Renegades of Pern - Chapter Eleven
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i_read_whatSo last time, I might have had a bit of a breakdown as we learned that the closest thing this book has to main characters had an entire LIFE off page. Including: getting marooned, discovering awesome ruins, getting married, and having a child.
Yeah.
Kind of makes my complaints about the short story seem petty.
I'm going to take a breath though and try not to dwell on negativity. If nothing else, I can honestly say I have no idea where the story is going from here.
We're still on the Southern Continent. Saneter is our viewpoint character. He's...whining about being useless.
Saneter had never felt so ineffective, though since coming to Southern, Toric had given him a good deal of practice. The old harper fervently wished that Piemur was not somewhere tramping through the eastern wilds; that Sharra, who was always clever at diverting her older brother, was not who-knew-where nursing Lord Jaxom of Ruatha Hold. Only the previous day her bronze had arrived with a message reporting that she could not yet leave her patient. Toric had irritably demanded to know how long it took to recover from the disease.
This actually doesn't make sense. I mean, narratively, yeah, Saneter is useless. The Southern plot is a pointless waste of space there so that familiar faces can react to events we already know about from other, sadly better books.
But he's the HARPER of Southern Hold. Why is he not training children, like Menolly or Elgion did? Why is he not sending/receiving messages? (As we'll see in a moment, he definitely has something to report?) And even if he has nothing to contribute to a meeting, shouldn't he be taking notes for Robinton or something, since the Harpers are basically an espionage department.
I'm trying not to take this as an acknowledgement that Harpers actually do jack shit and Robinton is utterly useless. But it's a little annoying.
Especially as we COULD have had a Southern Weyr story all along. Toric setting up his little fiefdom independent of the North and its resources is interesting. Toric at some point paired off with that one lady who was mentioned all of once, way back when. Seeing that develop might have been interesting.
What if some of the Northern Lords' idiot sons actually caused some trouble? What if they tried to stir a rebellion? What if they started scheming with the Old-Timers? What if some set out on their own and got in trouble, leading to possible diplomatic problems?
What if we had more conflict with the Old-Timers?
Any of these plots would have been perfectly workable in this book. We could have had a very interesting parallel between Toric and Thella, both would-be autocrats with a contentious relationship with their local Weyrs, and how both deal with that. We could have had a different parallel with Asgenar, seeing how Toric deals with the rising raids of the increasingly desperate Old-Timers while Asgenar dealt with Thella's raids.
But apparently this plot JUST exists to rehash White Dragon. And I didn't even like White Dragon! It's not really any better retold through other people.
This section by the way is covering the Gathering. Saneter feels useless because T'kul and B'zon are missing from the Weyr. It's making Toric annoyed. The other dragons are making a "dreadful din". They're old and frail, apparently. Which still raises some long time questions about draconic lifespans vs. fire lizards.
It is actually pretty interesting that Toric apparently has spies around the Weyr enough to know that specific people are missing. So of course, we're not going into that. I know, I know. I said I'd try to be positive.
Oh, Toric wants to inform Benden about things but the fire-lizards have fled the dragons' wailing. He's annoyed. Seems like this ads more fuel to Lessa's complaints about their usefulness. Honestly, even TRYING to warn them makes him infinitely more useful than Jaxom ever is.
...it occurs to me that one after effect of Jayge and Aramina's plot is that off-page, they've completely trumped ANY of Jaxom's own discoveries in White Dragon. Before he did it. They make such a big deal about the Landing domes, but the Paradise River ruins are far more intact and useful.
Toric's ranting even as the dragons start keening. Because of course, we got to the dragon deaths. D'ram suddenly appears, which doesn't really mesh with the timeline established in White Dragon, but maybe he Timed it. Whatever.
D'ram fills Toric in, and yep, just as said:
D’ram nodded acknowledgement of Toric’s quandary. ‘T’kul and B’zon brought their bronzes to Caylith’s mating flight, which had been thrown open to decide the new Istan Weyrleader. Salth burst his heart trying to fly the queen…’ D’ram paused, terribly distraught, then sighed heavily and continued without meeting Toric’s eyes. ‘Having nothing to lose by it, T’kul challenged F’lar.’
