I Read What?!

So now, we come to that question again: has Dragonquest, by Anne McCaffrey held up to the test of time?

I think that there are things that the book does well and things that the book does poorly and it's worth looking at each of these things individually.

Now when I read a sequel, or the second book in a series, I go in with certain expectations. I expect a sequel to be reasonably consistent with what came before. I expect a sequel to either expand on the world we were given in the first book, giving us a broader, wider look at the setting, or to give us a more focused, narrow look at a part of the setting that was not covered extensively in the first book. I expect that if the sequel focuses on the same characters as the first book, then they should be both recognizable and show some semblance of growth reflecting the passage of time. If the book focuses on new characters, then I expect them to have a comparable level of depth and development as the characters in the first book.

So to break it down:

Is it consistent with what came before?

Eh...mostly. The tone is consistent. Most of the timeline is consistent. The one big issue seems to be that Ms. McCaffrey forgot that she had an entire subplot where F'nor, Kylara and T'bor set up Southern Weyr a decade into the past and remained for four years to breed up an interim generation of dragons. F'nor kept coming back to bitch to his brother about Kylara. But in this book, he acts like T'bor and Kylara are practically strangers.

It wouldn't be a big deal, but since the dynamics of Southern Weyr are such a huge part of the plot, it's glaring.

She also sometimes seems to have forgotten that Benden Weyr existed as a parasite for four hundred years between Threadfall, which is annoying. "What do we do if there isn't anymore thread?" is a question that R'gul at least had thought was already answered.

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

Yes, actually. It does very well at this. Politics play a much greater role in Dragonquest than in Dragonflight, and we're given a much more detailed look at how the different Weyrs interact with each other as well as the complex interplay between Hold, Weyr, and Crafthall. We've been given names and identifiable traits for more Lord Holders, like the sympathetic Asgenar and troublesome Groghe. Robinton and Fandarel have more expansive roles, and we meet other important crafters such as Masterfarmer Andemon, Terry the Smith, and so on.

Pern feels more fully fleshed out in this book and that's a good thing.

Are returning characters consistent, and new characters properly developed?

Well, that's complicated. I'd say that for characters like Lessa, F'lar, F'nor, Kylara (at least by reputation), and Robinton, the story is consistent. Lessa feels like Lessa. F'lar feels like F'lar, though somewhat improved over time.

The Oldtimers are completely unrecognizable to the point of being brand new characters. Mardra and T'ton had been the first truly selfless, warm and welcoming dragonriders we see in Dragonflight and they've basically been replaced by shrill and belligerent caricatures.

And for new characters? Well, Jaxom seems pretty well developed. Felessan less so, but he's six. Mirrim appears to have a fairly strong personality, though without a lot of focus. And well...Brekke. Not so much. But let's expand on characters more in a bit.

So in terms of whether or not Dragonquest holds up as a sequel, I'd actually say yes. There are some issues, but it does a good job in expanding the world and a middling job in terms of plot/character coherence. The pluses outweigh the minuses for me.

So now with that out of the way, let's look at Dragonquest as its own story.

Plot:

So in terms of plot, it's basically a mixed bag in my opinion. While Dragonflight gave us parallel perspectives by (usually) alternating F'lar and Lessa's narration, it still focused on one primary plot. Dragonquest, on the other hand, gives us two parallel plots. And I'm not sure that really works that well.

F'lar's plot, on a whole, was reasonably engaging to me. I've already complained ad nauseum about my issues with T'ron and the Oldtimer's characterization, and I stand by that. I resent how completely one-sided the conflict was, and how no real effort was made to show us anything about the Oldtimers' point of view and provide us with some context as to why these people are apparently acting like this. But the stakes were reasonably high, there was an element of suspense and danger (can the Dragonriders get it together to fight these new, unpredictable Threadfalls??) and I enjoyed seeing F'lar placed in a position where he couldn't just steamroll to get what he wanted.

