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inkyinsanity's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Sexism
Moderate: Death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Kidnapping, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
onthesamepage's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I read this a long, long time ago, and I remembered parts of it being problematic, but I was curious to see how I'd feel about it now. And you know what, the problematic parts were still problematic. But the story and the world are just as interesting as they were when I read them the first time.
Instead of the conflict in this story being people at war with each other, the people are at war with their environment. That doesn't mean that there's no politics or in-fighting, because all of that exists, but it lends a different dynamic to it when one of the parties is in charge of protecting the entire planet. At the beginning of the book, the dragonriders have lost credibility in Pern, because the threat that they exist to fight hasn't been seen for 400 years. This leads to the different towns abandoning the agreements that have always been in place to support the Weyrs. Lessa is thrown into this chaos when F'lar decides she would make a good Weyrwoman. Through her, we slowly begin to piece together how the world functions, and to unravel all the mysteries we've been introduced to.
The strength of this book is really in the story it's telling, and not so much the characters or relationships. Yes, the bond between dragons and humans is cool, and it does get explored quite a bit, but I spent far more time being intrigued by the world and the Threads than the humans. There also isn't a romance to root for, even though one does develop between Lessa and F'lar eventually. Their relationship starts off extremely contentious, however, and it makes it hard to root for them as a couple, or for F'lar as a love interest specifically. There are multiple instances where he talks down to Lessa, shakes her, slaps sense into her, berates her, not to mention the implication of nonconsensual sex (fully off-page, but it is mentioned). And maybe it's a product of the time it was written in, but that doesn't make it more fun to read. Lessa is far from a doormat, though, and she gives as good as she gets at least 50% of the time. It also helps that she's the undisputed hero of this book, and her grit and determination makes it easy to root for her.
Graphic: Misogyny and Physical abuse
Moderate: Animal cruelty
Minor: Fatphobia and Rape
uranaishi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Alcohol
Minor: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Infidelity, Rape, Blood, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
wishbea's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
The early chapters did an excellent job teaching me about the politics and world itself. But the more I saw of F'lar and Lessa the more I disliked them, I was initially rooting for them to learn to trust each other but F'lar loses all his charisma as he is clearly abusing Lessa to the point where she appears to have a panic attack about returning to him.
Lessa seems like she might've been considered a strong female character at the time of release, but she, like all of the characters including F'lar, ends up being reduced to being a purely arrogant character. The sexism she has to deal with is dreadful and there are only 3 other female characters in this book I could name, so Lessa gets points for rebelling against her treatment.
The dragons are great and the threat of the "Threads" and the main problem of the Weyr seemed like it wouldn't be solved within the very first book..However, it is! In the space of 30 pages Lessa solves the incredibly complex problem with absolutely no issues convincing anyone!
On top of that, since the main hook and problem of this book has been solved I don't see any reason to read the following book. Surely now
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Confinement, Mental illness, and Pregnancy
erebus53's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Set on Pern, a planet that is an abandoned human colony, we have a moderately low-tech setting with its own distinct flora and fauna. Having read the Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums books I'm now wondering which order I should read the other titles in! Despite being first published in 1968, I was interested to see that the language used in the writing was still pretty modern in feel. I wonder if this is because of the setting being pseudo-medieval; it's a lot easier to age "modern" and "futuristic" settings by how prominent cigarettes are and how clunky the tech and attitudes toward it feel.
I enjoyed the story of a woman who has had hardships but is no saint. She can be impulsive and messes up frequently and is very stubborn, in ways that male characters in fantasy have often been allowed to get away with unchallenged. It's refreshing to see someone powerful and self-directed, and interesting to see her being sneaky and under-handed while still basically likeable. She is powerful but gets overwhelmed in utterly overwhelming situations, and this humanises her quite a bit.
I can see how Anne McCaffrey has been really influential in fantasy writing. Her basic sci-fi sensibilities underpin a fantasy that is immersive and believable. The magic of it is mysterious and we get a sense that we are experiencing something that is not what we know, but only because we haven't learned enough yet. This is key to magical realism that really grabs me.. (and thinking on that I can see why books like Thief's Magic by Trudi Canavan really caught my attention). It's internally consistent.
Looking forward to reading more of these as I get hold of them!
Graphic: Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Bullying, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, and Classism
trillingconclusion's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Fatphobia, Infidelity, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
siobhanh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Moderate: Physical abuse and Rape
softlywinter's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Physical abuse
Minor: Rape