‘F’lar is dead?’ Toric was appalled, seeing all he had worked so hard to obtain lost through more of T’kul’s stupidity.
We're literally just watching these characters react to events in a better book. And I really do hate that I consider White Dragon to be a better book at this point. What a fucking mess.
It is interesting that Toric cares about F'lar. Threesome jokes aside, it'd be understandable if Toric resented him. Sharra seemed to a bit in WD, after all. F'lar's maneuver, sending the Old-timers south did rob Toric of a) having actual reliable patrols. Grubs protect the ground, sure, but there are a lot of people and things between the sky and the ground that the grubs won't protect, and b) ensure that Toric does not have a dragon messenger instilled in his Court, keeping him isolated from major events.
I like F'lar, I get why he made the decisions he made. But it'd make sense for Toric to be resentful.
D'ram reassures, and Toric is surprisingly diplomatic here:
‘I can’t say I’m sorry T’kul is dead,’ Toric replied, though he was careful to speak with no heat, ‘or Salth. They’ve both run mad and uncontrolled ever since T’ron — and Fidranth — died.’ Toric had struggled to recall T’ron’s dragon’s name. But he was rapidly realizing, and hoping, that F’lar’s appointment of a new Weyrleader heralded the changes he had so long sought: open commerce with the North, allowing his hold to expand as he had always planned.
...why does he need the North or F'lar's permission to expand, again? I mean, they're not here. It's not like F'lar can withhold protection he's not giving. But I'm enjoying getting to see a hint of political concern. Dare I suggest plot?
Mardra comes by to sob hysterically, because McCaffrey can't not be unnecessarily sexist. Poor Mardra, I've ranted endlessly about how bad this series treated her. God forbid she mourn the loss of another of the very few people who came from four hundred years ago with her.
Toric has mixed feelings about the announcement that the Weyr will be "restored". On one hand, anything is an improvement. On the other, they could be a hindrance. The fact that this seems to completely contradict his feelings last paragraph...whatever.
Toric realizes that he needs to contact Piemur and when his queen appears and is very excited, he doesn't listen.
--
God damnit. MORE reflective plot bullshit.
Piemur's at the cove now. Jaxom and Sharra fill him in on the SAME EXACT SHIT D'ram just filled Toric in on. Jesus Christ, McCaffrey. I READ THAT BOOK. I don't need to hear these events twice again over.
This is why I can't believe that McCaffrey didn't include Aramina's short story in this book because she wanted to avoid repetition. SHE IS REPEATING HERSELF JUST FINE. At least TGWHD would have been RELEVANT.
Oh, they also tell Piemur about the heart attack. Surprise, surprise, he is upset and rants. I mean, come on. It'd be one thing if this made Piemur reflect on his own life and change something. But no.
This is just an excuse to praise Robinton in a backhanded way:
‘That arrogant, addlepated, insufferably egotistical, altruistic know-it-all!’ Piemur shouted, springing to his feet. ‘He thinks Pern won’t manage without his meddling, without him knowing everything that happens in every Hold and Hall on the entire planet, North and South! He won’t eat properly, he doesn’t rest enough, and he won’t let us help him even though we could probably do the same job even better than he can because we have more sense in our left toenails than he does.’ He knew that Sharra and Jaxom were staring at him, but he could not stop. ‘He’s wasteful of his strength, he never listens to anyone, even when we try to get him to see sense, and he’s got this wild idea that only he, the Masterharper of Pern, has any idea of the destiny of Weyr, Hold, and Hall. Well, this serves him right. Maybe now he’ll listen. Maybe now…’
Honestly, you COULD do a better job than him. Sebell too. Give it a try.
Anyway, they reassure him that the dragons wouldn't let Robinton die. And the firelizards are all delighted. Because...why actually? Why do random fire lizards care about Robinton? Farli, okay, sure. Even though I'm not sure why she'd be happy before Piemur calms down enough to understand. But why would Sharra's lizards care?
Piemur shares his own adventures, omitting Jayge and Ara. He realizes he'll need to confide in someone about them, and plans to do so with Sebell. Again, not surprising.
