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“From someone of the Blood,” F’lar reminded him.
I don't like the "magical bloodlines" thing. It's too close to sources of actual racism and classism in the real world.
And the power had an indefinably feminine touch to it.
"indefinably feminine"!
One of the previous Lords’ by-blows? No, there was no taint of common blood here. It was pure, no matter whose line, and he rather thought she was indeed Ruathan.
Gross
She had not been afraid or screamed in panic as other women had.
Ugh, I hate this! This book is putting womankind down constantly...
Before Lessa could blink, it shook the first girl with such violence that her head snapped audibly and she fell limply to the sand. Disregarding her, the dragon leaped toward the second girl but misjudged the distance and fell, grabbing out with one claw for support and raking the girl’s body from shoulder to thigh.
I definitely did not remember this! It's treated so casually too. No one in the book nor the author really cares about these girls dying.
Why hadn’t that silly clunk-headed girl stepped aside, Lessa thought,
Case in point
How could she be so callous? It was a fact that this little menace had just seriously injured, if not killed, two women.
My question exactly! This is pretty much the last time it comes up though.
Some instinct in Lessa made her bitterly aware that she would never be on easy or intimate terms with any of the women in the Weyr.
And why not? Honestly being Weyrwoman sounds pretty miserable for most of this book. No real friends, lots of restrictions...
He signaled Meron, so-called Lord of Nabol (he didn’t really trust this sharp-faced ex-Warder with no Blood at all) to draw his riding beast closer.
I'm rolling my eyes over here.
He had not thought to control his dragon-incited emotions, and Lessa’s first sexual experience had been violent.
Not to mention this! Weyrwomen are raped every time their dragon goes into heat! This is by far the worst aspect of the world-building in Pern for me. I've always thought so and I still think so.
He had been a considerate and gentle bedmate ever since, but, unless Ramoth and Mnementh were involved, he might as well call it rape.
Um, yeah. Lessa never consented to this, and in fact was not told about it ahead of time! It is incredible how hard the weyrmen work to keep their Weyrwoman ignorant.
Fortunately she was in considerable awe of Lessa, and F’lar suspected that Lessa was subtly influencing this attitude. In Kylara’s case, F’lar preferred not to object to Lessa’s meddling.
Goodness gracious! So F'lar is, rightly, upset at Lessa using Jedi mind tricks on dragonriders, but if it's against other women then all is hunky dory?
The rage on F’lar’s face as he leaped from Mnementh and advanced on Lessa brought her wits back abruptly. She made no move to evade him as he grabbed her shoulders and shook her violently.
This is also very upsetting. F'lar is constantly slapping or shaking Lessa. He is so patronizing and abusive towards her that I don't know how she can stand it.
Her voice had risen to an hysterical pitch of recrimination. He slapped her sharply across the cheeks, grabbing her, robe and all, to shake her.
Here's another example.
“if the greens could reproduce, considering their amorousness and the numbers we have of them, we’d be up to our ears in dragons in next to no time.”
This is another thing about the world-building that bothers me. Only golden queen dragons are ridden by women, all other dragonriders are men. I could maybe hand-wave this away if dragons prefer a rider that matches their own sex, but that's clearly not the case since all female greens have male riders.
F’lar felt that such a practice might cut down on casualties during Impression when the boys were simply too scared to move out of the way of the awkward dragonets.
What I love about this is that F'lar is explicitly and exclusively worried about the boys, not the girls.
Her voice faltered at the accusing look in F’lar’s cold, hard eyes. Accusing and, worse, contemptuous. “I thought you had agreed to help me, to believe in me.” “I’m truly sorry, F’lar. It never occurred to me it was of any use to anyone, but…” F’lar exploded onto both feet, his eyes blazing with aggravation.
F'lar, why are you flying off the handle again? It's also pretty hypocritical of him considering how much he keeps secretive. It's not like Lessa had any idea about the problem that she is now unwittingly providing the solution for.
But you’ve a nasty, smug habit of keeping your own counsel. How was I to know you didn’t have the same trick? You’re F’lar, the Weyrleader, you can do anything. Only you’re just as bad as R’gul because you never tell me half the things I ought to know…”
Yes, thank you, Lessa!
