A review by myth
Dragon's Time, by Anne McCaffrey
Did not finish book.
This review is going to sound dramatic. Fair warning.
I said I was going to finish this. I really was going to. Then I hit a thing I couldn't get past.
Was it, as you might assume, one of the mentions of 14 year old Terin being considered a woman while in a relationship with an adult man, with 'many younger than her' settled already? To my shame, no. I read Sarah J Maas novels and critique them, okay? I'm no stranger to gross relationships.
Was it the clumsy dialogue? The piss-poor prose? The use of 'very silent'? (one is or is not silent. There is no 'very' here). Maybe the constant obsession with babies and clear lack of research on pregnancy and human women in general? Alas, no.
It was almost the constant interchangeably ridden dragons. That almost got me. Lorana hijacked not only someone else's dragon, but the SENIOR QUEEN DRAGON OF A WEYR for an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LONG TERM MULTI-TIME-TRAVELLING TELEPORTATION JOURNEY. That almost got me. People treating Tullea as if she was being unreasonable that someone was riding her dragon around willy-nilly on a dangerous journey? Nearly got me. The sudden Cryptic Mystical Prophecy and Storied Destiny? Nearly got me.
But no, friends. I stayed, because I said I would finish. I said I would. I nearly did. The line that broke me?
"You could have my queen, if you want."
No. I am literally, physically sick to my stomach. No. I grew up with Pern. I read every Dragonriders novel I could get my hands on. I have the Atlas of Pern. I have the Dragonlover's Guide to Pern. I have the People of Pern. I have the CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE NOVELS OF PERN. The Dragonriders of Pern 2001 PC game? I had to carefully save before walking into the hatching ground so I could redo it until the randomized thing picked the Weyrwoman I wanted to Impress. I still have the lists of dragonriders I made up in highschool because I made an entire cast of characters for it, including drawing out a hypothetical Telgar Weyr layout.
I'm not even angry. I feel sick, that's how disappointed I am in Todd McCaffrey's Pern novels. I was nearly in tears earlier. I might finally understand how a lot of Harry Potter fans feel about The Cursed Child, though I'm having a hard time believing in the moment that they feel this strongly about it (I mean, intellectually I believe it. Emotionally I'm still in disbelief).
Pleasant reminder that despite my ongoing one sided feud with the books of a certain author, this remains the worst book I have ever read in my life and I am currently 44% of the way through Handbook for Mortals. I have read all three 50 Shades books. I’ve read an unreasonable number of Terry Goodkind books.
This one is worse.
I said I was going to finish this. I really was going to. Then I hit a thing I couldn't get past.
Was it, as you might assume, one of the mentions of 14 year old Terin being considered a woman while in a relationship with an adult man, with 'many younger than her' settled already? To my shame, no. I read Sarah J Maas novels and critique them, okay? I'm no stranger to gross relationships.
Was it the clumsy dialogue? The piss-poor prose? The use of 'very silent'? (one is or is not silent. There is no 'very' here). Maybe the constant obsession with babies and clear lack of research on pregnancy and human women in general? Alas, no.
It was almost the constant interchangeably ridden dragons. That almost got me. Lorana hijacked not only someone else's dragon, but the SENIOR QUEEN DRAGON OF A WEYR for an EXTREMELY DANGEROUS LONG TERM MULTI-TIME-TRAVELLING TELEPORTATION JOURNEY. That almost got me. People treating Tullea as if she was being unreasonable that someone was riding her dragon around willy-nilly on a dangerous journey? Nearly got me. The sudden Cryptic Mystical Prophecy and Storied Destiny? Nearly got me.
But no, friends. I stayed, because I said I would finish. I said I would. I nearly did. The line that broke me?
"You could have my queen, if you want."
No. I am literally, physically sick to my stomach. No. I grew up with Pern. I read every Dragonriders novel I could get my hands on. I have the Atlas of Pern. I have the Dragonlover's Guide to Pern. I have the People of Pern. I have the CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE NOVELS OF PERN. The Dragonriders of Pern 2001 PC game? I had to carefully save before walking into the hatching ground so I could redo it until the randomized thing picked the Weyrwoman I wanted to Impress. I still have the lists of dragonriders I made up in highschool because I made an entire cast of characters for it, including drawing out a hypothetical Telgar Weyr layout.
I'm not even angry. I feel sick, that's how disappointed I am in Todd McCaffrey's Pern novels. I was nearly in tears earlier. I might finally understand how a lot of Harry Potter fans feel about The Cursed Child, though I'm having a hard time believing in the moment that they feel this strongly about it (I mean, intellectually I believe it. Emotionally I'm still in disbelief).
Pleasant reminder that despite my ongoing one sided feud with the books of a certain author, this remains the worst book I have ever read in my life and I am currently 44% of the way through Handbook for Mortals. I have read all three 50 Shades books. I’ve read an unreasonable number of Terry Goodkind books.
This one is worse.