Jaxom explains the firehead. This is by the way his first appearance in the book. The book actually doesn't bother to explain much of anything about Jaxom. He's just here. Unfortunately.
Piemur sees the undercurrents between Jaxom and Sharra, which is pretty good since there really wasn't anything in the actual dialogue at this time to show Sharra's feelings at all. But he does know her.
Piemur knew that, but he just did not like the idea of Sharra and Jaxom together. Perhaps Toric saw it another way. An alliance with the Ruathan Bloodline, and a kinship with the Benden Weyrwoman, Lessa, might prove invaluable to him.
Basically. Though Jaxom is too useless to actually use this. It is amusing that Piemur has a better grasp of political concerns than Jaxom does. And I wish they actually had done something with this implicit love triangle. It might have actually given us a reason why Sharra bothered to leave for Ruatha.
...god damnit. I just realized, that's probably going to be the point of this book. We're going to see her get mad at Toric and decide to leave everything she loves to join fucking Jaxom up North. McCaffrey can probably make that work, but I resent that we've lost all the better stories to accommodate Jaxom's stupid fucking non-romance.
Sorry.
There's more stuff here with Jaxom, Sharra and Piemur, but it's pretty much stuff we already saw in White Dragon. The only notable thing is that Toric sends some impatient messages telling Sharra to come back, while Piemur offers her the excuse of helping him with mapping. If it's really urgent, D'ram can find them.
As annoyed as I am at everything else, I really like that Piemur's getting this moment to be a really good friend. He might not care for Jaxom and Sharra's romance (though there's a note that "in an absurd way, he was enjoying being a third wheel") but he cares about Sharra's happiness. He's still outshining Jaxom in every way that matters.
But this still basically reads like deleted scenes from White Dragon. They hike, they find eggs, Jaxom nearly faints at one point, which makes Piemur feel guilty for accidently risking Jaxom's recovery. I can't think of a single time when Jaxom ever showed any similar concern for any other person besides Jaxom, so I appreciate the contrast.
But still. This is pointless and annoying.
F'nor shows up at some point with other riders to rebuild the Cove. Piemur has mixed feelings. Again, nothing different from White Dragon. It's the same damn story. And not even a good one. The only upside is that Piemur doesn't mention the goddamn egg.
I'm seriously skipping pages here. I'll let you know when I get ANYTHING new.
Eventually the Cove Hold Hall is built. Yay. Piemur had spent most of the time elsewhere, being not great with people. Something that doesn't really make sense given the hash this book made of his personal timeline, but that was last chapter's rant. Leaving it alone.
We get a tour, it's magnificent. We've seen it before.
Piemur is anxious about meeting Robinton again, worrying he'll "dwindle" the way T'ron had, becoming aged and bowed overnight. Don't worry, Robinton is McCaffrey's absolute favorite. He'll be fine.
Blah, blah, party. Menolly's there somewhere. Piemur feels isolated. Robinton bellows at him to report. And...we actually don't even get that reunion. We change scenes. (Probably because, from Piemur's POV, there'd be no way hide that Robinton is a fucking dick.)
--
I'm sorry, I just really want this book done. Maybe the next one will be better.
--
So back at Southern Hold. D'ram, Sebell and N'ton are there to speak to Toric. N'ton, by the way, is Fort Weyrleader now. I'm not sure I knew that before, but given that T'bor was useless, I'm happy about that.
I shouldn't bitch because this part's actually interesting. We're getting actual politics now and it's not repetitive!
Recently there had been much coming and going of dragonriders bringing supplies and people and generally working on D’ram’s promised restoration of the Southern Weyr. The newly augmented wings had begun to fly regular practice flights. The Weyrhall had been scrubbed and painted by the younger riders, and encroaching forest growth had been trimmed from individual weyrs. D’ram had been exceedingly circumspect, but took entirely too much notice, Toric thought, of what went on in the Hold. Far too much.
See? THIS is interesting. Why couldn't we have interesting bits all along?
