Dragonsdawn - Introduction and Part One
Dec. 19th, 2022 11:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kalinara posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
i_read_whatSo it's been a while since I read a Pern book. I've actually been looking forward to this one. I don't doubt that it will have the usual McCaffrey-isms, but I've always been pretty interested in the science fiction origin story.
I haven't read this one at all, so this is a blind let's read sort of situation. Sounds like fun!
So interestingly, there is a "Part One" that essentially acts like a prologue, before we get to Chapter One. I'm not sure why this isn't chapter one since they seem to narratively flow into each other, but I suppose it must have made sense to her.
So we start in media res, aboard one of the three colony ships of "The Pern Colonial Expedition". (The ships are the Yokohama, Bahrain, and Buenos Aires). They've been on a fifteen year voyage to reach Pern, essentially, which had been recommended, 200 years earlier, for colonization.
This bit is interesting from a future perspective:
The long journey to the Sagittarian Sector had gone without a hitch, the only excitement being the surprise when the Oort cloud encircling the Rukbat system had been sighted. That phenomenon had continued to engross some of the space and scientific personnel, but Paul Benden had lost interest when Ezra Keroon, captain of the Bahrain and the expedition’s astronomer, had assured him that the nebulous mass of deep-frozen meteorites was no more than an astronomical curiosity. They would keep an eye on it, Ezra had said, but although some comets might form and spin from its depths, he doubted that they would pose a serious threat to either the three colony ships or the planet the ships were fast approaching. After all, the Exploration and Evaluation team had not mentioned any unusual incidence of meteor strikes on the surface of Pern.
How long exactly have you guys been watching this planet? Just wondering. The Red Star is a big fucking thing to miss.
So already, we can see where the Hold names come from. Our navigator character who reports about the probes is Sallah Telgar (female, though Admiral Benden calls her "Mister Telgar" in old fashioned military style.) There's Benden and Keroon. With Admiral Benden is "Emily Boll", whose rank isn't immediately clear. They appear to be close, and the narrative tells us that both of them are former war heroes. He was, of course, an admiral who had a big space victory, and she was the "governor-heroine of First Centauri." They're the leaders of the expedition.
There's a lot of information here, I'm only relaying things that seem immediately relevant. Most of the colonists are in cold sleep. Essential personnel have taken five year watches. Benden had been awake for the first and last. He and Emily do not appear to be romantically involved at this point, but I get the sense they might end up that way, because of this:
Paul continued to absorb the display information, eyes flicking from one screen to another, absently rubbing the thumb of his left hand across three fingers. Though not the sort of man Emily was attracted to, Paul Benden was undeniably handsome, and Emily much preferred him with his hair grown out of the spaceman’s crop that had been his trademark. She thought that the thick blond mass softened the strong features: the blunt nose, the forceful jaw, and the wide thin-lipped mouth, just then pulled slightly to the left in a little smile.
The trip had done him good: he looked fit and well able to face the rigors of their next few months. Emily remembered how terribly thin he had been at the official ceremony commemorating his brilliant victory at Cygnus, where he and the Purple Sector Fleet had turned the tide of war against the Nathis. Legend said that he had remained awake and on duty for the entire seventy hours of the crucial battle. Emily believed it. She had done something of the sort herself during the height of the Nathis attack on her planet. There were many things a person could do if pushed, she knew from experience. She expected that one paid for such physical abuses later on in life, but Benden, well into his sixth decade, looked vigorously healthy. And she certainly felt no diminution of her own energies. Fourteen years of deep sleep seemed to have cured the terrible fatigue that had been the inevitable result of her defense of First Centauri.
She is excited to approach Pern and gives us our first glimpse:
Who had named it Pern, she did not recall — quite probably the single letters blazoned across the published report had stood for something else entirely — but it was Pern officially, and it was theirs. They were on an equatorial heading; as she watched, the planet’s lazy rotation hid the northern continent and the spine of mountains up its coast, while the western desert of the southern landmass was revealed. The dominant topographical feature was the wide expanse of ocean, slightly greener than that of old Earth, with a ring of islands splattered across it. The atmosphere was currently decorated with the swirling cloud curl of a low-pressure area moving rapidly northeast. What a beautiful, beautiful world! She sighed again and caught Paul’s quick glance. She smiled back at him without really taking her eyes from the screen.
There are clearly going to be some political and economic conflict, judging from Emily's thoughts, but Emily thinks that once they get there, people will be too busy to fret over "differences".
A Commander named Ongola is here. I can't help but note that this is the first named fellow who does not have a major Hold named after him. Insult to injury, as we're told that he'd lost his family in a space attack.
Lots more environmental information follows. The most notable is that the deep freeze tanks contain twenty-five dolphins who had volunteered to come along. Apparently in this future, we're able to communicate with them. Sentient dolphins are pretty common in sci-fi, I realize, and I don't know enough about marine biology to know if that's reasonable or not. Twenty-five doesn't really seem like enough to sustain a long term population though.
They've also brought crops and animals - they've got permission to use "certain of the advanced biogenetic techniques of the Eridanis -- mainly metasynth, gene paring, and chromosome enhancements" to help with the animals.
And more seeding of eventual romance, I reckon:
He watched her as she walked to the nearest exit off the bridge, a lean, almost bony woman, with gray and naturally wavy hair which she wore shoulder length. What Paul liked most about her was her wiry strength, both moral and physical, which was combined with a ruthlessness that sometimes startled him. She had tremendous personal vitality — just being in her presence gave one’s spirits a lift. Together they would make something of their new world.
