Dragonsong - Chapter Ten
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i_read_whatSo last time, Menolly got rescued by a dragonrider which was neat, and I got annoyed at storyline contrivances again. That said, for all of my complaints, this is one of the most readable books I've reviewed for this blog.
And I'm not just saying that because it's paired with Shapechangers.
So we start the chapter, appropriately enough, with Menolly waking up. She hears crooning in her ear, which she identifies as Beauty. Beauty disappears though, as soon as someone comes into the room. Menolly's relieved by that, though I'm not sure why. Maybe she thinks she'll get in trouble for having fire lizards?
Menolly lies, saying her feet only hurt a little. The woman tending her tells her they'd given her fellis juice because she'd cut her feet to ribbons. Ouch. But apparently they'll be fine in a "sevenday".
...I've never really understood why these authors don't just use "week"? I mean, I get it if the fantasy world uses a different timeframe structure, like ten days vs. seven. It is easy for a reader to lose a detail like that. But we have weeks. Moreover, they're a colony from Earth, so they should have weeks. It's not the kind of word that should drop out of usage.
Anyway, per the woman, T'gran thinks she's the fastest runner in Pern. Thread is a very good motivator.
The woman returns with stew: it's Manora, who we might remember being warm and maternal in Dragonflight, and kind of creepy in Dragonquest. I'm actually wondering how she has time to be here, since Dragonquest told us that she and F'nor were basically hovering over poor Brekke 24/7. But then, I'm glad Brekke is apparently getting a little peace.
Manora's good here though, welcoming and comforting without being too cloying about it. She tells Menolly that she can stay at Benden. Menolly eats some of her food, until Beauty appears and is pathetically hungry. Menolly gives the rest over to her. I hope Beauty has another source of food or this arrangement will be a problem.
Then again, fire lizards are basically cats, and there's nothing a cat does better than try to convince humans that they're pathetically mistreated for attention. Menolly tells Beauty that she shouldn't be seen.
Later a new character comes to help Menolly: a girl her own age with prim dark hair and a sad, tired face. This is Mirrim, who we met briefly in Dragonquest. (Brekke's student). She's already more interesting than Brekke ever was, because we get to see her be cranky at someone. But she's friendly to Menolly.
THANK YOU, Ms. McCaffrey. I didn't know how much I needed to see someone in this series actually make a female friend.
Mirrim seems to be a pretty good nursemaid. She's brisk and efficient, and maybe a little too honest with Menolly about how gross her feet look right now. But she's confident in Menolly's eventual recovery. Honestly, she's everything we were told Brekke was as a Weyrwoman, but never really got to see (because we were stuck with F'nor's useless, minimizing point of view.) I like her a lot.
Menolly's panic over the idea of infection gets her talking about her hand. Mirrim takes a look and tells her that she was lucky to miss the tendons. Interestingly, she doesn't actually seem that worried about the hand. Just critical of the nursing job. On one hand, that bodes well for Menolly's recovery and I'm glad. On another, I'm a little sad that the one legitimate challenge Menolly has to her musical dreams is likely going to be temporary.
We already know Menolly's an amazing musician who plays any instrument and writes Masterharper-impressing songs. I just wish there was something she was bad at, so that there'd be room for her to grow. Again, less of a problem here, but it will be more obviously one in the sequel, as I recall.
So here's where we get what might be teenage paranoia or a clumsy attempt to retcon:
As Menolly worked her way through the generous meal Mirrim brought, she reflected on some harsh truths. Definitely Mavi had given her the distinct impression that she’d never be able to use her hand again. Yet Mavi was too skilled a healer not to have known that the knife had missed the finger tendons. She had deliberately let the hand heal with drawn flesh. It was painfully clear to Menolly that Mavi, as well as Yanus, had not wanted her to be able to play again.
Okay no. We saw Menolly's injury from Mavi's point of view. She was genuinely worried, and honestly believed Menolly might not be able to play again. I would be willing to accept that this was just an example of a teenager believing the worst, but given the nuance Ms. McCaffrey has been giving to Half Circle Hold lately, I wouldn't be surprised if she decided Menolly was right. I feel like I remember characters like Manora backing up Menolly's belief.
But now we see why Ms. McCaffrey wrote Half Circle Hold the way she did: so Menolly can grimly vow to never return. If she can't stay at Benden, she'll run and live holdless. She could even run to Fort Hold. This bit of childish fancy is pretty entertaining actually. But she's certain she won't return home.