D'ram starts off by apologizing for the "abuses and incivilities" that Toric suffered under the Oldtimers. This leads into D'ram basically saying that the Dragonriders will be hunting. They'll avoid Toric's territory and livestock. But they'll be flying overhead.
Toric isn't all that pleased about that, like Thella, in a way. But he mulls over it further.
Sebell has a gift that genuinely does please Toric - his own distance-viewer! Sebell promises he'll be able to see the length and breadth of his hold with that...how big IS Southern Hold then. Either these holds are much smaller than I thought, or McCaffrey has no sense of scale. Could be either. Either way, I like seeing Sebell as diplomat.
They also intend to open trade and are very interested in the deposits Toric found. Toric had wanted trade, but he also reads the room:
No, it was not compensation he was getting, Toric reflected. No matter how smoothly their ideas were presented, his full cooperation was expected. Those bloody Oldtimers and that wretched queen egg had done him more damage than he had supposed! But he could make certain not to lose so much as a fingerlength of land he already held, or the riches above and below the soil. He also knew the place N’ton must have seen. Sharra had reported it to him the previous Turn. He had marked the huge lake and the three rivers that flowed from it on his private map. He must be very careful. He must seem to cooperate while sending reliable men and women to hold what ought to be his.
I really do like this a lot. And if we'd seen more of this politicking, beyond just Toric griping at Piemur with no momentum, I'd have been much happier all along. THIS is cool! Even I suspect I'm supposed to agree less with Toric than I actually do.
But it's fun to see him work. He isn't happy with these new developments, but he sees advantages too. His ability to scout his land has been limited, if he makes friends with N'ton, that means a big increase in what he can learn. He's wise enough to pretend geniality and make his own plans.
Ugh, back to the Cove. Because why focus on the useful, interesting, and new shit when we can replay White Dragon.
Robinton convenes a meeting of Jaxom, Piemur, Sharra and Menolly. He wants to find evidence of the original inhabitants of the Continent. I actually feel like this is a retcon. I don't remember this being a goal in White Dragon. At least not until they already fly to the other side of the mountain.
Also, Jaxom had his own fucking book. Please stop putting his deleted scenes in this book when there are far more interesting people to explore!
But this is a little worse because it's starting to sound like McCaffrey is giving JAXOM's plans for exploring to Robinton, and making them ROBINTON's idea. I can't believe I'm saying this: but that's not really fair to Jaxom. The drive to explore was like the only thing he had, McCaffrey. Stop taking that away.
Robinton, we're told, is very full of projects. He wants them to explore - Jaxom going ahead on Ruth to settle a new camp and do a survey, Piemur and the girls following. Again, things that were already happening in White Dragon, but with the initiative removed.
Because god forbid she make Robinton interesting in his own right. She has to have him rob achievements of her own Marty Stu!
OMG, LOOK AT THIS NONSENSE.
That very night a viewing took place, the instrument mounted on a frame erected on a high point of the stony eastern tip of the cove. And what they learned in their first clear view of the Dawn Sisters made, in Piemur’s eyes, the discovery of Paradise River insignificant. For those stars were no stars at all! They were man-made objects — and very likely they were artifacts of those mysterious Southern ancestors. Perhaps they were even the actual vehicles that had brought those ancestors to Pern in the beginning. And when Piemur got his turn to gaze through the device, he felt his heart leap at the splendor he glimpsed.
NO, that's not more significant than an entire intact ruin.
BUT ALSO. PIEMUR OBSERVED THIS ALREADY. HE TOLD JAXOM AND SHARRA WHEN HE ARRIVED, IN WHITE DRAGON. ROBINTON OBSERVED IT FOR BULLSHIT REASONS ON THE SHIP AT THE SAME TIME, AND I BITCHED.
It was bullshit to have Robinton happen to see Piemur's discovery for no reason, but this is worse! Leave Piemur alone!!!
Thankfully, the chapter ends here.
How could a promising book fall so far, so fast???
Yeah.
Kind of makes my complaints about the short story seem petty.
I'm going to take a breath though and try not to dwell on negativity. If nothing else, I can honestly say I have no idea where the story is going from here.
