The White Dragon - Verdict

[kalinara]

So it's time for the verdict. I suppose this can't be a surprise to anyone who's been following my reviews, but no. White Dragon did not pass the test of time.

It's frustrating because there are things I genuinely enjoy about this book:

I liked the increased focus on politics, and the fact that the Lord Holders are getting more focus, and have their own goals and interest.

I liked how we've been revisiting decisions made in Dragonquest, such as the exile of the Oldtimers, and the whole renewed interest in the Southern Continent as a whole.

I especially liked seeing F'lar and Lessa as the leaders of the Weyr, and as both a combined and a separate force to be reckoned with.

But I still disliked the book. Let's talk about why. First, the characters:


So the biggest problem of the book is Jaxom. Jaxom is fucking terrible. He's an arrogant little twerp who gets everything he wants and yet is never satisfied with it. He treats women like dirt. He balks at the slightest hint of criticism. He ignores his genuine responsibilities and gets irked when he's not given immediate recognition for his triumphs.

And this would be fine, IF Ms. McCaffrey would acknowledge these flaws. But she seems to think she's written this sympathetic underdog.

But the thing is, no kid who was born to rule a kingdom and has a fucking dragon is going to be a fucking underdog. And that's not a bad thing! But because of this, Jaxom never gets the lesson he actually needs.

We're supposed to be happy that Jaxom decides, finally, that he wants to rule his kingdom. But this is an eleventh-hour change that seems solely because his girlfriend's brother disapproves of him. At no point in the ten chapters previous does Jaxom even THINK of the kingdom he's supposed to run.

Jaxom uses a girl, discards her, then gets creepily fixated on another, and we're supposed to be invested in this relationship? And that's not even getting started on the fucked up thread about Ruth's sexuality, which most of the time isn't even a thing, except when it bothers Jaxom enough to get Ruth to procure women for him. UGH.

And when it comes to heroism. Well, look, rescuing the egg was a good thing. But it was the ONLY thing he managed to accomplish in 18 chapters. And he never let us forget about it. We're SUPPOSED to see him as modest and self-effacing, but that only works if it doesn't get mentioned EVERY CHAPTER.

SHUT UP ABOUT THE FUCKING EGG.

Robinton is not quite as bad, but he's still pretty obnoxious. He's all knowing, all wise, even when he shouldn't be. Robinton is Always Right. Even when there's no actual basis for his knowledge. And I maintain that he was a dick to F'lar and Lessa and got to escape apologizing because of his bullshit heart attack.

And don't get me started on poor Menolly. I may not have liked Dragonsinger, but that wasn't Menolly's fault. I liked HER. But White Dragon's Menolly is just...sorry...a bitch. She's nasty to Piemur and Mirrim. She's nasty to Jaxom (but he's as bad to her so it's less noticeable). And while I was pretty happy to see her in a relationship with Sebell, McCaffrey ruined that with the whole Robinton thing. "I loved you first."

I'm so glad poor Sebell is your distant second choice.

It's fascinating to me that Mirrim is portrayed as being abrasive and unlikeable, when Menolly is far worse to more people.

I didn't hate everyone though. Piemur was fun! Mirrim too! Poor thing. And Toric is a really interesting adversary. In a better book, he would have been a far bigger presence in the story, as a parallel to Jaxom. The man who built his own powerbase versus the kid who's just handed his and barely wants it. The problem though is that it's hard to look at that set up and side with Jaxom. Toric may be "Fax-like", but he lacks the tendency to conquer other people and commit mass murder. So I'm okay with him.

--

So let's talk about Plot:

There's more plot than Dragonsinger but that's not saying much. It's a similar problem really: there's the set up for a much better plot that never quite delivers.

I LIKE stories about reluctant people in positions of power, learning responsibility and wisdom. I was looking forward to seeing Jaxom grow into his role as Lord Holder of Ruatha. And unfortunately, I never really got to see it.

There's a lot we didn't see. And a lot of this book is devoted to absolutely nothing. Jaxom steals the egg in Chapter Six. The mating flight where Robinton almost dies is Chapter Fourteen. They find the Plateau in Chapter Nineteen. That's basically all that actually happens. The rest of the book is Jaxom roaming around, doing what he wants with no consequences.

I am however a little amazed at how McCaffrey continually manage to top her terrible relationships each book.

In Dragonflight, we had F'lar and Lessa, who had a really great dynamic, except for the moments of rape and abuse. Granted, that's a big "except". Thankfully, now that they're not leads anymore, we see no sign of the latter.

In Dragonquest, we had F'nor and Brekke, who had none of F'lar and Lessa's charm, lots of F'nor belittling and dismissing his love interest, and a rape scene that lacked any of the ambiguity of a mating flight.

Now, in White Dragon, we get Jaxom raping a girl who isn't even his love interest. And I realize that that's a weird thing to say. It's probably a good thing, except that this means Corana doesn't EVEN get the focus or narrative respect that Lessa or Brekke got. Before the rape, Menolly and Jaxom basically talked about her like she was a fucking blow up doll. After the rape, she didn't even get that. She's there only for Jaxom to tell us how Sharra deserves better treatment. And it's not like Sharra really got much by way of development in her own right.

And don't get me started on the gross unnecessary Robinton/Menolly bullshit.

This is supposed to be the conclusion of the original dragonriders of pern trilogy. But this feels more like a side story rather than a genuine conclusion. I'm realizing why I liked All the Weyrs of Pern instead. At least THAT was a conclusion!