I Read What?!

So did Dragonsdawn pass the test of time?

This might be surprising, given the amount of bitching I did in each chapter, but on the whole, I'd say...yes. Overall, it was an enjoyable read.

That said, there's definitely a lot of room for criticism. The McCaffrey-isms are definitely present and more transparent and frustrating than ever.

The biases are rough and very obvious. You can generally tell, within a paragraph, when there's a character that you're supposed to dislike. Bitra, Nabol, Ted Tubberman were all instantly unpleasant, unlikeable, and with no redeeming characteristics. With the exception of Bitra, they're never allowed to be seen as competent or capable. And even Bitra manages to fuck up astronavigation enough that she doesn't realize she's crashing into a fucking planet. Experienced pilot Nabol ignores all warnings and crashes his shuttle into the ocean. Ted, an experienced biologist, ignores Kitti's warnings and is killed by his monstrous creations. Wind Blossom can never truly reproduce her grandmother's triumphs.

Ted Tubberman and Wind Blossom are character who have legitimate achievements and triumphs. And on one hand, I suppose, that does count as nuance. But the achievements are downplayed or brushed over completely. Ted's grubs, we know, will be vital in the 9th Pass. And we know eventually, the colonists will realize that, hence the warnings to keep an eye out for them. But while there's some speculation as to why Ted's lands are unscored by Thread, we don't really see any point where anyone recognizes the triumph for what it is. He launches the beacon, and it's accompanied by people seeing him as a joke, wondering if he could even competently do what he tried to do. (Even though, per Rescue Run, he WILL have succeeded!)

Wind Blossom gets it even worse, because we DO get to see her success. The first and best batch of dragons, the one she never quite reproduces, that is as much her triumph as Kitti's. Kitti DIED before we knew the embryos were even viable. That means every other stage in their development up to and including their hatching, that was Wind Blossom. But she's never credited for it. Her own achievement, the Watch Whers, are finally acknowledged as useful in the last chapter only after she's accused of "abandoning" them, because she's upset that her research was curtailed. (Honestly, given her relative youth and her success so far, one has to wonder what she might still create in the future!) She doesn't even get to appear in the final "Star Wars Medal Ceremony" scene.

Wind Blossom was the one character whose turn into negativity took me by surprise. She was presented neutrally enough at first. Even sympathetically. She was unnerved and anxious about Ted Tubberman's behavior for example. But I should have anticipated the turn as soon as she suggested Ted might have done the right thing.

Because that's the thing about McCaffrey that is utterly mind boggling to me. Her adversaries never receive ANY benefit of the doubt or sympathy from ANYONE. Every character that we're supposed to like and respect immediately hates them, for no real established reason.

Why was Sallah Telgar antagonistic to Avril Bitra from day one? Did they know each other? Did they clash? Did Avril insult her? Steal her boyfriend?

Why did Bay suddenly decide that Wind Blossom was selfish for grieving for her OWN GRANDMOTHER? Why couldn't anyone spare a modicum of sympathy for Ted's lost daughter? Why hasn't Nabol or Lemos gotten the heroic funeral that Sallah Telgar got, when they WILLINGLY put themselves in danger to help? (Even if they were dicks about it?)

Everyone magically knows that Avril will do SOMETHING evil. At some point. Why? How? Fuck if I know. Sure, they end up right. Eight years in! In the mean time, we had chapter after chapter of "Haha, Kenjo stole fuel! Gosh, I hope evil Avril doesn't find it!!! She might do something EVIL with it!!!"

And yet, if it's one of her pet heroic characters, no criticism ever. Sallah Telgar drugs and rapes her eventual husband. This is never really acknowledged. Like F'lar, F'nor and Jaxom, it's just kind of ignored. I suppose I should appreciate the gender equality at work here. Paul Benden dates and discards a subordinate, but it's all about how she's a gold digger. He escapes criticism.

I've harped on Kenjo endlessly, but yeah. Dude legitimately stole a valuable and finite resource. And nothing came of it. And it's not even like the Sallah Telgar situation. They KNEW he did it! They didn't fucking care!

It's frustrating because McCaffrey is a good enough writer that she doesn't need to handhold us. She could have had Avril betray everyone without making her a cackling witch first!

Unfortunately, the funny part of all this, is that except for maybe Sean and Sorka, the antagonist characters are better defined than most of the protagonists that we're supposed to like. I feel like I understand Wind Blossom and Ted Tubberman far more than I understand Pol or Bay, for example. Bitra got a lot more characterization than Sallah Telgar. Paul, Emily, and Ongola (to a lesser extent) may as well have been talking heads for most of the story.

I did like Sean and Sorka though. Their part of the plot was by far the best part of the novel. And it was fun seeing the traits we recognize in both, particularly Sean. And I appreciate that the resemblance is slight enough to be an homage. Sean is Sean, not F'lar, even if I recognize some of those traits. Sorka is Sorka, not Lessa. (...actually, considering that Red founds Ruatha, and Sorka and Sean's son will found Benden Weyr, does that make F'lar and Lessa related? Actually, to be fair, with genetic drift, they're probably all related anyway.)

I liked the dragons too. They were fun!

So let's talk about Plot:

The plot is the best part really. How can you go wrong with settling a new world, dealing with a scary menace, and inventing dragons?

