Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern - Volume 1) by Anne McCaffrey Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Dragonflight (Dragonriders of Pern - Volume 1)
Book Review: Dragon Flight
Summary: 4 Stars
This story is great and it has a lot of excitement and is a real thriller. This story has mystery because you don't know what is going to happen next. Also it is action because it has a lot of fighting and missing people and a lot of adventures. It even had some surprise in them that I didn't think would happen. It had just a little too much talking.
Book Review: A good starting point
Summary: 4 Stars
I typically don't write reviews, because...well mostly because I'm too lazy. However, after reading some of these reviews I felt the need to contribute my own two bits. I've been a long-standing McCaffrey fan for nearly 20 years now. I own every book in the Pern series and most of her other sci-fi books as well. Dragonflight was her first book and the setting is what I would call pseudo-mideival in the sense that the technology in the book is not much better than bronze-age. Horse-drawn carts, iron forges, animal hides used for clothing, writing materials and assorted other uses. If you get past that and realize that McCaffrey has created an entirely different world. That as you read the series (not just the one book), it develops into its own self-sustaining world with its own culture, its own society that advances over the course of the series. This book was written in the late 60s, based on a short story written in the 50s. Yes, women are subservient in the book, yes the men abuse them and use them. If you continue to read the series though, you realize than McCaffrey changes her society into what we would consider more modern thinking. Lessa isn't always subservient, she is one of the two most respected individuals in the entire Pern series, and even then she's always mentioned in the same breath as F'lar.
I gave this book 4 out of 5 stars. If you do read this and don't think that you like it, you shouldn't give up on the series. Read the two sequels. Even though it was first, it was actually my least favorite of the 3 original Dragonriders of Pern books. I think it was because I enjoyed the way the dragons were written as the series progresses. They each get their own personalities as well. I truly think any fiction lover will love this series whether it's in the same line as what they enjoy or not. I can pick up any book and read it cover to cover in a day, but I've already this series more times than I can count. And it still gets better every time I read it.
Book Review: Dragon Riding Misogyny ?
Summary: 1 Stars
You know I read this when I was a kid, and I really enjoyed it. I recently had to re-read it for a book group and I almost fell over as I read pages and pages of truly nasty stereotypes. To add insult to injury the story sets up a batterer, a wife-beater as the savior of Pern and the Weyr and the hero of the book.
I like the dragons, and the hold/weyr set-up. I like how the people are connected to the dragons. McCaffrey writes well and the story is interesting and the characters mostly well done.
The problem is that it is full of nasty cultural/gender stereotypes. I didn't see it as a kid, and I doubt that many kids do today. Sadly McCaffrey didn't see it, but then she is a product of her time. But how can modern adults read this and accept it. How is it possible to read this book and not realize what awful ideas are wrapped up into the story and used to push the plot along, or build tension.
The most important dragon is the queen, and yet the leader of the weyr is the male who rides the queen's mate, not the woman who rides the queen. There isn't even any discussion of which one is the better leader, its always the man.
The queen and the bronze dragons are the only ones who mate to produce offspring, but there are green, blue and brown dragons who are obviously of mixed sexes because they 'frolic' a lot - but all their riders are male. Why ? Other than the queen's rider all the other women are left at the bottom of the weyr. There they cook, clean, mend, launder, and generally are the drudges who do the housework. Worse they are also a live in harem for the male dragon riders who appear to copulate randomly leaving them to bear and raise the children. But the men and their dragons are too preoccupied with `important' matters to settle down or have families - though of course their urges need to be satisfied.
McCaffrey has also set it up so that the substance which produces fire causes sterility, so the queens are sidelined during any emergency. That seems to reflect the old stereotype that girls/women can't actually do anything physical because they will somehow endanger their reproductive organs. Then when the queen's rider comes to the weyr, she automatically decides she is going to have trouble with all the other women in the weyr, before meeting them. Giving life to another stereotype about women not liking or being able to get along with each other.
