Revisiting Pern, the great McCaffrey reread: DRAGONQUEST

Revisiting Pern, the great McCaffrey ... Revisiting Pern, the great McCaffrey ...

Revisiting Pern, the great McCaffrey reread: DRAGONQUEST

Tehani and Marisol bonded over Pern (and Doctor Who) at a science fiction convention, decided that it was time for a reread of the series, and really, they should blog about that. They are reading in Anne McCaffrey’s preferred way, which is basically publication order.

Pern Series – Book 2 Dragonquest

T: Another story starting out from the male point-of-view. Dearie me, here we go again… Oh, but it’s Robinton, and you know what? I’m okay with that. I love the Masterharper

I really like the way McCaffrey gives us a quick recap in the shape of Robinton’s musings here – in fact, I might suggest that people planning to read the series for the first time might like to skip the very problematic Dragonflight and perhaps start here instead? Although this book is not itself problem-free…

In this one, the rampant misogyny is toned down a fair bit, giving over to the occasional off-putting line or two. Robinton’s thoughts in the first pages, for example, include this gem: “Larad, Lord of Telgar, was giving his half-sister, Famira, to Asgenar, Lord of Lemos Hold.” Giving? Is she a plant, to be given? And when the numbweed is being made, a significant event in the Weyr, it is of course “the women” boiling it and doing the awful work to make the salve. Little lines like “This was a matter for men to settle” grate on the modern reader, but again, in the context of the year of publication (1971), and in relation to some of the horrors of Dragonflight, I could deal with it.

Less easy to handle are some other aspects. Lessa’s subservience to F’lar irritated me. She stands up to him, she holds her own in a righteous argument, then suddenly caves, pressing up against him with: “I’ve no right to say such things to you,” Lessa was whispering in soft remorse. WHY? You certainly DO have the right, Lessa! You were making him see the truth of a situation!

M: Biiiig pet peeve of mine here, too. She’s such a strong woman in the first book (writer gods help me, I HATE that phrase because of the connotations, but you know what I mean), and she’s so capitulating now! WHAT DID YOU DO TO LESSA?

T: But even this apparent sideslip of Lessa’s fierce personality pales in the face of the outrageously troublesome thoughts about beating women had by F’lar’s half-brother and bestie, F’nor. Oh F’nor… He has so much going for him, character-wise, and yes, the Weyrwoman Kylara IS a difficult, self-centred personality (actually, can I note that one of the awesome things I love about these books is that the women are all different? And it’s awesome that some of them are painful and horrible, and others are clever or hard-working, and all sorts of different types? You know, like REAL PEOPLE!), but I was very uncomfortable with these little gems: It was too bad you couldn’t beat a Weyrwoman with impunity. He’s not the only one – it must run in the family as later F’lar thinks First he’d better get over the urge to beat Kylara… Really, not cool.