Dragonquest is the second novel in the Dragonriders of Pern saga. It takes place immediately after the first book. Lessa had traveled back in time and gotten a bunch of dragonriders from the past to come into the future to assiste the severely depleted dragonrider population defeat the Threads.
In this book, the Old Dragonriders butt heads with the New Dragonriders in terms of customs and expectations from commoners. Then these fire lizards show up, small, fire-breathing creatures that can go in between like dragons and they're all causing friction among everyone. There's trouble with weyrwomen, F'nor is all raping a lady who doesn't want it (but it's OKAY, she falls in love with him, OBVIOUSLY), and Threads are falling out of schedule, so there's danger everywhere. There's just so much.
So why is this book so boring? There is a lot of action, I promise. The writing is fine. Some of the gender relations is dated (first published in 1971, so I can let some of it slide). We get to hang out with some of the characters from the first book and we get some new characters. We get new creatures. We get lots of snarky dragon communication.
I don't know. Reading it was like doing my homework, though. I think it is all about the characters. I wrote that I would let some of the gender relations stuff slide, but I think I lied about that. It's just manly men being manly men and sweet little ladies who need to be taken care of, except for that one woman who is just a slut and selfish and horrible.
This series is absolutely beloved. I should love it - dragons, female author, and an immersive world to fall into. But I don't. I think I'll probably let this series go and move on to reading other McCaffery works.
Have you ever read Dragonriders of Pern? Did you love it?
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