DF: First Impressions (spoilers maybe up to the first 100 or so pages)

[Brandon]

Am I the only one who noticed how often a character used the words "That's it!" when figuring something out? I counted at least four distinct occurrences. It seemed like many major quandaries were solved through monotonous, rambling conversations, then a sudden epiphany. Often it seemed like an episode of Matlock, where something unrelated -- like a spilled coffee mug or a neck-tie tied the wrong way -- sparks an 'a-ha' moment and breaks the mystery wide open.

It has some merits, but for me the main problem with the book is the writing style.

[Gary]

Rick wrote: "Gary - it's not my job to make things up as to what Lessa would or would not know. That's the job of the author and good ones will make that apparent to the reader without blatant infodumps. If McCaffrey wanted us to know that Lessa was familiar with the mating habits and the implications for riders, it wouldn't have been hard to show that in off the cuff commentary."

Didn't she do that? She described Ramoth hatching from an egg, had several scenes in which she described the dragon's growth, and culminated the passage of time with the dragon entering into sexual maturity (and great size) by the time of the first mating flight. She had several sections describing the training. She introduced the character as one with special powers to speak to all dragons, not just her own....

It's not your job to make things up, but it is an expectation of readers that they should be able to put two and two together. I don't think any of these things are nearly as difficult to add up as you're insisting.

[Michael]

Rick wrote: "Feels like YA to me. ..."

It doesn't to me, but my local library shelves it in the YA section.

[Michael]

Trike wrote: "I love the dragon names. Mnementh is one of those that's fun to say no matter how you pronounce it."

It would appear that all dragon names end in -th, and that all riders have names of the form /consonant/-'-/syllable/, with the /consonant/ and /syllable/ having some connection to the rider's parents. This naming conventions should have been explained in the introduction.

"The name "F'lar" cracks me up, though. In a Southern or Appalachian accent, "flier" is pronounced "flar."

I assumed the apostrophe represented a glottal stop, or at least a stop of some sort, perhaps not as far back as glottal.

"And F'lar is the best flier."

I don't think there is any evidence for him being the best, but I may have forgotten something.

[Cliff]

Michael wrote: "It would appear that all dragon names end in -th, and that all riders have names of the form /consonant/-'-/syllable/, with the /consonant/ and /syllable/ having some connection to the rider's parents. This naming conventions should have been explained in the introduction. "

There are some rules somewhere in the book. You have some of it right, supposedly the name has to do with merging the parents name. I can think of a future character who has 3 syllables in his name.

But in any case, only current Dragonriders are permitted the apostrophe in their name. F'lar's pre-Impression name was "Felar." But when he impressed Mnementh, the apostrophe automatically replaces the first vowel, thus F'lar. If you recall at the start when F'lar goes to visit the dragonless rider: Lytol. But when he was a dragonrider, he was L'tol. But even he insists that without a dragon, he should be called Lytol again.

I distinctly recall there's a passage in The White Dragon wherein they are flummoxed by Jaxom's name because it cannot be contracted well...J'xom?

[Michael]

Cliff wrote: "You have some of it right, ..."

Which part is wrong? In this book, that is. Riders aren't riders until impressment, so them having other names before then (or after losing their dragon) does not change what I said.

Do later books say anything about pronunciation of the apostrophe?

[Gary]

Michael wrote: "Which part is wrong?"

I don't think it has anything to do with the rider's parents other than the fact that those are the people who named the rider. Their given name just gets contracted as you describe.

[Michael]

I took the book back to the library, so I can't check, but I'm pretty sure that at one point F'lar comments that the name of a new rider is appropriate because it reflects the father's and mother's names. F'lar and F'nor are half-brothers, and their father was F'something.

[Gary]

Michael wrote: "I took the book back to the library, so I can't check, but I'm pretty sure that at one point F'lar comments that the name of a new rider is appropriate because it reflects the father's and mother's names. F'lar and F'nor are half-brothers, and their father was F'something."

Ah, I see. I think you're right. The naming convention is that their "given" name is some mix of the parents' names, though I think that's a kind of creative combination. Fax + Gemma turns into Jaxom....

[Michael]

Gary wrote: "Fax + Gemma turns into Jaxom...."

I guess that's better than Femma or Gax.

[Gary]

Michael wrote: "I guess that's better than Femma or Gax."

Right or Gemmax or Femaxam.

It does bring up an interesting point, though. They are speaking Pernese, not English. At one point Lessa makes a pun about being "hidebound" which F'lar thinks is hilarious... but it's not really a pun in English. A couple thousand years after the settlement of Pern the language has moved on.

Fax + Gemma = Jaxom, but that might be because the G is being used phonetically in the Pernese alphabet.

In part, I suspect that McCaffrey occasionally uses her prose in a way to convey that shift in the language. A couple of folks have commented on not being happy with the writing style, and I suspect that what they are reading as awkward was really intentional on the author's part.

[Alan]

I think Michael has it right. I certainly can't remember any dragon names that didn't end in "th." For the dragonriders, aren't they generally the first syllable from the dad's name and later syllable or syllables from the Mom's name then subtract out the first vowel when they impress a dragon? For example, F'nor is the son of F'lon and Manora. (view spoiler)[ F'lessan is the son of F'lar and Lessa (hide spoiler)] Non-dragonriders seem to have a wide variety of names. Like, isn't Menolly's dad named "Yanulf"? [a later book but not spoilery]

Gary - how does the pun not work in English? They are using hides to record everything and her pun connects being over-reliant on those old records with being overly traditional. [The derivation of hidebound in English is from something else ...]

[Gary]

Alan wrote: "Gary - how does the pun not work in English? They are using hides to record everything and her pun connects being over-reliant on those old records with being overly traditional. [The derivation of hidebound in English is from something else ...]"

It works in English, but it's pretty much the standard definition. Lessa uses it in the sense that most people understand it, but F'lar has never heard it before, so he thinks she's being clever. (I guess the term "hidebound" is one of the things lost by Pern civilization after the Thread started to fall.)

I'll go through that sequence again to make sure I'm right about it, but I'm pretty sure McCaffrey was indicating that aspects of the language itself had been lost and were literally-literally being rediscovered....

[Jim]

Gary wrote: "Michael wrote: "Which part is wrong?"

I don't think it has anything to do with the rider's parents other than the fact that those are the people who named the rider. Their given name just gets co..."
I just got to the section in the 2nd book (Dragonquest?) where Ruth is hatched and Jaxom Impresses him. Lessa thinks to herself about how to form his name into a contraction and notes that mothers in the weyr typically name their male children such that forming the contraction is easier.

[Cliff]

Which part is wrong?

I was referring to the second "half" of the name being only a single syllable. The names can be longer, as the future name that Alan put in his spoiler would indicate.

And Jim points out that riders generally take the apostrophe as an affectation or indication of their status. I did wonder why none of the female riders ever bothered to use the contraction.

I guess the main point is that the Weyrs seem to have their own naming traditions which are separate from the Holders, so McCaffrey probably didn't bother to lay out those rules since it doesn't really apply to everyone.