Look, that's fair enough. Based on how they "support" her, I wouldn't return home either. But I still don't think we needed to see them all turn into indifferent assholes who'd leave a child to die to justify that!
But enough with that, Menolly's at the Weyr, and this is one of my favorite parts of the book.
Menolly starts healing up, which is good. She's starting to get impatient even. And she's very worried about her fire lizards. But fortunately when Beauty, and later Rocky and Diver come to see her, they all seem content. (This reminds me that I still don't really think Ms. McCaffrey needed to give Menolly NINE lizards, when only three or four play significant roles. But the swarm does at least look cool.)
Mirrim helps Menolly find something to do, and she ends up entertaining the Weyr children. We're told that Weyrbred children are "more active physically, possessed of insatiable curiosity for every detail she cared to tell them". Of course Weyr kids are better just like Weyr life is better. And yet, it's still presented as a wise thing to recruit from Holds instead. What kind of life is set for these kids I wonder if and when they don't Impress?
Menolly also has a happy realization that she can hum and whistle whenever she wants, because no one will know that these are her songs, rather than something she heard back at home. She also starts being aware of the emotional undercurrents of the Weyr: they're "waiting", and Mirrim is really worried about Brekke.
Menolly gets filled in by Sanra, the other person taking care of the kids. She tells her about the accident of the queens. Kylara gets the blame of course. (I STILL think that's unfair. Even other Weyrwomen had thought she was far enough away!). We're told that Kylara lost her mind and they're afraid Brekke will lose hers too.
I wonder who is caring for Kylara now? I'm a little leery about what this fucked up society would consider appropriate mental health treatment.
Menolly expresses sympathy for Brekke, while Sanra sniffs in pique about how "Mirrim likes to think she's got the cares of the Weyr on her shoulders." Wow, that's kind of catty. Menolly defends Mirrim though. Good. I like this friendship.
Sanra also tells her about Lessa's plan, which they think will succeed since she can speak to dragons the way Lessa can. Ugh. That's still really fucking annoying, by the way. I don't mind that Lessa's talent is not exclusive, but I feel like McCaffrey had done a good job explaining why it existed. Brekke just has it because all of the "special" heroines have it.
Anyway, Mirrim comes back, and Menolly does admit that she can be officious, but she's also very capable. Menolly feels guilty about causing Mirrim more work, and offers to change her own bandages, but Mirrim won't hear of it. Mirrim likes having Menolly as a patient.
I like Mirrim a lot. She makes an instant impact as a character. She's neither a caricature or a set of virtues wrapped in a dress. If Brekke had been written like Mirrim, or hell, even Menolly, I'd have been far more invested in Dragonquest.
Mirrim also praises Menolly for teaching the kids to make little boats, which apparently the dragons have been snorting across the lake, having a grand time.
The next day: Menolly gets to go help out in the kitchen. She and Mirrim bond a bit more when Menolly brings up Brekke. Mirrim is really worried about her. She's also worried about F'nor, who "cares so much." Man, fuck F'nor.
Menolly almost tells Mirrim about the fire lizards while comforting her but catches herself. Still not sure why, at this point she's been here long enough to see them, right? Mirrim HAS a few. But maybe she's kept them out of Menolly's sickroom.
The girls are interrupted when they hear someone bitching about a swarm of new fire lizards. The jig is up when Beauty jumps over to her to bury her face in her hair. Rocky and Diver appear next. Then the others. Menolly realizes that the Weyr knows about fire lizards.
Then suddenly the book gets a whole new dose of awesome as Lessa appears, striding purposefully into the room. She doesn't yet realize the fire lizards have claimed their owner. Menolly, understandably, tries to keep out of the way, but Mirrim tries to make her sit down instead. The lizards panic, but Lessa demands that Ramoth quiet them. And then it's silent.
God damn, Lessa is awesome.
Lessa asks who Menolly is, and can't place her name. Which amuses me, because I remember F'lar getting mocked for the same problem. They really are a matched set now that McCaffrey's stopped writing him as an abusive asshole. As a regular asshole, he's her perfect match.
She asks how many of the lizards are Menolly's and Menolly indicates her three and "only six of those up there". Which makes one dragonrider laugh, and Lessa smile slightly. Lessa, who is described as crisp but not unkind gets the story out of Menolly. She's a little incoherent about it, but it's enough to amuse the riders and Mirrim, who suddenly has her own brown lizard perched on her shoulder.
