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A review by phasingphoenix
Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey
4.0
A good, well-thought book. The ending had me literally gripping my chair.
My only complaint happens to be a big one. I was fully into Lessa's character in the first novel. Clever, conniving, bold, and honestly dangerous. There is none of that here. Nearly every scene she's in through the first half of the book, she must ensure that everyone (mostly the men) have eaten, go to bed on time, and have their wounds treated. That's it. We are not treated to her perspective until late in the book, when she just stands there watching everything. The only time she DOES anything is a roundabout way of getting someone ELSE to do the big heroic charge. Frustrating, after everything we saw of her in Dragonflight.
Most of this I chalk up to publisher pressure to appeal to a wider audience, who had little interest in strong female leads at the time. Though I have no way of proving that, I choose to believe it in favor of believing Anne simply nerfed her chaos goblin queen for the hell of it.
The book remains a good one, a fascinating look at the political and cultural ramifications of the first book's events. This is just a fair warning for those who enjoyed Lessa's schemes from before.
My only complaint happens to be a big one. I was fully into Lessa's character in the first novel. Clever, conniving, bold, and honestly dangerous. There is none of that here. Nearly every scene she's in through the first half of the book, she must ensure that everyone (mostly the men) have eaten, go to bed on time, and have their wounds treated. That's it. We are not treated to her perspective until late in the book, when she just stands there watching everything. The only time she DOES anything is a roundabout way of getting someone ELSE to do the big heroic charge. Frustrating, after everything we saw of her in Dragonflight.
Most of this I chalk up to publisher pressure to appeal to a wider audience, who had little interest in strong female leads at the time. Though I have no way of proving that, I choose to believe it in favor of believing Anne simply nerfed her chaos goblin queen for the hell of it.
The book remains a good one, a fascinating look at the political and cultural ramifications of the first book's events. This is just a fair warning for those who enjoyed Lessa's schemes from before.