Paperback, 466 pages
Italian language
Published Aug. 7, 1997 by Nord.
I dragonieri di Pern
4 stars
(27 reviews)
II terzo pianeta di Rubkat si era rivelato adatto alla vita. L'uomo quindi non aveva esitato a colonizzarlo e a dargli il nome di Pern. Ma ogni duecento anni uno strano corpo celeste sfiora quel pianeta, propagando spore minacciose attraverso lo spazio che invadono l'atmosfera e distruggono tutto ciò con cui vengono in contatto. Per scongiurare questa ciclica catastrofe, i coloni di Pern hanno creato una nuova specie ispirandosi alle leggende del loro pianeta nativo: i Draghi, possenti creature alate che solcano i cieli in una dimensione attraverso lo spazio e il tempo. Sono passati molti Giri da quando Lissa con il suo volo ha salvato Pern dall'ultima invasione. I Dragonieri di un tempo, provenienti da quattrocento Giri nel passato, si adattano con difficoltà al nuovo mondo nel quale debbono vivere. L'antichissima solidarietà fra i cavalieri dei draghi comincia ad attenuarsi, per di più, i Fili invasori sembrano cambiare strategia: …
II terzo pianeta di Rubkat si era rivelato adatto alla vita. L'uomo quindi non aveva esitato a colonizzarlo e a dargli il nome di Pern. Ma ogni duecento anni uno strano corpo celeste sfiora quel pianeta, propagando spore minacciose attraverso lo spazio che invadono l'atmosfera e distruggono tutto ciò con cui vengono in contatto. Per scongiurare questa ciclica catastrofe, i coloni di Pern hanno creato una nuova specie ispirandosi alle leggende del loro pianeta nativo: i Draghi, possenti creature alate che solcano i cieli in una dimensione attraverso lo spazio e il tempo. Sono passati molti Giri da quando Lissa con il suo volo ha salvato Pern dall'ultima invasione. I Dragonieri di un tempo, provenienti da quattrocento Giri nel passato, si adattano con difficoltà al nuovo mondo nel quale debbono vivere. L'antichissima solidarietà fra i cavalieri dei draghi comincia ad attenuarsi, per di più, i Fili invasori sembrano cambiare strategia: giungono dallo spazio interplanetario a intervalli sempre più irregolari e imprevedibili: ciò rende sempre più difficile incontrarli a mezz'aria, a cavallo dei Draghi, per distruggerli. Ma infine si prospetta una soluzione geniale anche se rischiosa: se i Draghi sono in grado di viaggiare attraverso lo spazio e il tempo, perché non organizzare una spedizione sulla Stella Rossa per sbaragliare i nemici di sempre? L'epopea narrativa dei Dragonieri di Pern, capolavoro assoluto di Anne McCaffrey, è il più ampio e coerente tentativo di creare una nuova mitologia con le risorse immaginative della fantascienza.
TaxideaDaisy reviewed Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey (The dragonriders of Pern -- vol. 2)
Review of 'Dragonquest' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
Dragonquest covers a lot of ground, with more storylines than Dragonflight, and more characters. I found it hard to keep track of everyone. Sometimes the writing seemed formulaic, in terms of descriptions especially. It was not as good this time as it was 30 years ago, but it wasn't awful either. It's fun to revisit the Pern stories, and some are better than others.
Dragonquest also contains my least favorite moment, the greatest tragedy in the Pern cycle that I have encountered (I have not read all of the Pern books).
I'd give this three and a half stars if I could.
Kevin B. O'Brien reviewed Dragonquest (Bookcassette(r) Edition) by Dick Hill (Dragonriders of Pern (2))
Review of 'Dragonquest (Bookcassette(r) Edition)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
The Science Fiction aspects begin to peek though here in the second novel of the series. But the main focus is on conflict between the Oldtimers, the Dragonriders who were brought forward in time to help deal with the threat from the thread, and the contemporary Dragonriders. So it is mostly a generational conflict, but it does help move the story along. The science fiction aspect enters when they consider the possibility of trying to eliminate the thread at its source, which is another planet in the solar system.
I have this as part of the three-volume set The Dragonriders of Pern which includes the first three novels in the series.
nekokat reviewed Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey (The dragonriders of Pern -- vol. 2)
Review of 'Dragonquest' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
Oh my god. So I thought the other books were full of weird rape and slut-shaming, but this one is the worst one yet. WTF, McCaffrey.
