Dragonsong - Chapter Thirteen

[kalinara]

So we've hit the last chapter of Dragonsong. It's a momentous occasion! Maybe!

I always feel accomplished when I finish a review.

( Let's see if Menolly feels as accomplished during the climax as I do! )

Dragonsong - Verdict

[kalinara]

Okay, so now it's time to talk about whether or not Dragonsong passes the test of time.

I'd say yes. Mostly. There are a few bits that aggravate me, but I do think it fundamentally achieves what it's trying to do. It's a fun and cute story about a young girl and her lizards.

So let's break it down. Since it's a sequel/spinoff, I'll run it through my usual test:

Is it consistent with what came before?

I think it is. This story is set simultaneously with Dragonquest, and I didn't notice any obvious continuity glitches. A more discerning reader might catch something I missed, but I don't expect things to be completely perfect. It passes a cursory read through.

The tone is a little different, since this is the first book specifically aimed toward a YA audience, but in a way that's still compatible with the broader series. And on the plus side, no mating flights!

Does the book give us a wider (or narrower but different) focus of the setting?

I'd say so. It's narrower but different this time. But it's fun to see what the broad strokes events of Dragonquest (pre-Hatching) look like to more ordinary people. We've gotten a peek into life at an ordinary Hold. We've also gotten a look more at the backbone of the Weyr: the normal folk who provide services like Sanra, Felena and Mirrim.

Are the returning characters consistent, and new characters developed?

Yes and no.

The returning characters like Lessa and Robinton seem pretty consistent with what we've seen. Mirrim and Manora are familiar faces given new definition and details, which is nice.

Menolly is a well developed character that seems able to hold her own with the others.

As for T'gellan, Elgion, and Half-Circle Hold...more on that in a bit.

So as a sequel goes, I think it holds up nicely. So let's look at the story on its own.

Plot:

It's not a deep story, but it doesn't have to be. Girl is unhappy at home. Girl has adventures in the wilderness with dragons. Girl has adventures at the Weyr. Girl gets what she wants in the end.

It's a pretty satisfying progression. As a kid, I remember liking the survival story in the middle the most. As an adult, I have a new appreciation for the Weyr end of things. It's a lot of fun.

But there are two things that stand out to me as negatives:

1. Elgion is a missed opportunity. I've said before that Elgion could have been an interesting character in his own right. We know Menolly wants to be a Harper. We know Harpers are important. But we don't really have a great idea of what Harpers do aside from the obvious. Music's great and all, but F'lar doesn't keep Robinton on his council because he likes the tunes.

Elgion would have been a great opportunity to show us what Harpering looks like from the inside. The politicking, the social manipulation, the balancing loyalty between one's host Lord and one's guild. We could have gotten to see more of what Menolly wants to get herself into.

Unfortunately, we saw none of that. Elgion's main role in the story is just to look for and bolster Menolly. Even the closest thing we see to a personal ambition: the desire for a fire lizard clutch either for the Weyr or for himself, is basically just there to facilitate Elgion hearing the pipes outside and talking to T'gellan later.

2. The Menolly joins the Harper resolution feels undeserved to me. Not that she doesn't deserve it, of course. But it wasn't important enough within the context of the story.

Menolly is good at music. She likes to play music. Her parents don't like it. That's established at the beginning. But nothing's really done with that. Menolly doesn't leave Half Circle Hold with the ambition of running off and joining the Harpers. She's HAPPY on that beach, scavenging for food and teaching her lizards to sing. She's happy at the Weyr.

There's no indication that Menolly really understands what the Harpers do, aside from play music. And she does nothing to actually facilitate her own desire.

Menolly joining the Harpers is entirely based on OTHER people's initiative: Petiron sends her songs to Robinton. Elgion looks for the mysterious apprentice who trained the students. T'gellan reveals Menolly's talents. Robinton tricks her into exposing them publicly. (Why exactly he couldn't walk up to her and tell her that Petiron sent the songs, I'm not sure. Bards.)

And of course, there's the open question about whether or not sexism is actually an obstacle. Yanus and Mavi disapproved, but Robinton himself seems fine with it. But if the Masterharper himself is fine with female Harpers, why are there no female Harpers? Again, not as much of an issue now, but something that will be a problem later.

Menolly's role as fire lizard expert in the Weyr is very satisfying to me because it feels earned. Menolly is the one who saved the fire lizard queen. Menolly is the one who bonded with nine lizards. Menolly is the one who volunteered the location of the new clutch and went to get it with T'gellan. Menolly is the one who trained her lizards. Menolly is the one who has been observing and cataloging fire lizard behavior.