We're still on the Southern Continent. Saneter is our viewpoint character. He's...whining about being useless.
Saneter had never felt so ineffective, though since coming to Southern, Toric had given him a good deal of practice. The old harper fervently wished that Piemur was not somewhere tramping through the eastern wilds; that Sharra, who was always clever at diverting her older brother, was not who-knew-where nursing Lord Jaxom of Ruatha Hold. Only the previous day her bronze had arrived with a message reporting that she could not yet leave her patient. Toric had irritably demanded to know how long it took to recover from the disease.
This actually doesn't make sense. I mean, narratively, yeah, Saneter is useless. The Southern plot is a pointless waste of space there so that familiar faces can react to events we already know about from other, sadly better books.
But he's the HARPER of Southern Hold. Why is he not training children, like Menolly or Elgion did? Why is he not sending/receiving messages? (As we'll see in a moment, he definitely has something to report?) And even if he has nothing to contribute to a meeting, shouldn't he be taking notes for Robinton or something, since the Harpers are basically an espionage department.
I'm trying not to take this as an acknowledgement that Harpers actually do jack shit and Robinton is utterly useless. But it's a little annoying.
Especially as we COULD have had a Southern Weyr story all along. Toric setting up his little fiefdom independent of the North and its resources is interesting. Toric at some point paired off with that one lady who was mentioned all of once, way back when. Seeing that develop might have been interesting.
What if some of the Northern Lords' idiot sons actually caused some trouble? What if they tried to stir a rebellion? What if they started scheming with the Old-Timers? What if some set out on their own and got in trouble, leading to possible diplomatic problems?
What if we had more conflict with the Old-Timers?
Any of these plots would have been perfectly workable in this book. We could have had a very interesting parallel between Toric and Thella, both would-be autocrats with a contentious relationship with their local Weyrs, and how both deal with that. We could have had a different parallel with Asgenar, seeing how Toric deals with the rising raids of the increasingly desperate Old-Timers while Asgenar dealt with Thella's raids.
But apparently this plot JUST exists to rehash White Dragon. And I didn't even like White Dragon! It's not really any better retold through other people.
This section by the way is covering the Gathering. Saneter feels useless because T'kul and B'zon are missing from the Weyr. It's making Toric annoyed. The other dragons are making a "dreadful din". They're old and frail, apparently. Which still raises some long time questions about draconic lifespans vs. fire lizards.
It is actually pretty interesting that Toric apparently has spies around the Weyr enough to know that specific people are missing. So of course, we're not going into that. I know, I know. I said I'd try to be positive.
Oh, Toric wants to inform Benden about things but the fire-lizards have fled the dragons' wailing. He's annoyed. Seems like this ads more fuel to Lessa's complaints about their usefulness. Honestly, even TRYING to warn them makes him infinitely more useful than Jaxom ever is.
...it occurs to me that one after effect of Jayge and Aramina's plot is that off-page, they've completely trumped ANY of Jaxom's own discoveries in White Dragon. Before he did it. They make such a big deal about the Landing domes, but the Paradise River ruins are far more intact and useful.
Toric's ranting even as the dragons start keening. Because of course, we got to the dragon deaths. D'ram suddenly appears, which doesn't really mesh with the timeline established in White Dragon, but maybe he Timed it. Whatever.
D'ram fills Toric in, and yep, just as said:
D’ram nodded acknowledgement of Toric’s quandary. ‘T’kul and B’zon brought their bronzes to Caylith’s mating flight, which had been thrown open to decide the new Istan Weyrleader. Salth burst his heart trying to fly the queen…’ D’ram paused, terribly distraught, then sighed heavily and continued without meeting Toric’s eyes. ‘Having nothing to lose by it, T’kul challenged F’lar.’
‘F’lar is dead?’ Toric was appalled, seeing all he had worked so hard to obtain lost through more of T’kul’s stupidity.
We're literally just watching these characters react to events in a better book. And I really do hate that I consider White Dragon to be a better book at this point. What a fucking mess.