It was fun seeing F'lar politic his way through the Oldtimer obstruction, reaching out to unlikely allies, and getting into the inner workings of Craft and Hold. And the wedding was a suitable climax with an enjoyably triumphant resolution. I would have liked to see Lessa play a more substantial role, but I enjoyed the plot overall.

F'nor's plot, on the other hand, was an absolute bore. He gets bounced off to Southern Weyr to recover from a stab wound, but what really came of that? He doesn't end up playing a significant role in that Weyr's politics. And Southern Weyr's politics, while it came to a dramatic point with the Wirenth and Prideth confrontation, meant absolutely nothing to F'lar's plot. T'bor still seems to be in charge of his Weyr, even with the lady dragons dead. He doesn't make any reasonable contribution to saving the world from Thread. (He's positioned to, but because of Brekke's tragedy, N'ton ends up taking his role instead.) He finds the Fire Lizards, which are adorable vanity pets at best. And his flight to the Red Star was a fruitless exercise in stupidity.

Brekke's end of that plot was even worse. She's basically set up to have this mean girl conflict with Kylara. Unlike F'nor's plot, there is at least something at stake. Brekke's fear of the mating flight is COMPLETELY understandable and serves to highlight how fucked up the Weyr society still is. But the resolution is an utter wreck. Brekke is robbed of anything resembling a triumph on any level. She's the victim of Kylara's bullying at the start, and she's the victim of Kylara's misjudgment/an unhappy accident at the end. Lessa goes through a lot in Dragonflight, but at least she comes out of it having won rank and respect. Brekke gets NOTHING.

Well, except for romance! The romance in Dragonflight was frustrating because we'd have moments where F'lar and Lessa's dynamic really sparked. They communicated, they were on the same page. They were both clever and driven and focused and completely respected one another's ability. They were presented as equals (in as much as their asshole society allowed them to be.) And McCaffrey would repeatedly ruin that by having F'lar be an abusive rapist.

It feels like Ms. McCaffrey read my complaints about the romance in Dragonflight and decided to remove everything I actually enjoyed about F'lar and Lessa when she gave us Brekke and F'nor. F'nor isn't the open dick that F'lar is, but he's repeatedly patronizing and dismissive. He constantly refers to Brekke as a child. While we're repeatedly told that Brekke is a good Weyrwoman, we never really see her in a position of true leadership, and her moments of standing up for herself are few, far between, and seem to get her the metaphorical version of a pat on the head.

And it's not like F'nor is any less of a rapist. If anything, as I mentioned in the review of that chapter, he comes across worse! F'lar's rape of Lessa, while terrible, is presented within the context of the mating flight. It isn't clear that F'lar knew that Lessa was unaware of what a mating flight entailed. It's POSSIBLE that he believed R'gul had already told her. It doesn't excuse his abysmal behavior afterward, but it adds just a little deniability. The mating flights are an institutionalized part of Weyr culture, too, which means that while they are horrific, it is possible that the riders do not understand exactly how horrific they are.

F'nor has none of that deniability. His rape of Brekke happens outside the context of a mating flight, when she is clearly saying no and trying to push him off of her. There's nothing to misunderstand or to be mitigated by a fucked up upbringing. And the domineering behavior of F'nor and his mother when Brekke's recovering just makes it creepier.

So anyway, in terms of plot, I would grade the book at a 50%. I liked half of it, I hated half of it.

Characters:

So now, the characters. Unfortunately, I think this is where the book falls flat entirely. Sidelining Lessa in favor of F'nor was a huge mistake, as was the focus on F'nor and Brekke as a romantic couple. I've already gone into my problems with F'nor and Brekke as a couple, so let's talk about them individually.

Brekke could be a good character. She has points where she actually does start to actually engage with the plot in a way that she starts feeling like someone who is real, rather than a collection of virtues wrapped in a dress. When McCaffrey lets her be angry or frustrated or selfish, she actually starts becoming engaging. But most of the time, her character is defined more by her rival. Kylara's lusty, so Brekke's chaste. Kylara's lazy, so Brekke's industrious. Kylara's vain, so Brekke's modest. Et cetera and so forth.