I might be wrong, I genuinely have NO idea what to expect here. I didn't remember much of Moreta and I'd never read Nerilka, but I had some idea of how the story would go. Aside from knowing that these people will all be the namesake of Holds, that the Red Star is coming, and eventually Dragons will happen...I don't have ANY idea of how this will go.
It's interesting.
We meet a few more characters, and interestingly, some aren't white:
Mar Dook, head agronomist, was a small man whose Earth Asiatic ancestry was evident in features, skin tone, and physiology: he was wiry, lean, and slightly bowed in the shoulders, but his black eyes gleamed with eager intelligence and the excitement of the challenge.
Phas Radamanth, Kwan Marceau, and Pol Nietro don't get descriptions, but their names imply that they might be people of color too.
Ted Tubberman gets a bit of description:
Ted Tubberman, one of the colony botanists, gave a contemptuous snort. He was a big man, not carrying any extra flesh after nearly fifteen years in deep sleep, who tended to be overbearing. “Luminous organisms are usually found in deep caves, Nietro, as they use their light to attract their victims, generally insects. The mycelium reported by that team was in a cave system on that large island south of the northern continent. This planet seems to have a considerable number of cave systems. Why weren’t any scuttles scheduled for subterranean investigations?” he asked in an aggrieved tone.
I added the biology for a particular reader.
Anyway, they're analyzing things, trying to select sites for agriculture, though that's hard as Ted petulantly points out, because they don't have a landing site. I don't know for sure, but I'm getting some slight "let's dislike this guy" vibes. But they're subtle for McCaffrey so far, so I might be wrong.
Emily enters at some point, heroine style, interrupting this Ted guy's bluster. They discuss more environmental stuff and possible contingencies. We learn about an as-yet silent member of this group: Kitti Ping, who is apparently an older lady like Emily, and does genetic re-engineering. And in fact, Emily gives her the full major character intro for us:
As Emily sat down at her workspace, she wondered how under the suns the expedition had lucked out enough to include the most eminent geneticist in the Federated Sentient Planets — the only human who had ever been trained by the Eridanis. Emily had only seen pics of the altered humans who had made the first abortive mission to Eridani. She suppressed a shudder. Pern wouldn’t ever require that kind of abominable tinkering. Maybe that’s why Kit Ping was willing to come to the edge of the galaxy — to end what had already been a long and incredible life in a quiet backwater where she, too, could practice selective amnesia. There were many on the colony’s roll who had come to forget what they had seen and done.
Oh, in case we found blustering Ted too likable, he butchers the name of a geologist (Tarvi Andiyar) into Tarzan.
Back in command, Benden gives command to Ongola, and goes off to a meeting. In passing we hear about some other notables: flight officer Fulman Stone and pilot Kenjo Fusaiyuki. I do appreciate that McCaffrey seems to be at least trying to incorporate some measure of racial and ethnic diversity in this book.
Kenjo is probably going to be notable. He's a cyborg with a prosthetic left leg.
The commander of the Buenos Aires is named Jim. We don't know his last name yet. It's hard to tell which of these characters will be significant later. I'm guessing anyone whose last name I recognize. Blustering Ted probably too. Kitti Ping and MAYBE cyborg pilot Kenjo likely as well.
Some new characters are introduced. Joel Lilienkamp gets a pretty involved description. As does Avril Bitra.
And oh...
“Civilians? Who don’t know you very well, do they?” Paul asked dryly, taking his seat and smiling noncommittally at Avril Bitra, who had been in charge of the simulation exercises. Ambition had hardened her. He wished that he had not spent so much of his waking time during the voyage involved with the sultry brunette, but she was stunning. Soon they would all be too busy for personal relationships. More and more attractive young women were appearing in the corridors. He wanted one of them to want to marry Paul Benden, not “ the admiral.” Just then, the two screens lit up, the right-hand one displaying Ezra Keroon’s saturnine countenance, with his distinctive fringe of gray hair, and the left showing Jim Keroon, his square face wearing his usual cheerful expression.
I think we found the bitch. I'm glad to see that McCaffrey keeps her usual amount of nuance. I'm genuinely delighted that her name is Bitra (which is one of the Holds that serves Benden, as I recall). Subtle, McCaffrey.
Bets on whether or not she actually has any redeemable traits. And yet somehow, no one judges this sixty-something (if well-preserved) man for banging a young woman.
And okay, both Ezra and Jim are Keroons. (Actually, I did a quick google search, and this is just an error. Jim's actual lastname is the equally recognizable Tillek.)
So the Captains and Benden confab. Lilienkamp chimes in without regard for protocol, but has a pre-existing relationship with Benden. I'm guessing he'll be important too. They're deciding on a landing site and the discussion is actually interesting to read, but I'm not recapping it.
We rejoin Sallah Telgar, who, along with the name, has some backstory for us:
Sallah Telgar, coming off duty from her watch on the bridge decided that she had had quite enough space travel for one lifetime. As the only surviving dependent of serving officers, she had spent her childhood being shunted from one service post to another. When she had lost both parents, she had been eligible to sign on as a charter member of the colony. War compensations had permitted her to acquire a substantial number of stake acres on Pern, which she could claim once the colony had become solidly established. Above all other considerations, Sallah yearned to set herself down in one place and stay there for the rest of her natural life. She was quite content that that place be Pern.