It is interesting that Toric cares about F'lar. Threesome jokes aside, it'd be understandable if Toric resented him. Sharra seemed to a bit in WD, after all. F'lar's maneuver, sending the Old-timers south did rob Toric of a) having actual reliable patrols. Grubs protect the ground, sure, but there are a lot of people and things between the sky and the ground that the grubs won't protect, and b) ensure that Toric does not have a dragon messenger instilled in his Court, keeping him isolated from major events.
I like F'lar, I get why he made the decisions he made. But it'd make sense for Toric to be resentful.
D'ram reassures, and Toric is surprisingly diplomatic here:
‘I can’t say I’m sorry T’kul is dead,’ Toric replied, though he was careful to speak with no heat, ‘or Salth. They’ve both run mad and uncontrolled ever since T’ron — and Fidranth — died.’ Toric had struggled to recall T’ron’s dragon’s name. But he was rapidly realizing, and hoping, that F’lar’s appointment of a new Weyrleader heralded the changes he had so long sought: open commerce with the North, allowing his hold to expand as he had always planned.
...why does he need the North or F'lar's permission to expand, again? I mean, they're not here. It's not like F'lar can withhold protection he's not giving. But I'm enjoying getting to see a hint of political concern. Dare I suggest plot?
Mardra comes by to sob hysterically, because McCaffrey can't not be unnecessarily sexist. Poor Mardra, I've ranted endlessly about how bad this series treated her. God forbid she mourn the loss of another of the very few people who came from four hundred years ago with her.
Toric has mixed feelings about the announcement that the Weyr will be "restored". On one hand, anything is an improvement. On the other, they could be a hindrance. The fact that this seems to completely contradict his feelings last paragraph...whatever.
Toric realizes that he needs to contact Piemur and when his queen appears and is very excited, he doesn't listen.
--
God damnit. MORE reflective plot bullshit.
Piemur's at the cove now. Jaxom and Sharra fill him in on the SAME EXACT SHIT D'ram just filled Toric in on. Jesus Christ, McCaffrey. I READ THAT BOOK. I don't need to hear these events twice again over.
This is why I can't believe that McCaffrey didn't include Aramina's short story in this book because she wanted to avoid repetition. SHE IS REPEATING HERSELF JUST FINE. At least TGWHD would have been RELEVANT.
Oh, they also tell Piemur about the heart attack. Surprise, surprise, he is upset and rants. I mean, come on. It'd be one thing if this made Piemur reflect on his own life and change something. But no.
This is just an excuse to praise Robinton in a backhanded way:
‘That arrogant, addlepated, insufferably egotistical, altruistic know-it-all!’ Piemur shouted, springing to his feet. ‘He thinks Pern won’t manage without his meddling, without him knowing everything that happens in every Hold and Hall on the entire planet, North and South! He won’t eat properly, he doesn’t rest enough, and he won’t let us help him even though we could probably do the same job even better than he can because we have more sense in our left toenails than he does.’ He knew that Sharra and Jaxom were staring at him, but he could not stop. ‘He’s wasteful of his strength, he never listens to anyone, even when we try to get him to see sense, and he’s got this wild idea that only he, the Masterharper of Pern, has any idea of the destiny of Weyr, Hold, and Hall. Well, this serves him right. Maybe now he’ll listen. Maybe now…’
Honestly, you COULD do a better job than him. Sebell too. Give it a try.
Anyway, they reassure him that the dragons wouldn't let Robinton die. And the firelizards are all delighted. Because...why actually? Why do random fire lizards care about Robinton? Farli, okay, sure. Even though I'm not sure why she'd be happy before Piemur calms down enough to understand. But why would Sharra's lizards care?
Piemur shares his own adventures, omitting Jayge and Ara. He realizes he'll need to confide in someone about them, and plans to do so with Sebell. Again, not surprising.
Jaxom explains the firehead. This is by the way his first appearance in the book. The book actually doesn't bother to explain much of anything about Jaxom. He's just here. Unfortunately.
Piemur sees the undercurrents between Jaxom and Sharra, which is pretty good since there really wasn't anything in the actual dialogue at this time to show Sharra's feelings at all. But he does know her.