There's nothing wrong with a virtuous character, but there should be something more there. And I feel particularly robbed because Brekke's perspective as a Craft-raised young woman is very valuable. She has a cultural background that's shared by none of the other main characters. She has an outsider's point of view of the Weyr. She uses it successfully a few times: her complaints about the mating flight, her thoughts about girls flying combat dragons...

Unfortunately, as mentioned above, nothing really comes of it when she does complain. The mating flight still happens (and goes horribly wrong), and while Mirrim will eventually prove Brekke right in a later book, the event will be far enough away that no credit will ever go to Brekke for it.

It's just very frustrating.

And it occurs to me that my problem with F'nor is fundamentally the same as my problem with Brekke. I am someone who generally likes the characters that other people call boring. I like stoic types and unexpressive types and straightforward hero types. I don't like F'nor though.

Ultimately, my problem with F'nor, aside from his creepy romantic behavior, is that, like Brekke, he seems primarily designed as a contrast. He's the nicer, more approachable, more easy going and more humble version of his difficult brother. He's the one that doesn't get attention at first glance, but more discerning tastes start to notice him and appreciate his virtues.

One problem though is that the book doesn't really commit to that idea. I've mentioned before, but the frustrating thing about F'nor is that McCaffrey seems to want to have her cake and eat it too. F'nor is supposed to be the humble, reliable sort who is above the more obvious status symbols. Hence, he rides a brown dragon instead of a bronze. But you know, Canth is a dragon that's ALMOST as big as a bronze. Actually, no. He's describes as being ALMOST as big as Mnementh, who is the largest of the bronzes. Which means, he's the size of most of the other bronzes already. F'nor seems to have no doubt that Canth could compete and win in a mating flight. F'nor has rank as well, he's F'lar's Wingsecond, a position that he apparently can use to arrange for bronze riders, like N'ton, to come to Southern to possibly fly with Brekke's Wirenth.

Look at the recap of Dragonflight, somehow F'nor's mentioned consistently in the same breath as F'lar, despite the fact that in most of the scenes in question he never even had a speaking line. He gets equal billing to Lessa, who actually saves the fucking world.

So F'nor is the humble, reliable, less appreciated and less favored brother, but he still seems to get all the perks of being a bronze rider, without any of the responsibility. And again, I mean, that could be interesting if we were meant to see it that way. But I don't really think we are. We're supposed to be swooning over F'nor.

I've bitched about the Oldtimers a lot already, but it's still very frustrating. I want to call special attention to Mardra though, because Mardra is actually the one Oldtimer with a definable motive: she's angry about Lessa giving up Ruatha. And I actually do get that.

But Mardra is a frustrating example of the sexism of the novel. Throughout the book, T'ron is an active obstruction to F'lar. He tries to block him from doing much of anything at every turn. There is no indication that the man who stabbed F'nor ever faces consequences, and that's because of T'ron. He antagonizes the Lords. He challenges F'lar to a duel when F'lar wants to help D'ram with Threadfall. He is overall just an awful person. T'kul, though we never see him, is similar. He's outright ignored Threadfall, the one point the Weyrs have to exist.

F'lar still expresses some sympathy toward T'ron despite his actions, by the way, something NO ONE extends to Mardra.

The worst thing anyone says about Mardra as a dragonrider specifically is that she leads the Queens' Wing badly and gets some other people injured. Leaving aside how that doesn't make sense for a woman who fought Thread her entire life, that's carelessness. It's indifference. But it's not obstructive. There's no sign that Mardra shirked her duty or tried to block anyone from carrying out theirs.

But Mardra doesn't sleep with T'ron anymore, and that's JUST AWFUL. Mardra is a disagreeable person who makes Lytol twitch. And somehow or other, this ends up with her entire Weyr turning on her, because she is JUST THAT DISAGREEABLE.