It's all her doing. And it's a bit annoying to see that swept away for something that I'm honestly not sure she really even wants.

Characters:

Menolly is a great character. I think she represents what McCaffrey had been TRYING to portray with Brekke, but failed. She's sweet and somber, she's very focused on responsibility. She has a teenager's tendency to blow things out of proportion. She's clever and resourceful.

I like Menolly a lot.

I do think McCaffrey tends to err on the side of using the narrative to bolster Menolly unnecessarily though.

I've mentioned this in my last review (the downside to posting the verdict right after the last chapter is that a lot of this gets repetitive), but I think McCaffrey tends to go a little overboard here. She's a music prodigy. Okay, but I think that McCaffrey could have pulled that back a little: what if she'd only had the time and opportunity to focus on one instrument? Then the hand injury becomes more significant. Menolly literally cannot play what she knows anymore. She understands the theory of reed music, but basically has to teach herself during the days? Weeks? That she's on that beach. Since she already knows a lot of music theory, it's probably easier for her than it would be for non-musician, but it still gives her something to work toward.

She could still be an extremely talented musician without necessarily being great at everything right away.

(I sometimes wonder if Rune in Mercedes Lackey's Bardic Voices series isn't meant as a gentle critique on how Menolly's musical talents/ambitions play out here. But that's something for Dragonsinger.)

Nine lizards are very dramatic, but given that the most we've seen any other character have is three, I feel like we could tone that down a little. It's not like any of the lizards have much in the way of personality. But that's a mild complaint, it's still a pretty amazing visual. And I like the role that being the fire lizard expert gives Menolly in the story.

What isn't a mild complaint is the way that the story treats every other character as only existing to further Menolly's story.

The Half Circle Hold people are so frustrating because I started out the story actually praising McCaffrey for giving adversaries some actual nuance for once. Yanus and Mavi were misguided, but we actually got to see inside their heads. We could see, for a fact, that they did actually care about their daughter. They just didn't understand her. They weren't good parents for a sensitive, talented child like Menolly. They couldn't be what she needed. But they weren't themselves bad people.

Until Menolly leaves. Then it's like "Oh, right. Her. Well, she might die. Whatever." Suddenly the story tries to tell us that Mavi sabotaged Menolly's hand on purpose so she couldn't play, when we SAW INSIDE HER HEAD. And she intended nothing of the sort. I appreciate unreliable view point characters, but not when the writer uses them to outright LIE.

Every single character in Half Circle Hold except Elgion and Akemi turns out to be horrible and to be perfectly happy to imagine Menolly dead. Her sister? Sure, why not. That uncle she took care of...to be fair, he isn't even treated as a character. He's a noisy inconvenience. Because god forbid we acknowledge that people suffering from dementia are, you know, STILL PEOPLE.

Alemi exists only to ferry Elgion around and tell him about Menolly in a more sympathetic way.

Elgion's role is as mentioned.

Hell, even MIRRIM. Mirrim was so great for most of this story. She's realistically defined. She has clear flaws, but also obvious strengths. She's determined and empathetic. And the Mirrim-Menolly friendship has been a delight. I've bemoaned the lack of female friendships in Dragonflight and Dragonquest.

Until Mirrim's no longer useful to the story. Suddenly after the Hatching happens, the girls fight about LITERALLY NOTHING, and Mirrim storms off. Which would be fine, teenaged girls fight sometimes, BUT WE NEVER ACTUALLY SEE HER AGAIN.

WHAT THE FUCK?!

It's really annoying because Menolly doesn't need this. She's not Brekke, who literally has no character except as defined against Kylara. Menolly's a good character with a very well developed personality. She would have been fine even if she wasn't the 100% absolute best musician ever (yet). She would have been fine if the other characters had been given full attention.

Overall:

But here's the thing. As much as this style of review makes it very easy to really focus on the negative, there are a lot of positive things about the story too.

Menolly's a good protagonist with a fun adventure story. She has a great personality, she's clever and skilled, and her triumphs are easy to vicariously enjoy. There are no dodgy sexual politics in this one, and no annoying love interest to ruin it. (I feel like her eventual love interest wasn't that bad. But we'll see if the series matches my memory on that score.) It's exactly the kind of story that I loved as a kid, and I still love it now. It passes and has earned a spot on my "to reread soon" list.

And now that I'm done, I really should put together that table of contents for the series. Maybe tomorrow. :-)