She goes to the lounge to enjoy the site, only to find that her neighbors are people she dislikes: Avril Bitra, Bart Lemos, and Nabli Nabol. All recognizable. And Hi! Token Bitch-ra incoming.
Gossip had it that Avril had spent a good deal of the last five years in Admiral Paul Benden’s bed. Candidly, Sallah could see why a virile man like the admiral would be sexually attracted by the astrogator’s dark and flashing beauty. A mixture of ethnic ancestors had given her the best of all possible features. She was tall, neither willowy nor overripe, with luxuriant black hair that she often wore loose in silky ripples. Her slightly sallow complexion was flawless and her movements gracefully studied, but her eyes, snapping with black fire, indicated a highly intelligent and volatile personality. Avril was not a woman to cross, and Sallah had carefully maintained her distance from Paul Benden, or anyone else seen more than three times in Avril’s company. If the unkind pointed out Paul Benden’s recent marked absence from Avril’s side, the charitable said that he was needed for long conferences with his staff, and the time for dalliance was over. Those who had been victims of Avril’s sharp tongue said that she had lost her bid to be the admiral’s lady.
a) See what I mean? Lots of judgment toward Bitra, but none toward Benden for sleeping with her. Not a fan.
b) I'm also not really sure what to make of the emphasis on Bitra's black hair and sallow complexion. It seems a little...ehm...exotified? This is your first time explicitly talking about people of color on Pern, McCaffrey, do you really want to go this route?
c) Still no sign of redeeming characteristics. McCaffrey's in usual form.
Oh, hey, check this out.
However, Sallah had other matters on her mind than Avril Bitra’s ploys. She was waiting to hear which site had been chosen for landing. She knew that a decision had been made, and that it was to be kept secret until the admiral’s formal announcement. But she knew, too, that the news was bound to leak. Bets had been surreptitiously made about how soon the rest of the ship would know. The news should percolate through the lounge real soon now, Sallah thought.
I point this out, because the news leaks in a moment and we get:
There was a ripple of applause and good-natured joking, infectious enough to make Sallah grin, until her gaze happened to spot the contemptuous smile of superiority on Avril’s face. Seeing the astrogator’s expression, Sallah knew that Avril had known the secret and withheld the information from her table companions. Bart Lemos and Nabhi Nabol leaned closer to exchange terse sentences.
Avril shrugged. “The landing site is immaterial.” Her sultry voice though low, carried to Sallah’s ears. “The gig’s equipped to do the job, believe me.” She glanced away and caught Sallah’s eyes. Instantly her body tensed and her eyes narrowed. With a conscious effort she relaxed and leaned indolently back in her chair, maintaining eye contact with an insolence that Sallah found aggravating.
Sallah looked away, feeling slightly soiled. She drank the last gulp of coffee, grimacing at the bitter aftertaste. The ship’s coffee was lousy, but she would miss even that facsimile when the supply was exhausted. Coffee had failed on all the colony planets so far, for reasons no one had yet discerned. The survey team had discovered and recommended a Pernese shrub bark as a coffee substitute, but Sallah did not have much faith in that.
a) How is Sallah keeping quiet any different than Avril keeping quiet?
b) Sallah's whole "feeling slightly soiled" is pretty gross as a reaction. Is this slut shaming or something else. But given that Avril hasn't actually DONE anything besides make eye contact, Sallah seems like an overreacting bitch to my eyes.
Oh, we're not done judging Ms. Bitch-ra yet, I guess:
As she turned to leave, her glance fell on Avril’s dark head. Now there’s an odd one to be a colonist, Sallah thought, not for the first time. Avril was listed as a contractor, with a handsome stake as a professional fee, but she scarcely seemed the sort who would be comfortable in a rural environment. She had all the sophisticated manners of the citified. The Pern expedition had attracted some first rate talents, but most of those to whom Sallah had talked had been motivated to leave behind the syndicate-ridden technocracy and its ever-spiraling need for resources.
Sallah liked the notion of joining a self-reliant society so far from Earth and her other colonies. From the moment she had read the Pern prospectus she had been eager to be part of the venture. At sixteen, with service compulsory at that point in the bitterly fought Nathi War, she had chosen pilot training, with additional studies in probe and surveillance techniques. She had completed her training just as the war ended and then used her skills to map devastated areas on one planet and two moons. When the Pern expedition was put together, she had not only been eligible to be a charterer, but had the experience and skills that would make her a valuable addition to the professional complement.
LOVE the unnecessary contrast here. It'd be fine if I thought Sallah and Avril would be finding common ground, but this is Anne McCaffrey. So this is probably going to be Kylara vs. Brekke all over again. Though I'll grant that Sallah, so far, gets to show more personality than Brekke.
Oh, good. New characters. A little girl with burnished deep red hair runs into Sallah, her parents following after. Her name is Sorka. And OF COURSE she seems to bond with Sallah immediately. Her father is Red Hanrahan. Wife is Mairi, son is Brian. There's a note about the wife having a shrill note in her voice as she complains. Time will tell if something's going to come of that, I suppose.
They get settled into their temporary living quarters when Sallah meets someone else:
Her route was impeded by another recently awakened colonist whose coordination suffered from prolonged disuse. He was so rake thin that Sallah feared he would break a bone as he lurched from side to side.