Lessa accepts this. She asks Menolly to keep her lot under control, and mutters a bit about the missed opportunity of nine fire lizard eggs. Menolly hears her and brings up the clutch she'd fond. Because she was already gone, she'd never heard that the Weyrs wanted them. Lessa orders T'gellan to get the location from her, actually SMILES at Menolly, and exits as the force of nature she is.
Oh god, it is so GOOD to see Lessa in a position of authority. We didn't really see much of that in Dragonflight. Dragonquest was focused more on F'lar, and while he'd indicated Lessa was busy with other things, we didn't get to see it. Here we do. And it is WONDERFUL.
Menolly is in shock. T'gellan and Mirrim are sympathetic: "One's first encounter with Lessa is apt to be unnerving." Hahahaha.
Mirrim asks why she kept them a secret, but it turned out Menolly had never seen Mirrim's three. There's a bit of gentle teasing, but all is well. She tries to describe the location, but it's too generic, so T'gellan decides to take her with him. So Menolly gets another dragon ride, this time with oversized boots eased over her very sore and bandaged feet. Her cats are mostly appeased by food, but Beauty is still overprotective. T'gellan has his dragon, Monarth, talk to them to reassure them.
This flight is much more pleasant for Menolly. They go back to her cave to clear out her things. There are a few cute moments when T'gellan teases her a bit (about not saying anything mean about Monarth since he can hear them), and Menolly takes him too literally. But he's quick to reassure her. T'gellan wonders why she was never found on Search.
Hssss. She's FIFTEEN, T'gellan. And at this point, you're only getting girls for the Queens. Since Brekke, Kylara, and Lessa were all in their early twenties when Searched, I'm just going to convince myself that McCaffrey forgot the age thing for a moment. Or T'gellan's a pervert, but I'd prefer not to think that.
T'gellan intends to keep an eye on the cave, since the Queen might mate again and use it if the waters stay high. He asks if she wants anything from the cave: just her pipes and the oil she uses for the lizards, as well as her herbs. Then they're off to find the clutch.
This part is fun. I like the story best when it focuses on Menolly. I wish McCaffrey had either committed to Elgion getting a decent plot, or just excised that part completely, because it doesn't really serve any purpose except to make the Half-Circle types look worse. She could have just had Robinton find her at Benden. The fun part is seeing Menolly with her lizards, Menolly playing survival, and Menolly at the Weyr.
And I'm not just saying that because it's paired with Shapechangers.
So we start the chapter, appropriately enough, with Menolly waking up. She hears crooning in her ear, which she identifies as Beauty. Beauty disappears though, as soon as someone comes into the room. Menolly's relieved by that, though I'm not sure why. Maybe she thinks she'll get in trouble for having fire lizards?
Menolly lies, saying her feet only hurt a little. The woman tending her tells her they'd given her fellis juice because she'd cut her feet to ribbons. Ouch. But apparently they'll be fine in a "sevenday".
...I've never really understood why these authors don't just use "week"? I mean, I get it if the fantasy world uses a different timeframe structure, like ten days vs. seven. It is easy for a reader to lose a detail like that. But we have weeks. Moreover, they're a colony from Earth, so they should have weeks. It's not the kind of word that should drop out of usage.
Anyway, per the woman, T'gran thinks she's the fastest runner in Pern. Thread is a very good motivator.
The woman returns with stew: it's Manora, who we might remember being warm and maternal in Dragonflight, and kind of creepy in Dragonquest. I'm actually wondering how she has time to be here, since Dragonquest told us that she and F'nor were basically hovering over poor Brekke 24/7. But then, I'm glad Brekke is apparently getting a little peace.
Manora's good here though, welcoming and comforting without being too cloying about it. She tells Menolly that she can stay at Benden. Menolly eats some of her food, until Beauty appears and is pathetically hungry. Menolly gives the rest over to her. I hope Beauty has another source of food or this arrangement will be a problem.
Then again, fire lizards are basically cats, and there's nothing a cat does better than try to convince humans that they're pathetically mistreated for attention. Menolly tells Beauty that she shouldn't be seen.
Later a new character comes to help Menolly: a girl her own age with prim dark hair and a sad, tired face. This is Mirrim, who we met briefly in Dragonquest. (Brekke's student). She's already more interesting than Brekke ever was, because we get to see her be cranky at someone. But she's friendly to Menolly.
THANK YOU, Ms. McCaffrey. I didn't know how much I needed to see someone in this series actually make a female friend.
