hushed her, and F'nor carried her up to his weyr. Ugh. I really really hate this dynamic. I know I've said that before. I'll say it again. Fuck off, F'nor. At least Lessa gets to yell at F'lar.
Brekke tells F'nor, who admittedly does look wrecked, that he needs cozening, and there's hugging which I would enjoy if I cared remotely about F'nor and Brekke as a couple. We do get to hear Brekke's perspective on her trauma:
“It was in my mind,” Brekke admitted in a tremulous voice, burrowing against his chest, as if she must get even closer to him. “I was trapped in my mind and didn’t own my body. I think that’s what was wrong with me. Oh, F’nor,” and all the grief that she’d not been able to express before came bursting out of her, “I even hated Canth!”
Poor Brekke. F'nor, showing a grasp of human emotion more suited to his brother, immediately beckons toward Manora when Brekke starts to cry. Manora reassures him that crying is good. F'nor is grateful to his "blood mother" (such a creepy way to put that. I hate Weyr society) for opposing a re-Impression, though he doubts she knows why he was against it.
Why were you against it, F'nor? I'm curious and the book doesn't immediately tell us. Aside from Ms. McCaffrey 'proving' to us that you understand Brekke better than Lessa does.
Manora loses me here, because when Brekke can't stop crying she tells F'nor to slap her. When F'nor doesn't, she does. Then she orders F'nor to put her in the bathing pool. God, I hate this whole family.
So anyway, we continue with Brekke being grateful to F'nor for never leaving her side while she was suffering. Then, angrily, she asks how they could force her on the Hatching Sands to try to bond another Queen.
F'nor quickly passes the buck to F'lar and Lessa, claiming it was their idea. And I'm irrationally annoyed at this. I mean, he's right. He and Manora were opposed to Brekke taking part in the Hatching. But I have trouble giving him due credit, given how he and Manora seemed to seize complete control over her recovery. (Though now that she's conscious, she doesn't seem to mind them, so insert shrug emoji here I guess.)
Actually, I think I know what annoys me. F'nor said specifically, "That was F'lar's idea. And Lessa's.". It was Lessa's idea. She thought it would work. F'lar is too busy dying of sepsis, or whatever could cause someone to still be feverish a whole week later.
If F'nor had said it was Lessa's idea, he would be stating a fact. It was. But he blames his brother too, which makes it seem like he's trying to just shove the blame somewhere else. Actually though, it does strike me as interesting. We get very little about F'lar and F'nor's upbringing. What we do see of their interaction now is F'lar being driven and socially inept, and F'nor being laid back and occasionally being an errand boy. We see a LITTLE of F'lar's fondness for F'nor, mostly in his reaction after F'nor was stabbed. But we don't really get a parallel insight into F'nor's view of the relationship.
One could read F'nor's instant blaming of/hiding behind his brother here as being something unconscious and automatic. Like something he's used to doing since they were kids: let his brother get the attention, praise and blame. (Though let's be honest here, it doesn't seem like F'nor ever is short of praise. I'm still annoyed at how the intro in this book basically gave him equal billing to Lessa.) He rides his coattails but dodges the fire, and in the meantime, gets to be the "humble" and "low drama" sibling.
I think my proposed Shadowhunters style deconstruction could do a lot of interesting things with the brothers.
Anyway, Brekke has a lapse briefly where she remembers her grief and emptiness, and Canth and F'nor pull her out of it. The lizards help too, psychically, which surprises Brekke, because she can hear them saying they care about her. They're learning.
Mirrim comes in to break up the moment bearing food and Authority, and makes them eat. F'nor recognizes her mannerisms as a blend of Manora and Brekke. Hm. I doubt it, Brekke would have to have had a backbone first.
But anyway, there's a sweet moment later as, when Brekke panics at seeing F'nor and Mirrim leave (to feed Canth), all the other dragons, including Ramoth and Mnementh, speak to her to show that they're there. Aw.
Happily for me, the scene shifts over to Lessa. Lessa makes everything better. She is feeling unaccountably sad, though right now, things aren't too bad. It's the post Hatching banquet/party. Brekke is back to herself, F'nor is apparently eating with the guests now (...really? Look, I get leaving to feed your dragon, but Brekke JUST snapped out of it), F'lar is recovering AND learing to delegate, and Robinton has gotten Lytol drunk.
God, poor Lytol. I really can't get over how awful his life is.
Though we're told he has a surprisingly pleasant tenor singing voice. Which is good to know!
Anyway, Lessa is thinking about a lot of things. N'ton and F'lar have slipped away. And Jaxom's situation is still a problem. Lessa doesn't think about how unfair the situation is to her, specifically, because she's a better person than I am. But if Jaxom can rule a land and have a dragon, Lessa damn well could too. And it's her damn kingdom.
Anyway, the consensus is that Ruth probably won't mature. But since the next book in the series is "The White Dragon" I'm guessing he does. Lessa notes the presence of the Lords with their fire lizards and wonders if that will influence them to support Jaxom.
We do get to hear some of Lessa's thoughts about the succession. She specifically relinquished her Hold to Jaxom, because he was Gemma's son, and had some quality of the blood. She'd contest it going to anyone else. (She does however think that it's too bad that Lytol doesn't have sons. Aw. I like the implication that she'd be fine with it staying with Lytol if he did.)
But Lessa's practical and she's pretty sure Ruth won't survive and certainly won't be full sized. She compares him to a large fire lizard, which offends Ramoth a little. Ramoth states that Ruth will prosper. Mnementh also gets a significant look, and Lessa wonders if they know something she doesn't.