“Tarvi Andiyar, geologist,” he said, courteously introducing himself as soon as she had supported him to a vertical stance. “Are we really orbiting Pern?” His eyes crossed as he looked at her, and Sallah managed to suppress the grin that his comical expression evoked. She told him their position. “And you have seen with your own bright and pretty eyes this marvelous planet?”
“I have and it’s every bit as lovely as forecast,” Sallah assured him warmly. He smiled broadly in a relief, showing her very white and even teeth. Then he gave a shake of his head, which seemed to correct the aberrant focus of his eyes. He had one of the most beautiful faces she had ever seen on a man — not Benden’s rugged, warrior features but a sophisticated and subtle arrangement, almost sculpted, like some of the ancient Indic and Cambodian princes on ruined stone murals. She hushed as she remembered what those princes had been doing in the murals.
There's some light flirtatious give and take, before Sallah is interrupted by someone named Drake Bonneau, who is definitely in the group that we're not supposed to like, I think.
“Sallah!” Drake Bonneau exclaimed, striding down the corridor toward her. “Anybody told you where we’re landing?” He had the eager expression of someone about to confer a favor on a friend.
“It took no more than nine minutes for the scuttlebutt to circulate,” she said coolly.
“That long?” He pretended disdain and then produced one of the smiles that he assumed would charm anyone. “Let’s drink to it. Not much longer to enjoy our leisure, eh? Just you and me, huh?”
She suppressed her distrust of his flattery. He was probably not even conscious of the triteness of his glib phrases. She had heard him trot out the same smooth lines for any reasonably attractive female, and at the moment, his casual insincerity irritated her. Yet he was not a bad sort, and certainly he had had courage enough to spare during the war. Then she realized that her uncharacteristic annoyance was a reaction to the sudden bustle, noise, and proximity of so many people after the last few years of quiet. Relax, she told herself sternly, it’s only for a few days and then you’ll be too busy flying to worry about crowds and noise.
I'm again, not entirely sure why Drake's flattery is worse than Tarvi's. I mean, it's perfectly legitimate for Sallah to be attracted to Tarvi and not Drake. But there's a judgmental tone that strikes a sour note
So the chapter ends with Sellah heading off again.
As an introduction, it's not bad. It's a LARGE cast of characters, but I imagine events will narrow down the really important ones soon enough. I like the pseudo-science. I'm no biologist, so I'm not going to catch any obvious errors, but it sounds plausible enough. I like most of the characters.
But McCaffrey is McCaffrey, and the usual problems are still here. Bitra is obviously the Kylara. She's not going to be allowed any positive trait. Ted and Drake are borderline, but I'm guessing at least one of them will get the Tolocamp treatment. I hope I'm wrong, because I'd love for McCaffrey to deviate from formula. But I'm cynical. We'll see.
I haven't read this one at all, so this is a blind let's read sort of situation. Sounds like fun!
So interestingly, there is a "Part One" that essentially acts like a prologue, before we get to Chapter One. I'm not sure why this isn't chapter one since they seem to narratively flow into each other, but I suppose it must have made sense to her.
So we start in media res, aboard one of the three colony ships of "The Pern Colonial Expedition". (The ships are the Yokohama, Bahrain, and Buenos Aires). They've been on a fifteen year voyage to reach Pern, essentially, which had been recommended, 200 years earlier, for colonization.
This bit is interesting from a future perspective:
The long journey to the Sagittarian Sector had gone without a hitch, the only excitement being the surprise when the Oort cloud encircling the Rukbat system had been sighted. That phenomenon had continued to engross some of the space and scientific personnel, but Paul Benden had lost interest when Ezra Keroon, captain of the Bahrain and the expedition’s astronomer, had assured him that the nebulous mass of deep-frozen meteorites was no more than an astronomical curiosity. They would keep an eye on it, Ezra had said, but although some comets might form and spin from its depths, he doubted that they would pose a serious threat to either the three colony ships or the planet the ships were fast approaching. After all, the Exploration and Evaluation team had not mentioned any unusual incidence of meteor strikes on the surface of Pern.
How long exactly have you guys been watching this planet? Just wondering. The Red Star is a big fucking thing to miss.
So already, we can see where the Hold names come from. Our navigator character who reports about the probes is Sallah Telgar (female, though Admiral Benden calls her "Mister Telgar" in old fashioned military style.) There's Benden and Keroon. With Admiral Benden is "Emily Boll", whose rank isn't immediately clear. They appear to be close, and the narrative tells us that both of them are former war heroes. He was, of course, an admiral who had a big space victory, and she was the "governor-heroine of First Centauri." They're the leaders of the expedition.
There's a lot of information here, I'm only relaying things that seem immediately relevant. Most of the colonists are in cold sleep. Essential personnel have taken five year watches. Benden had been awake for the first and last. He and Emily do not appear to be romantically involved at this point, but I get the sense they might end up that way, because of this:
Paul continued to absorb the display information, eyes flicking from one screen to another, absently rubbing the thumb of his left hand across three fingers. Though not the sort of man Emily was attracted to, Paul Benden was undeniably handsome, and Emily much preferred him with his hair grown out of the spaceman’s crop that had been his trademark. She thought that the thick blond mass softened the strong features: the blunt nose, the forceful jaw, and the wide thin-lipped mouth, just then pulled slightly to the left in a little smile.