Piemur knew that, but he just did not like the idea of Sharra and Jaxom together. Perhaps Toric saw it another way. An alliance with the Ruathan Bloodline, and a kinship with the Benden Weyrwoman, Lessa, might prove invaluable to him.
Basically. Though Jaxom is too useless to actually use this. It is amusing that Piemur has a better grasp of political concerns than Jaxom does. And I wish they actually had done something with this implicit love triangle. It might have actually given us a reason why Sharra bothered to leave for Ruatha.
...god damnit. I just realized, that's probably going to be the point of this book. We're going to see her get mad at Toric and decide to leave everything she loves to join fucking Jaxom up North. McCaffrey can probably make that work, but I resent that we've lost all the better stories to accommodate Jaxom's stupid fucking non-romance.
Sorry.
There's more stuff here with Jaxom, Sharra and Piemur, but it's pretty much stuff we already saw in White Dragon. The only notable thing is that Toric sends some impatient messages telling Sharra to come back, while Piemur offers her the excuse of helping him with mapping. If it's really urgent, D'ram can find them.
As annoyed as I am at everything else, I really like that Piemur's getting this moment to be a really good friend. He might not care for Jaxom and Sharra's romance (though there's a note that "in an absurd way, he was enjoying being a third wheel") but he cares about Sharra's happiness. He's still outshining Jaxom in every way that matters.
But this still basically reads like deleted scenes from White Dragon. They hike, they find eggs, Jaxom nearly faints at one point, which makes Piemur feel guilty for accidently risking Jaxom's recovery. I can't think of a single time when Jaxom ever showed any similar concern for any other person besides Jaxom, so I appreciate the contrast.
But still. This is pointless and annoying.
F'nor shows up at some point with other riders to rebuild the Cove. Piemur has mixed feelings. Again, nothing different from White Dragon. It's the same damn story. And not even a good one. The only upside is that Piemur doesn't mention the goddamn egg.
I'm seriously skipping pages here. I'll let you know when I get ANYTHING new.
Eventually the Cove Hold Hall is built. Yay. Piemur had spent most of the time elsewhere, being not great with people. Something that doesn't really make sense given the hash this book made of his personal timeline, but that was last chapter's rant. Leaving it alone.
We get a tour, it's magnificent. We've seen it before.
Piemur is anxious about meeting Robinton again, worrying he'll "dwindle" the way T'ron had, becoming aged and bowed overnight. Don't worry, Robinton is McCaffrey's absolute favorite. He'll be fine.
Blah, blah, party. Menolly's there somewhere. Piemur feels isolated. Robinton bellows at him to report. And...we actually don't even get that reunion. We change scenes. (Probably because, from Piemur's POV, there'd be no way hide that Robinton is a fucking dick.)
--
I'm sorry, I just really want this book done. Maybe the next one will be better.
--
So back at Southern Hold. D'ram, Sebell and N'ton are there to speak to Toric. N'ton, by the way, is Fort Weyrleader now. I'm not sure I knew that before, but given that T'bor was useless, I'm happy about that.
I shouldn't bitch because this part's actually interesting. We're getting actual politics now and it's not repetitive!
Recently there had been much coming and going of dragonriders bringing supplies and people and generally working on D’ram’s promised restoration of the Southern Weyr. The newly augmented wings had begun to fly regular practice flights. The Weyrhall had been scrubbed and painted by the younger riders, and encroaching forest growth had been trimmed from individual weyrs. D’ram had been exceedingly circumspect, but took entirely too much notice, Toric thought, of what went on in the Hold. Far too much.
See? THIS is interesting. Why couldn't we have interesting bits all along?
D'ram starts off by apologizing for the "abuses and incivilities" that Toric suffered under the Oldtimers. This leads into D'ram basically saying that the Dragonriders will be hunting. They'll avoid Toric's territory and livestock. But they'll be flying overhead.
Toric isn't all that pleased about that, like Thella, in a way. But he mulls over it further.
Sebell has a gift that genuinely does please Toric - his own distance-viewer! Sebell promises he'll be able to see the length and breadth of his hold with that...how big IS Southern Hold then. Either these holds are much smaller than I thought, or McCaffrey has no sense of scale. Could be either. Either way, I like seeing Sebell as diplomat.