In terms of the actual story Lessa, as a youngster has devised and implemented a plan to hide from, and eventually kill the man who invaded her Hold, and killed her family. She succeeds, but when she ends up at the Weyr they treat her like an idiot. She is expected to do as she is told, to obey all the men. Even F'Lar who knows her worth jumps on the bandwagon. So while the men battle apathy, each other and eventually thread - Lessa has to battle the men on top of all the other things.
F'Lar meantime can't keep his hands to himself, and not in a good way. He talks about how their union is basically rape when the dragons aren't mating. But rather than stop having sex, or spend time wooing her, he thinks his skill will eventually bring her around.
Whenever he and Lessa argue, and he can't win, or get her to shut-up, he tries to control her by shaking, grabbing, and causing her pain by using his strength to squish her. He is trying to intimidate her, to keep her ideas to herself - as though she has no right to contribute to the running of the weyr or the defense of Pern. As though she has nothing of importance to say. The result of his actions make her unable to stand, or speak, dizzy, sick, bruised and afraid. He is a batterer, a wife-beater who leaves minimal marks. How is it possible that he is the 'hero' of the book, and Lessa who was also beaten by the usurpers in her Hold, never objects to being abused by him. She never connects the two though she fears F'Lar's reactions. By the end of the book they have decided they are in love, and admitted it to each other, so I guess that makes everything alright. But in real life abusers never stop, and once they get away with it they keep escalating their abuse.
While McCaffrey had some good ideas and an interesting world, I wish this book could be updated to reflect the notion that women are people too - not just sexual objects who also perform the functions of maid and nanny, and have no other value or interests. I don't expect superwomen, but a nice mix of men and women in various roles who treat each other with respect, even if they do have conflicts, and sexual tension for the plot, is not too much to ask.
Book Review: Could you ask for better beginning?
Summary: 5 Stars
I had read this when I was in 6th Grade and now I can finally say I couldn't ask for a better beginning to Dragon riders of Pern.
By Dad gave me the book when I was only ten (He thought I was up to the teen books.) And I must admit that it was a bit differcult at the beginnig. But I soon got so into it i started read it over night- I mean, very early.
I don't care what other people think. If you like Dragons alot, buy this book.
Book Review: A Pleasant Beginning
Summary: 5 Stars
A friend of mine recently lent this book to me because she desperately wanted to have a friend into the same series. I heard nothing but good things about it from her and other people, and my hopes and expectations were very high. After reading it, I wasn't disappointed in even the slightest, and in fact, wondered why I hadn't read this sooner. While I haven't read any of McCaffrey's other books yet, so I can't say this is one of her best or worst, I can say that I was thoroughly impressed into wanting to read the entire series.
At first I was only slightly confused. I mean hey, I was stuck in a Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings world with only slight mentions of dragons, who could breathe fire /just because/. AND I was used to typical worlds just like our own. McCaffrey went ahead and created an entirely new and different world, one whose enemy wasn't on the same planet, as per usual, but rather on a neighboring one. Again, her writing and ideas are completely unique.
Her ideas are so indepth, as well. She doesn't forget to leave out the miniscule details that may be confusing us, yet she leaves a lot to imagination. That is something us readers really do like; we have minds of our own, and enjoy using them once in awhile. It's never as fun to read something entirely explained and designed for you. Instead, she gives the basics and allows the reader to visualize the rest.
Her characters are believable, too. They actually have flaws, which is something many writers forget to include. Her characters aren't invincible, and they aren't superb and heroic to the last drop.
Some may complain that the ending was a tad abrupt. Well, of course it was. She /was/ expecting to make a sequel to it, and what better way to set it up than that?
What I must say, however, is be careful. This is not, clearly, a book for everyone. Some diehard Science Fiction/Fantasy readers may hate it as it may not compare to some other book that they adore, and other non-Fantasy lovers may not like it because it bores them. This book is one to go into lightly. Don't expect to be enraptured by overwhelming character depth (note, this is not necessarily a bad thing; I found I liked reading more of the plot than the characters for once) or by astounding writing style that makes you pick up your dictionary every other page. No, I must say, go into it with little to no expectations at all, and you will enjoy it. I'm rather picky with my books, and I did.