The trip had done him good: he looked fit and well able to face the rigors of their next few months. Emily remembered how terribly thin he had been at the official ceremony commemorating his brilliant victory at Cygnus, where he and the Purple Sector Fleet had turned the tide of war against the Nathis. Legend said that he had remained awake and on duty for the entire seventy hours of the crucial battle. Emily believed it. She had done something of the sort herself during the height of the Nathis attack on her planet. There were many things a person could do if pushed, she knew from experience. She expected that one paid for such physical abuses later on in life, but Benden, well into his sixth decade, looked vigorously healthy. And she certainly felt no diminution of her own energies. Fourteen years of deep sleep seemed to have cured the terrible fatigue that had been the inevitable result of her defense of First Centauri.
She is excited to approach Pern and gives us our first glimpse:
Who had named it Pern, she did not recall — quite probably the single letters blazoned across the published report had stood for something else entirely — but it was Pern officially, and it was theirs. They were on an equatorial heading; as she watched, the planet’s lazy rotation hid the northern continent and the spine of mountains up its coast, while the western desert of the southern landmass was revealed. The dominant topographical feature was the wide expanse of ocean, slightly greener than that of old Earth, with a ring of islands splattered across it. The atmosphere was currently decorated with the swirling cloud curl of a low-pressure area moving rapidly northeast. What a beautiful, beautiful world! She sighed again and caught Paul’s quick glance. She smiled back at him without really taking her eyes from the screen.
There are clearly going to be some political and economic conflict, judging from Emily's thoughts, but Emily thinks that once they get there, people will be too busy to fret over "differences".
A Commander named Ongola is here. I can't help but note that this is the first named fellow who does not have a major Hold named after him. Insult to injury, as we're told that he'd lost his family in a space attack.
Lots more environmental information follows. The most notable is that the deep freeze tanks contain twenty-five dolphins who had volunteered to come along. Apparently in this future, we're able to communicate with them. Sentient dolphins are pretty common in sci-fi, I realize, and I don't know enough about marine biology to know if that's reasonable or not. Twenty-five doesn't really seem like enough to sustain a long term population though.
They've also brought crops and animals - they've got permission to use "certain of the advanced biogenetic techniques of the Eridanis -- mainly metasynth, gene paring, and chromosome enhancements" to help with the animals.
And more seeding of eventual romance, I reckon:
He watched her as she walked to the nearest exit off the bridge, a lean, almost bony woman, with gray and naturally wavy hair which she wore shoulder length. What Paul liked most about her was her wiry strength, both moral and physical, which was combined with a ruthlessness that sometimes startled him. She had tremendous personal vitality — just being in her presence gave one’s spirits a lift. Together they would make something of their new world.
I might be wrong, I genuinely have NO idea what to expect here. I didn't remember much of Moreta and I'd never read Nerilka, but I had some idea of how the story would go. Aside from knowing that these people will all be the namesake of Holds, that the Red Star is coming, and eventually Dragons will happen...I don't have ANY idea of how this will go.
It's interesting.
We meet a few more characters, and interestingly, some aren't white:
Mar Dook, head agronomist, was a small man whose Earth Asiatic ancestry was evident in features, skin tone, and physiology: he was wiry, lean, and slightly bowed in the shoulders, but his black eyes gleamed with eager intelligence and the excitement of the challenge.
Phas Radamanth, Kwan Marceau, and Pol Nietro don't get descriptions, but their names imply that they might be people of color too.
Ted Tubberman gets a bit of description:
Ted Tubberman, one of the colony botanists, gave a contemptuous snort. He was a big man, not carrying any extra flesh after nearly fifteen years in deep sleep, who tended to be overbearing. “Luminous organisms are usually found in deep caves, Nietro, as they use their light to attract their victims, generally insects. The mycelium reported by that team was in a cave system on that large island south of the northern continent. This planet seems to have a considerable number of cave systems. Why weren’t any scuttles scheduled for subterranean investigations?” he asked in an aggrieved tone.
I added the biology for a particular reader.
Anyway, they're analyzing things, trying to select sites for agriculture, though that's hard as Ted petulantly points out, because they don't have a landing site. I don't know for sure, but I'm getting some slight "let's dislike this guy" vibes. But they're subtle for McCaffrey so far, so I might be wrong.
Emily enters at some point, heroine style, interrupting this Ted guy's bluster. They discuss more environmental stuff and possible contingencies. We learn about an as-yet silent member of this group: Kitti Ping, who is apparently an older lady like Emily, and does genetic re-engineering. And in fact, Emily gives her the full major character intro for us:
As Emily sat down at her workspace, she wondered how under the suns the expedition had lucked out enough to include the most eminent geneticist in the Federated Sentient Planets — the only human who had ever been trained by the Eridanis. Emily had only seen pics of the altered humans who had made the first abortive mission to Eridani. She suppressed a shudder. Pern wouldn’t ever require that kind of abominable tinkering. Maybe that’s why Kit Ping was willing to come to the edge of the galaxy — to end what had already been a long and incredible life in a quiet backwater where she, too, could practice selective amnesia. There were many on the colony’s roll who had come to forget what they had seen and done.
Oh, in case we found blustering Ted too likable, he butchers the name of a geologist (Tarvi Andiyar) into Tarzan.
Back in command, Benden gives command to Ongola, and goes off to a meeting. In passing we hear about some other notables: flight officer Fulman Stone and pilot Kenjo Fusaiyuki. I do appreciate that McCaffrey seems to be at least trying to incorporate some measure of racial and ethnic diversity in this book.
Kenjo is probably going to be notable. He's a cyborg with a prosthetic left leg.
