Archive for the ‘Anne McCaffrey’ Category
Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey
published in 1971
where I got it: husband came with it
why I read it: this is one of my husband’s favorite series, so I wanted to give it a try.
Picking up seven years after Dragonflight (reviewed here), Lessa has come into her own as Weyrwoman, F’lar is a respected Weyrleader, and the “oldtimers” that Lessa brought from four hundred turns ago are having trouble adapting to their new world. The oldtimers who were once revered above all Pernians are having trouble swallowing that they are no longer seen as demigods by the populace.
The politics between the oldtimers and the contemporary Pernians are my favorite part of this book. I interpreted it as an interesting little political commentary, how the oldtimers (conservatives) react to the contemporary dragonriders (the progessives). The way the oldtimers see it, everything the progessives do is wrong and to the detriment of society. But the contemporary dragonriders don’t see why they shouldn’t use every tool and every new technology they discover to make life easier for everyone? When developing new methods and drastically moving away from tradition, how far is too far? Read the rest of this entry »
Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey
first published in 1968
where I got it: Husband came with it.
why I read it: said husband suggested it for “catching up with classics”.
You know how most of my reviews are spoiler free? this one is gonna be mostly spoilers. Can you really call them spoilers if the book was written in 1968?
My husband has been trying to get me to read Dragonflight, along with the rest of the Dragonriders of Pern series for ages. It’s got cheesy cover art with a girl riding a dragon. and the blurb on the back is equally cheesy. But now that I’m doing this Catching up with Classics thing, there was no escaping the Anne McCaffrey. He promised it had action. Adventure. telepathic dragons. A little bit of romance. some humor. but really, all he needed to say to get me to read it was that it had Time Travel.
Yes dear friends, Dragonflight is one of the original Science Fantasy stories. On the fantasy side, we’ve got feudal lordlings, harpers and singers who pass on knowledge through songs and storytelling, Stonehenge style calendars, primitive weapons and firebreathing dragons. On the scifi-side, we’ve got a planet that was colonized by humans hundreds of years ago and then forgotten, genetic manipulation, telepathy, teleportation, and did I mention time travel?
the Little Red Reviewer 
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