...well, there were some odd bits. The Bitra stuff in particular seemed oddly timed. I appreciate that Threadfall is what led to Bitra having the opportunity for betrayal, but for the most part, her plot really felt like it should happen in part one. There were eight years of relative peace, perfect for a low level adversary to make trouble.

Because, yeah, she was surprisingly effective during her actual betrayal, but she's still one woman. An eeevil woman, sure. But is she really, thematically, that much of a narrative threat compared to fucking THREAD?

Ted Tubberman-as-adversary worked, because his arc was so defined by Thread. He was already kind of unpleasant, but he went off the wall once he lost his daughter to Thread. He disagreed with the majority and wanted to ask for help, because of Thread. His one, unappreciated, triumph has to do with Thread. (The cat thing doesn't really fit with that, I have to admit, and it left me rather indifferent to his actual end. Maybe if it was established that he thought the cats would be useful against Thread somehow? Otherwise, why would he do this at all? Aside from needing to be conveniently written out before the exodus???)

Bitra, on the other hand, barely seemed to know Thread existed. She didn't want off the planet because of fear. She just wanted jewels. And who the fuck cares about jewels in an apocalypse? It didn't really fit. Which is a shame, because I do appreciate her killing two characters that I really hated.

But those are pretty minor complaints. Overall, I did like the progression and I was invested in each arc as it happened. (I do wish we got to hear more about HOW they settled into the North caves, but maybe that would have been repetitive.)

As for Characters:

Well, I already touched on that. Sorry. I liked Sean and Sorka. I occasionally appreciated Emily and Ongola. Paul Benden can fuck a cactus. Telgar actually intrigues me a lot. I'm starting to think Telgar Hold wasn't named after Sallah Telgar at all, but after the achievements of the husband who took her name. And honestly, I like that much better.

As much as I disliked a lot of the characters though, I still wanted to see these people succeed and thrive. So in that sense, I was still invested in the story. I still had fun.

I'd probably appreciate the book a lot more if I read it for pleasure. Reading a book in one sitting means that, for all that I still have my immediate reactions, means that I don't really end up picking apart things to the same level. I don't get to stew on it as much. I'd probably resent Kenjo less, for example, if it wasn't a week by week "FOR FUCK'S SAKE GUYS" reaction. (I'd still dislike him, but not as virulently...perhaps...)

But this blog is what it is. I am actually looking forward to the next part of the series, in spite of myself.

So last time, we saw the colonists' leadership make the decision to migrate north! Woo!

( I don't really have anything snarky to say at the moment! Rare! )

Last time, IMPRESSION. Also the planetary leadership annoyed the shit out of me. BUT DRAGONS!!!

( DRAGONS!!! )

So last time, Bitra FINALLY earned her villain descriptions and killed two characters I hated, which made me very happy. Thus I am inclined to go into this chapter with more optimism than usual.

Because I don't have it in me to not be a little critical, I do think maybe the Bitra plot would have worked better before Thread. While I appreciate that, once it came down to it, Bitra got to be a competent and effective villain, Thread is always going to be a much bigger threat. It was odd how isolated Bitra was from that plot. Did she even know that much about Thread when she enacted her plot? And the pre-emptive "look how evil she is" segments might not have seemed quite so over the top if we didn't have to wait eight years for the culmination.

I mean, we'd have needed a different reason for the return to space, but otherwise, I think Bitra should have been an act one villain rather than an act two villain.

( But now it's time to move on and see what happens next! )

So last time, I got to boggle hard as Sallah Telgar not only managed to be a shitty rapist (admittedly, she's hardly the only one who falls into that category in this series), but doubles down on it by continuing to rape her husband on the regular and is also stunned that they don't have the healthiest relationship!

Apparently it gets worse? Vague warnings have me full of dread.

Oh yeah, also, we're laying the ground work for dragons. (I'm editing to add, since I complain a lot in this chapter, that I am genuinely looking forward to this, and I really like this aspect of the story.)

( seriously though, WTF, Telgar? )

So last time, our origin story got a little more dangerous as our colonists experienced their very first threadfall. Yikes!

( Am I still supposed to blame the folks who want off this Hell-planet? )

Last chapter we learned that even the colony leadership thinks Bitra is an evil, evil slut, while Sallah actually rapes someone.

( Yep. )

So last time, we had our first fire lizard bonding. Also, the adults are having relationship shenanigans while being judgmental about sex.

( Honestly, I think I'd rather just read about the kids and their lizards... )

So I've told myself that I'm going to try to be a bit less repetitive in my critiques. Which means I'm going to try not to go into a rant every time I see an instance of cartoonish villainy. We'll see how well I keep up with that resolution.

It's just frustrating, because aside from that, I'm really enjoying the world building. It's so interesting to see the initial establishment of a space colony, and how these characters are preparing and setting up their new lives. Especially as we know what's to come.

( Though the fact that Pern's society will become considerably more sexist in the coming years/decades/centuries/millennia is a bit depressing )

Sorry for the delay, I got to greet the new year with a nasty little stomach bug. I'm okay now though.

So last time, we had an introduction to a number of characters as well as their mission. This being a prequel, we have some idea of where things will end up in a few millennia, but it'll take a while to get there, so this part of the setting is basically an open book of possibilities.

Pun mostly intended.

That said, it's already pretty obvious which character's we're supposed to dislike, because it's McCaffrey.

( The Rowan series is arguably a bit subtler about that kind of thing...arguably... )