The commander of the Buenos Aires is named Jim. We don't know his last name yet. It's hard to tell which of these characters will be significant later. I'm guessing anyone whose last name I recognize. Blustering Ted probably too. Kitti Ping and MAYBE cyborg pilot Kenjo likely as well.
Some new characters are introduced. Joel Lilienkamp gets a pretty involved description. As does Avril Bitra.
And oh...
“Civilians? Who don’t know you very well, do they?” Paul asked dryly, taking his seat and smiling noncommittally at Avril Bitra, who had been in charge of the simulation exercises. Ambition had hardened her. He wished that he had not spent so much of his waking time during the voyage involved with the sultry brunette, but she was stunning. Soon they would all be too busy for personal relationships. More and more attractive young women were appearing in the corridors. He wanted one of them to want to marry Paul Benden, not “ the admiral.” Just then, the two screens lit up, the right-hand one displaying Ezra Keroon’s saturnine countenance, with his distinctive fringe of gray hair, and the left showing Jim Keroon, his square face wearing his usual cheerful expression.
I think we found the bitch. I'm glad to see that McCaffrey keeps her usual amount of nuance. I'm genuinely delighted that her name is Bitra (which is one of the Holds that serves Benden, as I recall). Subtle, McCaffrey.
Bets on whether or not she actually has any redeemable traits. And yet somehow, no one judges this sixty-something (if well-preserved) man for banging a young woman.
And okay, both Ezra and Jim are Keroons. (Actually, I did a quick google search, and this is just an error. Jim's actual lastname is the equally recognizable Tillek.)
So the Captains and Benden confab. Lilienkamp chimes in without regard for protocol, but has a pre-existing relationship with Benden. I'm guessing he'll be important too. They're deciding on a landing site and the discussion is actually interesting to read, but I'm not recapping it.
We rejoin Sallah Telgar, who, along with the name, has some backstory for us:
Sallah Telgar, coming off duty from her watch on the bridge decided that she had had quite enough space travel for one lifetime. As the only surviving dependent of serving officers, she had spent her childhood being shunted from one service post to another. When she had lost both parents, she had been eligible to sign on as a charter member of the colony. War compensations had permitted her to acquire a substantial number of stake acres on Pern, which she could claim once the colony had become solidly established. Above all other considerations, Sallah yearned to set herself down in one place and stay there for the rest of her natural life. She was quite content that that place be Pern.
She goes to the lounge to enjoy the site, only to find that her neighbors are people she dislikes: Avril Bitra, Bart Lemos, and Nabli Nabol. All recognizable. And Hi! Token Bitch-ra incoming.
Gossip had it that Avril had spent a good deal of the last five years in Admiral Paul Benden’s bed. Candidly, Sallah could see why a virile man like the admiral would be sexually attracted by the astrogator’s dark and flashing beauty. A mixture of ethnic ancestors had given her the best of all possible features. She was tall, neither willowy nor overripe, with luxuriant black hair that she often wore loose in silky ripples. Her slightly sallow complexion was flawless and her movements gracefully studied, but her eyes, snapping with black fire, indicated a highly intelligent and volatile personality. Avril was not a woman to cross, and Sallah had carefully maintained her distance from Paul Benden, or anyone else seen more than three times in Avril’s company. If the unkind pointed out Paul Benden’s recent marked absence from Avril’s side, the charitable said that he was needed for long conferences with his staff, and the time for dalliance was over. Those who had been victims of Avril’s sharp tongue said that she had lost her bid to be the admiral’s lady.
a) See what I mean? Lots of judgment toward Bitra, but none toward Benden for sleeping with her. Not a fan.
b) I'm also not really sure what to make of the emphasis on Bitra's black hair and sallow complexion. It seems a little...ehm...exotified? This is your first time explicitly talking about people of color on Pern, McCaffrey, do you really want to go this route?
c) Still no sign of redeeming characteristics. McCaffrey's in usual form.
Oh, hey, check this out.
However, Sallah had other matters on her mind than Avril Bitra’s ploys. She was waiting to hear which site had been chosen for landing. She knew that a decision had been made, and that it was to be kept secret until the admiral’s formal announcement. But she knew, too, that the news was bound to leak. Bets had been surreptitiously made about how soon the rest of the ship would know. The news should percolate through the lounge real soon now, Sallah thought.
I point this out, because the news leaks in a moment and we get:
There was a ripple of applause and good-natured joking, infectious enough to make Sallah grin, until her gaze happened to spot the contemptuous smile of superiority on Avril’s face. Seeing the astrogator’s expression, Sallah knew that Avril had known the secret and withheld the information from her table companions. Bart Lemos and Nabhi Nabol leaned closer to exchange terse sentences.
Avril shrugged. “The landing site is immaterial.” Her sultry voice though low, carried to Sallah’s ears. “The gig’s equipped to do the job, believe me.” She glanced away and caught Sallah’s eyes. Instantly her body tensed and her eyes narrowed. With a conscious effort she relaxed and leaned indolently back in her chair, maintaining eye contact with an insolence that Sallah found aggravating.