They also intend to open trade and are very interested in the deposits Toric found. Toric had wanted trade, but he also reads the room:
No, it was not compensation he was getting, Toric reflected. No matter how smoothly their ideas were presented, his full cooperation was expected. Those bloody Oldtimers and that wretched queen egg had done him more damage than he had supposed! But he could make certain not to lose so much as a fingerlength of land he already held, or the riches above and below the soil. He also knew the place N’ton must have seen. Sharra had reported it to him the previous Turn. He had marked the huge lake and the three rivers that flowed from it on his private map. He must be very careful. He must seem to cooperate while sending reliable men and women to hold what ought to be his.
I really do like this a lot. And if we'd seen more of this politicking, beyond just Toric griping at Piemur with no momentum, I'd have been much happier all along. THIS is cool! Even I suspect I'm supposed to agree less with Toric than I actually do.
But it's fun to see him work. He isn't happy with these new developments, but he sees advantages too. His ability to scout his land has been limited, if he makes friends with N'ton, that means a big increase in what he can learn. He's wise enough to pretend geniality and make his own plans.
Ugh, back to the Cove. Because why focus on the useful, interesting, and new shit when we can replay White Dragon.
Robinton convenes a meeting of Jaxom, Piemur, Sharra and Menolly. He wants to find evidence of the original inhabitants of the Continent. I actually feel like this is a retcon. I don't remember this being a goal in White Dragon. At least not until they already fly to the other side of the mountain.
Also, Jaxom had his own fucking book. Please stop putting his deleted scenes in this book when there are far more interesting people to explore!
But this is a little worse because it's starting to sound like McCaffrey is giving JAXOM's plans for exploring to Robinton, and making them ROBINTON's idea. I can't believe I'm saying this: but that's not really fair to Jaxom. The drive to explore was like the only thing he had, McCaffrey. Stop taking that away.
Robinton, we're told, is very full of projects. He wants them to explore - Jaxom going ahead on Ruth to settle a new camp and do a survey, Piemur and the girls following. Again, things that were already happening in White Dragon, but with the initiative removed.
Because god forbid she make Robinton interesting in his own right. She has to have him rob achievements of her own Marty Stu!
OMG, LOOK AT THIS NONSENSE.
That very night a viewing took place, the instrument mounted on a frame erected on a high point of the stony eastern tip of the cove. And what they learned in their first clear view of the Dawn Sisters made, in Piemur’s eyes, the discovery of Paradise River insignificant. For those stars were no stars at all! They were man-made objects — and very likely they were artifacts of those mysterious Southern ancestors. Perhaps they were even the actual vehicles that had brought those ancestors to Pern in the beginning. And when Piemur got his turn to gaze through the device, he felt his heart leap at the splendor he glimpsed.
NO, that's not more significant than an entire intact ruin.
BUT ALSO. PIEMUR OBSERVED THIS ALREADY. HE TOLD JAXOM AND SHARRA WHEN HE ARRIVED, IN WHITE DRAGON. ROBINTON OBSERVED IT FOR BULLSHIT REASONS ON THE SHIP AT THE SAME TIME, AND I BITCHED.
It was bullshit to have Robinton happen to see Piemur's discovery for no reason, but this is worse! Leave Piemur alone!!!
Thankfully, the chapter ends here.
How could a promising book fall so far, so fast???
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Date: 2024-03-09 02:33 am (UTC)= Multi-Facets.
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Date: 2024-03-09 05:45 am (UTC)I don't think a rehash is necessarily bad, but it needs to bring something to the table. McCaffrey's done this well in other contexts. The first few paragraphs of Damia is basically a retelling of the second half of the Rowan, from another perspective. But it does actually accomplish something - giving us an idea of the behind the scenes dealing, fleshing out an important background character, and introducing a few elements that would be relevant to Damia as a whole story.
It also helped, I think, that the rehash was at the beginning and once that was done, the story went in its own direction. This...isn't that.
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Date: 2024-03-09 02:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-09 05:42 pm (UTC)