Mirrim seems to be a pretty good nursemaid. She's brisk and efficient, and maybe a little too honest with Menolly about how gross her feet look right now. But she's confident in Menolly's eventual recovery. Honestly, she's everything we were told Brekke was as a Weyrwoman, but never really got to see (because we were stuck with F'nor's useless, minimizing point of view.) I like her a lot.
Menolly's panic over the idea of infection gets her talking about her hand. Mirrim takes a look and tells her that she was lucky to miss the tendons. Interestingly, she doesn't actually seem that worried about the hand. Just critical of the nursing job. On one hand, that bodes well for Menolly's recovery and I'm glad. On another, I'm a little sad that the one legitimate challenge Menolly has to her musical dreams is likely going to be temporary.
We already know Menolly's an amazing musician who plays any instrument and writes Masterharper-impressing songs. I just wish there was something she was bad at, so that there'd be room for her to grow. Again, less of a problem here, but it will be more obviously one in the sequel, as I recall.
So here's where we get what might be teenage paranoia or a clumsy attempt to retcon:
As Menolly worked her way through the generous meal Mirrim brought, she reflected on some harsh truths. Definitely Mavi had given her the distinct impression that she’d never be able to use her hand again. Yet Mavi was too skilled a healer not to have known that the knife had missed the finger tendons. She had deliberately let the hand heal with drawn flesh. It was painfully clear to Menolly that Mavi, as well as Yanus, had not wanted her to be able to play again.
Okay no. We saw Menolly's injury from Mavi's point of view. She was genuinely worried, and honestly believed Menolly might not be able to play again. I would be willing to accept that this was just an example of a teenager believing the worst, but given the nuance Ms. McCaffrey has been giving to Half Circle Hold lately, I wouldn't be surprised if she decided Menolly was right. I feel like I remember characters like Manora backing up Menolly's belief.
But now we see why Ms. McCaffrey wrote Half Circle Hold the way she did: so Menolly can grimly vow to never return. If she can't stay at Benden, she'll run and live holdless. She could even run to Fort Hold. This bit of childish fancy is pretty entertaining actually. But she's certain she won't return home.
Look, that's fair enough. Based on how they "support" her, I wouldn't return home either. But I still don't think we needed to see them all turn into indifferent assholes who'd leave a child to die to justify that!
But enough with that, Menolly's at the Weyr, and this is one of my favorite parts of the book.
Menolly starts healing up, which is good. She's starting to get impatient even. And she's very worried about her fire lizards. But fortunately when Beauty, and later Rocky and Diver come to see her, they all seem content. (This reminds me that I still don't really think Ms. McCaffrey needed to give Menolly NINE lizards, when only three or four play significant roles. But the swarm does at least look cool.)
Mirrim helps Menolly find something to do, and she ends up entertaining the Weyr children. We're told that Weyrbred children are "more active physically, possessed of insatiable curiosity for every detail she cared to tell them". Of course Weyr kids are better just like Weyr life is better. And yet, it's still presented as a wise thing to recruit from Holds instead. What kind of life is set for these kids I wonder if and when they don't Impress?
Menolly also has a happy realization that she can hum and whistle whenever she wants, because no one will know that these are her songs, rather than something she heard back at home. She also starts being aware of the emotional undercurrents of the Weyr: they're "waiting", and Mirrim is really worried about Brekke.
Menolly gets filled in by Sanra, the other person taking care of the kids. She tells her about the accident of the queens. Kylara gets the blame of course. (I STILL think that's unfair. Even other Weyrwomen had thought she was far enough away!). We're told that Kylara lost her mind and they're afraid Brekke will lose hers too.
I wonder who is caring for Kylara now? I'm a little leery about what this fucked up society would consider appropriate mental health treatment.
Menolly expresses sympathy for Brekke, while Sanra sniffs in pique about how "Mirrim likes to think she's got the cares of the Weyr on her shoulders." Wow, that's kind of catty. Menolly defends Mirrim though. Good. I like this friendship.
Sanra also tells her about Lessa's plan, which they think will succeed since she can speak to dragons the way Lessa can. Ugh. That's still really fucking annoying, by the way. I don't mind that Lessa's talent is not exclusive, but I feel like McCaffrey had done a good job explaining why it existed. Brekke just has it because all of the "special" heroines have it.
Anyway, Mirrim comes back, and Menolly does admit that she can be officious, but she's also very capable. Menolly feels guilty about causing Mirrim more work, and offers to change her own bandages, but Mirrim won't hear of it. Mirrim likes having Menolly as a patient.