Sallah looked away, feeling slightly soiled. She drank the last gulp of coffee, grimacing at the bitter aftertaste. The ship’s coffee was lousy, but she would miss even that facsimile when the supply was exhausted. Coffee had failed on all the colony planets so far, for reasons no one had yet discerned. The survey team had discovered and recommended a Pernese shrub bark as a coffee substitute, but Sallah did not have much faith in that.
a) How is Sallah keeping quiet any different than Avril keeping quiet?
b) Sallah's whole "feeling slightly soiled" is pretty gross as a reaction. Is this slut shaming or something else. But given that Avril hasn't actually DONE anything besides make eye contact, Sallah seems like an overreacting bitch to my eyes.
Oh, we're not done judging Ms. Bitch-ra yet, I guess:
As she turned to leave, her glance fell on Avril’s dark head. Now there’s an odd one to be a colonist, Sallah thought, not for the first time. Avril was listed as a contractor, with a handsome stake as a professional fee, but she scarcely seemed the sort who would be comfortable in a rural environment. She had all the sophisticated manners of the citified. The Pern expedition had attracted some first rate talents, but most of those to whom Sallah had talked had been motivated to leave behind the syndicate-ridden technocracy and its ever-spiraling need for resources.
Sallah liked the notion of joining a self-reliant society so far from Earth and her other colonies. From the moment she had read the Pern prospectus she had been eager to be part of the venture. At sixteen, with service compulsory at that point in the bitterly fought Nathi War, she had chosen pilot training, with additional studies in probe and surveillance techniques. She had completed her training just as the war ended and then used her skills to map devastated areas on one planet and two moons. When the Pern expedition was put together, she had not only been eligible to be a charterer, but had the experience and skills that would make her a valuable addition to the professional complement.
LOVE the unnecessary contrast here. It'd be fine if I thought Sallah and Avril would be finding common ground, but this is Anne McCaffrey. So this is probably going to be Kylara vs. Brekke all over again. Though I'll grant that Sallah, so far, gets to show more personality than Brekke.
Oh, good. New characters. A little girl with burnished deep red hair runs into Sallah, her parents following after. Her name is Sorka. And OF COURSE she seems to bond with Sallah immediately. Her father is Red Hanrahan. Wife is Mairi, son is Brian. There's a note about the wife having a shrill note in her voice as she complains. Time will tell if something's going to come of that, I suppose.
They get settled into their temporary living quarters when Sallah meets someone else:
Her route was impeded by another recently awakened colonist whose coordination suffered from prolonged disuse. He was so rake thin that Sallah feared he would break a bone as he lurched from side to side.
“Tarvi Andiyar, geologist,” he said, courteously introducing himself as soon as she had supported him to a vertical stance. “Are we really orbiting Pern?” His eyes crossed as he looked at her, and Sallah managed to suppress the grin that his comical expression evoked. She told him their position. “And you have seen with your own bright and pretty eyes this marvelous planet?”
“I have and it’s every bit as lovely as forecast,” Sallah assured him warmly. He smiled broadly in a relief, showing her very white and even teeth. Then he gave a shake of his head, which seemed to correct the aberrant focus of his eyes. He had one of the most beautiful faces she had ever seen on a man — not Benden’s rugged, warrior features but a sophisticated and subtle arrangement, almost sculpted, like some of the ancient Indic and Cambodian princes on ruined stone murals. She hushed as she remembered what those princes had been doing in the murals.
There's some light flirtatious give and take, before Sallah is interrupted by someone named Drake Bonneau, who is definitely in the group that we're not supposed to like, I think.
“Sallah!” Drake Bonneau exclaimed, striding down the corridor toward her. “Anybody told you where we’re landing?” He had the eager expression of someone about to confer a favor on a friend.
“It took no more than nine minutes for the scuttlebutt to circulate,” she said coolly.
“That long?” He pretended disdain and then produced one of the smiles that he assumed would charm anyone. “Let’s drink to it. Not much longer to enjoy our leisure, eh? Just you and me, huh?”
She suppressed her distrust of his flattery. He was probably not even conscious of the triteness of his glib phrases. She had heard him trot out the same smooth lines for any reasonably attractive female, and at the moment, his casual insincerity irritated her. Yet he was not a bad sort, and certainly he had had courage enough to spare during the war. Then she realized that her uncharacteristic annoyance was a reaction to the sudden bustle, noise, and proximity of so many people after the last few years of quiet. Relax, she told herself sternly, it’s only for a few days and then you’ll be too busy flying to worry about crowds and noise.
I'm again, not entirely sure why Drake's flattery is worse than Tarvi's. I mean, it's perfectly legitimate for Sallah to be attracted to Tarvi and not Drake. But there's a judgmental tone that strikes a sour note
So the chapter ends with Sellah heading off again.
As an introduction, it's not bad. It's a LARGE cast of characters, but I imagine events will narrow down the really important ones soon enough. I like the pseudo-science. I'm no biologist, so I'm not going to catch any obvious errors, but it sounds plausible enough. I like most of the characters.
But McCaffrey is McCaffrey, and the usual problems are still here. Bitra is obviously the Kylara. She's not going to be allowed any positive trait. Ted and Drake are borderline, but I'm guessing at least one of them will get the Tolocamp treatment. I hope I'm wrong, because I'd love for McCaffrey to deviate from formula. But I'm cynical. We'll see.
no subject
Date: 2022-12-20 04:09 pm (UTC)The male dragonriders's names are supposed to be "slurred" when pronounced. The convention develops over the course of the First Fall. Also, their names are taken from those of their parents the usual pattern being the first part of the father's name with the latter half of their mother's. This is why F'lar comments on how Kylara names her son in Dragonflight. Women in the Weyrs are named however their parents want.