T'KUL IGNORED THREAD COMPLETELY and his entire Weyr almost followed him in exile. Mardra's a bitch so she's abandoned.

Kylara and Meron are also disappointments, by the way. They could have been interesting, if Ms. McCaffrey had bothered to give them any sort of nuance. Kylara is a wretched person, but a good chunk of the disgust and scorn heaped her way has nothing to do with that and everything to do with the fact that she likes to sleep with men, doesn't want to be a glorified nurse and housekeeper (when there's no indication that the men are expected to do the same), and doesn't grovel to the Weyrs in general.

In Dragonflight, there was some indication that Kylara might, for all her faults, actually be a decent Weyrwoman. F'lar thinks she has the necessary temperament. She's skilled with Prideth. And arguably, as much as her behavior in the past antagonized the others, it might have actually helped her deal with the disorienting effects of the time displacement. At least from the sound of it, she wasn't suffering the effects like the others.

Dragonquest removes even that tiny bit of nuance. She's not a good Weyrwoman, she doesn't have a good bond with her dragon, who is often unhappy, she's completely self-centered and blatantly incompetent. Though I still think it's unfair that the narrative paints her unreasonable for being offended at her exclusion from the fire lizard discovery or wanting her own lizard (the others just got their lizards to be altruistic, sure), and I also think it's unfair to blame her for the mating flight fiasco, when even other Weyrwomen believed that Nabol was far enough away to be okay.

Meron is just as bad though. He's a cardboard cut out of a villain, and an ineffectual one to boot. It might have been interesting if he was portrayed as genuinely in love with Kylara, and being angry that the Dragonriders basically threw her under the bus after the flight. But nope, he doesn't seem to care about her. He's abusive to his lizard. He's rude. He neglects his subjects. He wears clashing clothing. About the only think he has going for him is dick size.

Finally, in the negative column, there's Lessa. Now this isn't entirely fair, because when Lessa is in the book, she's amazing. And the only saving grace of the fuckery that is F'nor and Brekke's plot is the way Lessa is kind of unintentionally the antagonist. She was trying to help Brekke when she tried to arrange for her to Impress again, but it was a terrible idea and one that caused a great deal of pain. She then manipulates F'nor into taking the Red Star flight instead of F'lar, which is a glorious moment and reminds us all that this is a woman who murdered at least three men and nearly destroyed a Hold so she could get revenge.

The problem is that, up and until the Brekke's failed mating flight, Lessa is almost a non-entity in the book. That is a fucking crime. (Also, why the hell does Jaxom still get to rule Ruatha?!)

There is one, ONE saving grace though when it comes to the book's portrayal of characters, and that's F'lar.

Somehow, entirely against my will, this book redeemed F'lar as a character for me. I'm not sure if it's a reflection of character growth, or just that McCaffrey's focused on a different romantic lead so she's no longer forcing disgusting 60s romance novel hero tropes on him anymore, but all of the abusive behaviors are gone.

F'lar is still an asshole, don't get me wrong, but his plot allows him to be more than just a smug dickweed this go around. He's the underdog now, trying to maneuver around other dominant and obstructive personalities that outnumber him, trying to balance the concerns of the Lords and Craftsmen and the Riders, working to figure out why the Thread isn't falling like it should and scrambling for solutions.

This is F'lar at his best: clever, determined, and adaptable. He's pushing through his flaws of assholishness and social ineptitude to reach common ground with allies and win over adversaries and it works. F'lar gets shit done, and I appreciate that.

His relationship with Lessa is what I wanted to see in Dragonflight all along: equal partners, mutual respect, humor and fondness with each others' more exasperating traits. All of the spark, none of the grossness. And I unashamedly enjoy it.

And he shows growth! He shows empathy to other people in this book. It doesn't come easy and it's still more than a little self-centered, but as a reader I get the sense that he is trying. When he talks about having come to recognize Lessa's reactions as meaning she's upset, that's an indication that he's making a sincere effort. And his plot within the book contains a good amount of growth as well. Because of his injury, he's forced to go from someone who plays his cards close to the vest and does everything himself, to someone who has to open up to and rely on others.