F’lar reached out and shook her until her angry voice was stopped.
God, give me strength.
“Your dragons are all right,” F’nor assured the Weyrleader with a bitter laugh. “It doesn’t bother them. They keep all their wits about them. But their riders…all the weyrfolk…we’re shadows, half alive, like dragonless men, part of us gone forever. Except Kylara.” His face contorted with intense dislike. “All she wants to do is go back and watch herself. The woman’s egomania will destroy us all, I’m afraid.”
Yes, no other women are as perfect as Lessa. All the others are vain and foolish.
“My Hold is still blowing with them. They’re dangerous?” F’lar shook his head emphatically. “How long has the black dust been blowing in your Hold? Weeks? Done any harm yet?”
See, I think this is a legitimate question!
Lessa still slept, one hand curled under her cheek, her dark hair trailing over the edge of the bed. She looked fragile, childlike, and very precious to him.
Please go away, F'lar.
F’lar grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her, his eyes wild with fear.
...
“Oh, F’lar will be so angry with me,” Lessa moaned as her memory came rushing back. “He will shake me and shake me. He always shakes me when I disobey him.
Get out, Lessa!
“He’ll shake me,” Lessa cried, like a little girl.
Ugh, and the emphasis on making Lessa "childlike", in both "positive" and negative directions. F'lar is attracted to her "childlike" features, he's constantly calling her "girl", and she's described as tempestuous and childish. She's 24 at this part of the book.
“Do you mean to say that you allow your queens to fly—against Threads?” F’lar ignored the fact that F’nor was grinning, and T’ton, too. “Allow?” D’ram bellowed. “You can’t stop them. Don’t you know your ballads?”
Ok, this is kind of nice. We're seeing that the culture of Pern in the 'present day' is acknowledged as sexist compared to standards 400 years ago.
Mother of us all, he was glad that now, of all times conceivable, he, F’lar, rider of bronze Mnementh, was a dragonman of Pern!
This is the last line of Dragonflight. I'm kind of upset that we end with F'lar and not Lessa, the actual protagonist. We don't see her point of view fighting the Threads for the first time.
F’lar had never felt any friendliness for or from the dour, dark-complected High Reaches Weyrleader.
"Dark-complected"...the racism is back. Thankfully McCaffrey doesn't linger on it too often.
He wished that Lessa could have come with him for she was able to use deft mental pressures against dissenters and could often get the other dragons to answer her. She had to be careful, for dragonriders were apt to suspect they were being manipulated.
Oh, so now F'lar is totally cool with Lessa manipulating others psychically? Well, he's changed in other ways too.
So it was as well the Weyrwomen had not been included in this meeting. Put Mardra in the same room with Lessa and there’d be problems. Add Kylara of the Southern Weyr who was apt to make trouble for the pure joy of getting attention by disrupting others, and nothing would be accomplished. Nadira of Igen Weyr liked Lessa but in a passive way. Bedella of Telgar Weyr was stupid and Fanna of Ista, taciturn. Merika of the High Reaches was as much a sour sort as her Weyrleader T’kul. This was a matter for men to settle.
Wow! It's not like the Weyrleaders don't have their own faults. I hate everything about this paragraph.
“It’s no teasing matter, F’nor,” Brekke replied with a sharpness that put F’nor in mind of Lessa.
Ah, but the one "good" woman introduced in this book is described as sharing traits with Lessa. To be fair, Brekke and Lessa are quite different in temperament, but I wish there were more well-rounded female characters!
It was too bad you couldn’t beat a Weyrwoman with impunity. Her dragon wouldn’t permit it but a sound thrashing was what Kylara badly needed.
OK then, beating someone up is what will mellow them out. It really was a different time.
“I see you’ve got your women trained, Fandarel,” F’lar said mildly, catching and holding Lessa’s indignant eyes. “No talking, no fluttering, no importunate demands for attention.”
More fun with sexism.
“I wonder you can achieve as much as you do if you have to survive on this,” she went on, ignoring F’lar’s reprimand. “What’s your wife’s name?”
And Lessa is jumping in as well.
Terry cleared his mouth enough to explain. “Our headwoman is a good enough cook but she’s so much better at bringing up faded ink on the skins we’ve been studying that she’s been doing that instead.”