I like Mirrim a lot. She makes an instant impact as a character. She's neither a caricature or a set of virtues wrapped in a dress. If Brekke had been written like Mirrim, or hell, even Menolly, I'd have been far more invested in Dragonquest.
Mirrim also praises Menolly for teaching the kids to make little boats, which apparently the dragons have been snorting across the lake, having a grand time.
The next day: Menolly gets to go help out in the kitchen. She and Mirrim bond a bit more when Menolly brings up Brekke. Mirrim is really worried about her. She's also worried about F'nor, who "cares so much." Man, fuck F'nor.
Menolly almost tells Mirrim about the fire lizards while comforting her but catches herself. Still not sure why, at this point she's been here long enough to see them, right? Mirrim HAS a few. But maybe she's kept them out of Menolly's sickroom.
The girls are interrupted when they hear someone bitching about a swarm of new fire lizards. The jig is up when Beauty jumps over to her to bury her face in her hair. Rocky and Diver appear next. Then the others. Menolly realizes that the Weyr knows about fire lizards.
Then suddenly the book gets a whole new dose of awesome as Lessa appears, striding purposefully into the room. She doesn't yet realize the fire lizards have claimed their owner. Menolly, understandably, tries to keep out of the way, but Mirrim tries to make her sit down instead. The lizards panic, but Lessa demands that Ramoth quiet them. And then it's silent.
God damn, Lessa is awesome.
Lessa asks who Menolly is, and can't place her name. Which amuses me, because I remember F'lar getting mocked for the same problem. They really are a matched set now that McCaffrey's stopped writing him as an abusive asshole. As a regular asshole, he's her perfect match.
She asks how many of the lizards are Menolly's and Menolly indicates her three and "only six of those up there". Which makes one dragonrider laugh, and Lessa smile slightly. Lessa, who is described as crisp but not unkind gets the story out of Menolly. She's a little incoherent about it, but it's enough to amuse the riders and Mirrim, who suddenly has her own brown lizard perched on her shoulder.
Lessa accepts this. She asks Menolly to keep her lot under control, and mutters a bit about the missed opportunity of nine fire lizard eggs. Menolly hears her and brings up the clutch she'd fond. Because she was already gone, she'd never heard that the Weyrs wanted them. Lessa orders T'gellan to get the location from her, actually SMILES at Menolly, and exits as the force of nature she is.
Oh god, it is so GOOD to see Lessa in a position of authority. We didn't really see much of that in Dragonflight. Dragonquest was focused more on F'lar, and while he'd indicated Lessa was busy with other things, we didn't get to see it. Here we do. And it is WONDERFUL.
Menolly is in shock. T'gellan and Mirrim are sympathetic: "One's first encounter with Lessa is apt to be unnerving." Hahahaha.
Mirrim asks why she kept them a secret, but it turned out Menolly had never seen Mirrim's three. There's a bit of gentle teasing, but all is well. She tries to describe the location, but it's too generic, so T'gellan decides to take her with him. So Menolly gets another dragon ride, this time with oversized boots eased over her very sore and bandaged feet. Her cats are mostly appeased by food, but Beauty is still overprotective. T'gellan has his dragon, Monarth, talk to them to reassure them.
This flight is much more pleasant for Menolly. They go back to her cave to clear out her things. There are a few cute moments when T'gellan teases her a bit (about not saying anything mean about Monarth since he can hear them), and Menolly takes him too literally. But he's quick to reassure her. T'gellan wonders why she was never found on Search.
Hssss. She's FIFTEEN, T'gellan. And at this point, you're only getting girls for the Queens. Since Brekke, Kylara, and Lessa were all in their early twenties when Searched, I'm just going to convince myself that McCaffrey forgot the age thing for a moment. Or T'gellan's a pervert, but I'd prefer not to think that.
T'gellan intends to keep an eye on the cave, since the Queen might mate again and use it if the waters stay high. He asks if she wants anything from the cave: just her pipes and the oil she uses for the lizards, as well as her herbs. Then they're off to find the clutch.
This part is fun. I like the story best when it focuses on Menolly. I wish McCaffrey had either committed to Elgion getting a decent plot, or just excised that part completely, because it doesn't really serve any purpose except to make the Half-Circle types look worse. She could have just had Robinton find her at Benden. The fun part is seeing Menolly with her lizards, Menolly playing survival, and Menolly at the Weyr.