Really, of all the injuries in this book, F'lar's is the only one that seems to have an actual point and ongoing consequences.

I've brought this up a LOT in my reviews, but one of the things I find most interesting about F'lar is something I am CERTAIN Ms. McCaffrey never intended. I read F'lar as someone who may have some kind of genuine mental health issue when it comes to processing and recognizing emotion. I think this is consistent with his portrayal. His general callousness, his cataloguing of people's responses without quite comprehending the emotions behind it, the flares of irrational resentment/anger (like with Lessa stealing the moment in Dragonflight) could all be symptoms of a genuine disorder. It really does read sometimes like Mnementh runs interference for him and helps interpret general social cues. (Lessa and Ramoth kind of seem to have something similar, though a different disorder: Ramoth seems to shut down Lessa's anxiety spiral at some point in Dragonflight.) With this perspective, F'lar's story actually becomes a pretty compelling story about managing and overcoming disability.

Anyway, ultimately, Dragonquest did manage to do something that I wouldn't have thought possible. It took a character that I actively despised and made him someone that I actually find compelling and interesting. It's just a shame about everything else.

So...does it hold up?

Sadly no. I think that it really doesn't. While Ms. McCaffrey still excels at world building and at crafting a coherent, well paced narrative, the negatives far outweigh the positives for me. It's a slog of a read, with a plot that drags, unappealing characters and ultimately a fundamental disappointment.

So last time, before my impromptu vacation, we saw Lessa's bad idea come to a climax and Jaxom break all the rules. Which is still bullshit, IMO. If Jaxom can be Lord of Ruatha, then Lessa could have too.

Give Lessa her goddamn kingdom, 2k19.

( Anyway... )

So last time, the book managed to piss me off royally with its wasted potential. Brekke lost her dragon, Kylara lost her mind (and dragon), and I lost any interest I actually had in the only real ongoing plot of the book now that F'lar's fully thwarted the Oldtimers.

And we've still got four chapters to go.

( Yep )

Last time on Dragonquest, we basically resolved the main plot of the book. The wedding happened. F'lar and T'ron had their confrontation. F'lar won, and earned the loyalty of most of the Oldtimers in a way that actually felt mostly deserved.

And yet, there's still a pretty big chunk of book left. Why?

Oh right. F'nor and Brekke. Egads.

( The far less interesting story continues )

So okay, here's the thing. There's a big content warning for this chapter. Rape. There is rape in this chapter. Because fuck this series and its inability to let the characters develop natural, non-fucking rape relationships.

Anyway, here we go.

( Fuck all of this shit )

So last time, the action, so to speak, came to a resounding halt while we saw Kylara had over a clutch of fire lizard eggs in an attempt to improve her sex life. We can't say she doesn't have determination.

This time, we rejoin F'lar, and I hate to say it but I'm actually kind of happy about that because it means things are actually happening.

( Litmus and Telegraphs )

So last time, we met the dreaded Kylara and I ranted about poor Brekke's lack of character. Then I took an impromptu hiatus, but I'm back now.

So this chapter makes me happy, because we see a return of the only decent male character in the entire franchise. At least so far: Lytol, the perpetually tragic Lord Warder of Ruatha Hall.

( LYTOL! )

So last time, we got to follow F'lar's point of view into a meeting with the Oldtimers. We stay in F'lar's point of view for this chapter as well. Admittedly, he's been a lot more tolerable in this book so far. But sadly, this continues to be at the expense of the Oldtimers.

I genuinely believe that the T'ton of Dragonflight would punch the T'ron of Dragonquest in the face.

( But now, Thread )

So we finally start Dragonquest proper. It's a bit different in terms of format than Dragonflight was: it has chapters, for one, instead of vaguely defined parts separated by song lyrics. We get a bit more variety in terms of point of view as well.

For example: this section starts with Robinton.

( And away we go! )