Thank you, Terry! I like that we finally get a glimpse of a woman in the crafts, wish there was more! (Though I don't see why they couldn't hire a decent cook, man or woman.)
“What I meant was, if the fire-lizards—who seem to be miniature dragons—can be Impressed by anyone who approaches them at the crucial moment, then fighting dragons—not just queens who don’t chew firestone anyhow—could be Impressed by women, too.” “Fighting Thread is hard work. Leave it to men.”
I appreciate Brekke for bringing this up, and am frustrated with F'nor for shooting it down. As if the Queen's Wing didn't exist!
“You’ve never slept with T’bor.” He stated it as a fact. “You’ve never slept with any man.”
For as sexually open as the Weyrfolk are supposed to be, there sure is a lot of emphasis on Brekke (and before, Lessa) being a virgin. There's also a lot of side-eye against Kylara for taking many lovers.
“Oh, no,” and Brekke looked startled. “I meant—oh, I don’t know what I meant. I love Wirenth, but can’t you understand? I’m not weyrbred. I don’t have that kind of—of—wantonness in my nature. I’m—I’m inhibited. There! I said it. I am inhibited and I’m terrified that I’ll inhibit Wirenth. I can’t change all of me to conform to Weyr customs. I’m the way I am.”
Kind of interesting. It has been implied that the Holds and Crafts are more strict about sexuality, but we see a bit more of the difference in culture.
Those men, conditioned to respond to Kylara’s exotic tastes, would brutalize this inexperienced child.
I'm actually a little annoyed by how Kylara is portrayed in this book. Literally everything she does is evil and causes harm to others. In contrast, Brekke is infantilized.
He wanted to be gentle but, unaccountably, Brekke fought him. She pleaded with him, crying out wildly that they’d rouse the sleeping Wirenth. He wasn’t gentle but he was thorough, and, in the end, Brekke astounded him with a surrender as passionate as if her dragon had been involved.
This...this is rape! F'nor, stop!
But I think the time for wisdom is now past and we must rely on the folly of the brave and hope that it will suffice them and us.
I like this quote. No complaints, this time.
“You didn’t have to slap her,” F’nor said, angrily. “She did, she did,” said Brekke in a ragged gasp,
Ughhhh
They were leaving her, Brekke thought with sudden terror. Leaving her alone… I am with you, was Canth’s instant reassurance.
This part had me tearing up. I was quite moved.
He had been confronted with a series of disclosures that both confused and disturbed basic precepts. He must reverse a long-standing Craft practice. He must rid himself of an inborn, carefully instilled prejudice, and he must accept the eventual abdication of an authority which he had good reason to respect and more reason to wish to perpetuate.
A positive aspect of this book is how society is not left stagnant, big changes are made to improve Pernese lives. I like this kind of progressive world-building.
To be sure, Deelan’s mothering had lately begun to irritate Jaxom, especially when the dear soul invariably fondled him in front of her seething natural son, Dorse.
Jaxom's rivalry with Dorse is mostly background, but I wouldn't have minded to see more of this. Maybe even a direct confrontation.
He counted five dragons, including F’lessan’s bronze Golanth and Mirrim’s green Path
Oh, Mirrim's a dragonrider now! I read the Harper Hall Trilogy first back in the day, so I guess this was covered in that set of books and wasn't particularly notable when I got around to this one.
Menolly chuckled, a habit of hers which Jaxom found a pleasant change from the giggling of holder girls.
Ughhhh whyyyy
It was all right for the Lord Holder to beget a few half-bloods, quite another to dilute Holder Blood with other lines.
I don't quite get this, what other lines? This is left very oblique. Was the fosterling planning to marry someone of lower status instead of just messing around? Again, I hate all this emphasis on "blood purity".
Now, there’d been some mysterious occurrences—insignificant in themselves but in total highly suspicious—which the Harpers felt ought to be reported to Benden Weyr. Those mysterious shortages at the iron mines, for instance. And what about those young girls who were carried off and no one could trace where?
Young girls are being carried off and no one is investigating!!
“There will come a time when no dragonriders will be needed in the North either,” N’ton said slowly, compounding Lytol’s shock.
Like the previous book, I like that this series embraces huge shocks to the world-building.