Meanwhile, Lytol is being drunkenly verbose and it's so sad!:
'I love the boy. I love him more than if he were flesh and blood of me, of me, Lytol of Ruatha Hold. Proved I love him, too. Proved I care for him. Ruatha’s rich. Rich as when the Ruathan Bloodline ruled it. Undid all Fax’s harm. And did it all, not for me. My life’s spent. I’ve been everything. Been a dragonrider. Oh, Larth, my beautiful Larth. Been a weaver so I know the Crafts. Know the Holds now, too. Know everything. Know how to take care of a white runt. Why shouldn’t the boy keep his dragon? By the First Shell, no one else wanted him. No one else wanted to Impress him. He’s special, I tell you. Special!'
Then there's lots of back and forth among the Lords. Raid of Benden insists Jaxom should stay with the Weyr. Larad supports Jaxom staying at Ruatha (again mentioning that Lytol has no sons, and hasn't fostered long enough for a promising candidate. I love that the mass opinion seems to be that Lytol could totally just be Ruatha's Lord outright if he had kids), Asgenar thinks they should actually ask Jaxom what he wants.
You are growing on me, Asgenar.
Meanwhile, Lessa is doing her best to 'lean' on Raid until Robinton catches her in the act. Now that IS interesting.
When Jaxom is brought to them, he is able to eloquently plead his case. First, he points out that the Lords present are not a Conclave, that Ruth is not a proper dragon and has little chance of maturing and thus would be useless to the Weyr.
We're told the disturbing fact that old dragons who can't chew firestone got retired to Southern Weyr. What happened to them before Southern Weyr was an option? Also, that's really kind of gross, F'lar and Lessa.
But anyway, Jaxom acquits himself nicely in his speech, and then Lytol steps up to support him and it's a great scene, ruined only by Lessa turning to leave and running into F'nor, who gets a smug line about "A weyr is where a dragon is."
Seriously, F'nor, go back to your sick girlfriend.
He ACTUALLY tells Lessa 'I told you she wouldn't Impress'. Fuck you, F'nor. Lessa points out that at least it snapped her out of the shock. Which is fair enough. She fills F'nor in on current events, such as N'ton bringing Thread to F'lar. She realizes he's not quite up for teasing, so she reassures him that no one can take his place. (Which is sweet, but in a narrative sense, he's done NOTHING useful this book except find Fire Lizards, so he kind of is replaceable.)
They (including a surprisingly sober Robinton) end up joining F'lar, who greets F'nor in an interesting exchange:
As soon as F’lar caught sight of F’nor, he smiled broadly and quickly crossed the room to clasp his half-brother’s arm.
'Manora said Brekke had snapped out of shock. It’s twice a relief, believe me. I’d have been happier still if she’d brought herself to re-Impress . . .'
'That would have served no purpose,' F’nor said, so flatly contradictory that F’lar’s grin faded a little.
He recovered and drew F’nor to the tubs.
I'm not sure why this interests me so. Maybe it's just that F'nor and F'lar have essentially been the two leads of this book and they've had very little interaction so far. I really would like to see more of their dynamic, because right now it comes across to me as being a little one-sided. Though to be fair to F'nor, he's had a lot of other concerns throughout the entire book.
Anyway, F'lar has brought the Masterfarmer to show him (and everyone) how the grubs eat Thread. Initially the Masterfarmer is vehemently opposed to the grubs, calling them parasites and pointing out that they'd been trying to get rid of them for year s. F'lar, socially adept as always, suggests that the farmers have been working against Pern's interest. But thankfully Robinton brings his diplomacy to bear.
Eventually though Andemon (the Masterfarmer, he has a name!) begins to listen, and he realizes that the Records, which told them to "watch the grubs" didn't say to DESTROY the grubs and that they misunderstood.
Dude, it's not your fault. That's a shitty message, previous Pern generations. Next time just write "DON'T DESTROY THE GRUBS" or "GRUBS ARE GOOD" if space is a premium.
We're told that Robinton is working on ways to preserve Records better for future generations to avoid this happening again.
Andemon also realizes that if F'lar is right, eventually, they wouldn't need dragonmen. I'm not sure that's true, because Thread still does damage on the way down, but McCaffrey wants to bring us back to the idea: "what happens to Dragonriders if they're not necessary anymore."
F'lar is very composed about the whole issue. But I still think that this question doesn't work as well when we remember that per Dragonflight, they'd gone 400 years without Thread. This question would make far more sense coming from the Oldtimers, who've never known lives without Thread.
F'lar freaks out Andemon a little by asking how long it'd take to seed a continent with grubs. Because F'lar is like that, and he doesn't hesitate. F'nor thinks his half-brother must have some plan in mind. Which, yes, obviously. Keep up, F'nor.
Anyway, F'lar finally gets Andemon completely on board. We also FINALLY learn something significant about Brekke's past. Andemon asks after her because she's from his own Crafthall. If only we could actually have learned about that from BREKKE, but I'll take what I can get.
He's also, like everyone, mad at Kylara, who he calls an "adulterous transgressor", and this boils me so much. You can't tell me that the Weyrs are more open-minded, when you keep slut-shaming a Weyrwoman, Ms. McCaffrey. But Kylara has "no more mind or wit than a babe". So there we go. We're also told that Dragonfolk take no lives, and I think Fax might be a little surprised by that one.
It occurs to me that one of the reasons I might have softened toward F'lar is that he's one of the very few characters who doesn't treat Kylara with disgust or revulsion. He gets annoyed at her when she inconveniences him or makes trouble at the Weyr, but we've never seen him comment on her sleeping habits (which would be a bit hypocritical, considering they'd slept together off page, but hypocrisy has never stopped any of these men), and he was in support of the idea of her becoming a Weyrwoman (albeit not in Lessa's Weyr.).
The chapter ends with F'nor FINALLY rejoining his sleeping lover. Seriously dude, why the fuck were you at the party to begin with? Hmph.