The bit with Lessa and the mating flight always struck me as rather stupid - her supposedly not understanding what's involved in a flight. At the time Ramoth rises, Lessa's lived in the weyr for at least 18 months... and since green dragons are also female, vastly more numerous, and rise often... her not knowing that sex was involved in the flight makes absolutely no sense from that perspective. Unless you think she paid no attention to anything in the weyr at all.
Also, regarding Jora - you find out in a different book - Masterharper of Pern - that Jora was afraid of heights. Her own fear led to her rarely leaving her rooms and caused her to panic when her dragon had her first mating flight... thus her dragon essentially flew quick, short flights due to her rider's fear. This is partly why Benden had so few dragon's when the Ninth Pass started.
Finally, you mentioned at the end of the reread of Moreta that you would have liked to have known what happened to M'tani and Telgar Weyr. In the Dragonlover's Guide, there's a brief history of each weyr and it mentions that after Moreta's Ride, the other senior queens and their riders held a Council of Weyrwomen and voted to remove the leadership of Telgar, putting the most senior of the junior Weywomen in charge until one of the younger queen rose in a mating flight - whichever queen rose first would become the new senior weywoman at Telgar Weyr. A lot of the cultural nuances of Pern society is actually explain in the so-called "Dragondex" at the back of the books.
Oh, yeah - be prepared for more science fiction in your fantasy with Dragonsdawn. This is the first book that Anne's son Todd McCaffery helped write. He's more a science fiction guy so there's more of that in the book. Anne gradually increased the amount of writing Todd did over the last years of her life until he was doing most of it. I stopped reading Pern because of the change in tone with his addition - I didn't like many of the books after the publication of the Red Star Rising/Dragonseye. The title varied between the US and UK editions.
Oh - sorry for the epic comment... I just felt the need to explain a bit of things and felt it best to put it in one place rather than scattered everywhere. Sorry!
no subject
Date: 2022-12-20 04:50 pm (UTC)I love those sorts of books though, as they really give the author a chance to streamline their ideas. And usually mean good things for the series going forward, since they've had time to work through the early issues. It's one of the many reasons I prefer reading in publication order! I don't mind the occasional soft retcon to make things work a little better in the long run.
I did understand the idea of the names being slurred, but it doesn't really work in practice when you actually analyze the names in question. Like G'dened. That amount of hard consonants isn't remotely feasible as a quick-shouted name, shortened or not. F'lessan is borderline. It's no shorter than the original, but it does have enough soft consonants that you can realistically smush it. F'les(s) would make more sense though, IMO.
The problem with the names is much more obvious in Moreta though. I honestly think she just ran out of names and didn't realize that it'd be perfectly reasonable to recycle a few. Obviously, she should avoid recycling the big names on general principle (F'lar/F'nor and their ilk), but I wouldn't blink twice at another K'van or S'ven. Really, I feel like softer consonants are far more logical here. I'd take repetition over the terrible names in that book. (I know it's not a good example of my general complaint, but I'm STILL irked about A'murry.)
A positive to go with the negative: I've always liked the male dragonrider names coming from their parents thing. Especially when you can start to piece out what the full pre-dragonrider name of the father must have been. i.e. D'ram must be something like Denedram, since G'dened is his son. (Does the guide talk about how it works with full siblings? Since they'd be taking their names from the same set. Maybe that's why we get the occasional mother'father instead of father'mother? Maybe G'Dened is a second son?)
TBH, I try to ignore Masterharper as much as possible. I'm not going to be able to when I actually get there, but I'm still holding a grudge for the retcon of Sebell being older than Lessa, when Dragonsinger actually strongly implied the man had JUST been promoted, and thus shouldn't have been THAT much older than Menolly. (I suppose I can retcon Sebell having a namesake father, but it annoys me.)
(The suggested flaw for Jora does make a certain amount of sense and I wouldn't even consider it a retcon, since the characters in Dragonflight may be too young or self-involved to remember the original source of Jora's issues. I'm still #TeamJora though.)
I don't mind science fiction in my fantasy sometimes. I actually read and enjoyed All the Weyrs of Pern, which I consider the real ending to the Dragonflight/Dragonquest trilogy. (White Dragon is a side story and Jaxom can fuck himself. :-F) I've not read anything past that though. It should be interesting, either way. It'll be fun to bitch about the son's writing quirks as opposed to the mother's!
no subject
Date: 2022-12-20 04:53 pm (UTC)I forgot to add: the Lessa thing is a pretty clear example of McCaffrey not thinking things through. It's understandable in a first novel of a series- especially since Dragonflight started as a few short stories - but it is the kind of thing that falls apart a little on reread. Since Lessa clearly had been paying attention to the Weyr enough to try to help Manora, I'd instead go with the idea that R'gul was keeping her isolated to avoid F'lar and other more modern types's corruptive influence. And it was because of her own trauma and general lack of sexual experience that she didn't recognize the mental effect of the green mating flights when they happened.
Sometimes the fun of this sort of thing is trying to reconstruct a coherent explanation after the fact. :-D
no subject
Date: 2022-12-20 06:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-12-20 06:36 pm (UTC)And the Todd books sound like a special sort of fun. We'll get there too, eventually, I'm sure!
Ah! :-D [grabs popcorn]
Date: 2022-12-21 12:23 am (UTC)As for the Oort Cloud being dismissed, that's explained in "The Survey: P.E.R.N. c."
= Multi-Facets.