It takes some special talent to write a sex scene between two people who are in love and want to have sex, and somehow make it actually rape.
This entire scene between F'nor and Brekke, what the actual fuck. [CW: definitely pretty much rape.]
She tried to break away from him, but even with one arm the brown rider was stronger. Trapped, she began to cling to him with the strength of utter despair.
...
“You won’t lose Wirenth. It’s different when dragons mate, love. You’re the dragon, too, caught up in emotions that have only one resolution.” He held her tightly as she seemed to shrink with revulsion from him as well as the imminent event. He thought of the riders here …
Oh my god. So I thought the other books were full of weird rape and slut-shaming, but this one is the worst one yet. WTF, McCaffrey.
It takes some special talent to write a sex scene between two people who are in love and want to have sex, and somehow make it actually rape.
This entire scene between F'nor and Brekke, what the actual fuck. [CW: definitely pretty much rape.]
She tried to break away from him, but even with one arm the brown rider was stronger. Trapped, she began to cling to him with the strength of utter despair.
...
“You won’t lose Wirenth. It’s different when dragons mate, love. You’re the dragon, too, caught up in emotions that have only one resolution.” He held her tightly as she seemed to shrink with revulsion from him as well as the imminent event. He thought of the riders here at Southern, of T’bor, and he experienced a disgust of another sort. Those men, conditioned to respond to Kylara’s exotic tastes, would brutalize this inexperienced child.
...
Still holding her, he carried her out of the weyrhold, smothering her protest against his chest as she realized his intention.
...
He wanted to be gentle but, unaccountably, Brekke fought him. She pleaded with him, crying out wildly that they’d rouse the sleeping Wirenth. He wasn’t gentle but he was thorough, and, in the end, Brekke astounded him with a surrender as passionate as if her dragon had been involved.
...
She permitted him to caress her but there was a shadow lingering in her eyes and a reluctance in her body. “I want to, oh how I want to, F’nor, but I’m so scared. I’m scared to my bones.” He kissed her deeply, ruthlessly employing subtleties to arouse her. “Please, Brekke?” “It can’t be wrong to be happy, can it, F’nor?” she whispered, a shiver rippling along her body. He kissed her again, using every trick learned from a hundred casual encounters to wed her to him, body, soul and mind, aware of Canth’s enthusiastic endorsement.
And WTF is up with men constantly giving women "a little shake" in way we're supposed to read as like... roughly affectionate?
“Indeed we will. We’ll bring them up to date if …” “Lessa,” and F’lar gave her a little shake, his pessimism dispersed by the vehemence of her response and the transparency of her rapid calculations on how to bring about such changes.
“To keep other men from you?” F’nor demanded, giving her a little shake. “Why? Whom are you keeping yourself for?”
Not to mention that both F'lar and F'nor casually think they'd like to beat Kylara. Granted, she's a pain, but sometimes I think I can hardly blame her.
F’nor told her in a pleasant drawl though it cost him much to keep his temper. It was too bad you couldn’t beat a Weyrwoman with impunity. Her dragon wouldn’t permit it but a sound thrashing was what Kylara badly needed.
First he’d better get over the urge to beat Kylara, and give T’bor the chance to reprimand her privately.
Anyway, even when it's not being infuriating, this book is a lot of boring political maneuvering (which is painted as Super Serious Man Business We Have To Have A Duel To Settle This And The Fate of Pern Hangs In The Balance when the dudes are doing it, and Ladies Being All Emotional And Catty Why Can't They Just Behave Themselves when it's the women, but you know). And a little bit of interesting Pern backstory, which honestly is the thing I remember loving about this series.
Laura Lemay reviewed Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey (The dragonriders of Pern -- vol. 2)
Review of 'Dragonquest' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
After Anne Mcaffrey died late 2011 I rooted around in my bookshelves for all my old pern paperbacks from the early 80's. I was utterly obsessed with these books when I was a young teenager, and they were extremely formative in my own history as a writer. The first novel I ever wrote -- longhand, in mead spiralbound notebooks -- was a thin knockoff of Dragonflight (I seem to remember it had unicorns, but I'm so embarrassed by that book I haven't managed to actually read enough of it to check).
I reread all three books in the first Pern trilogy because I was curious to see if they held up to my very fond memories of them. Sadly the answer was no. Sometimes its best to let your fond childhood memories remain memories. :(
(I've duplicated this review across all three books).
Dragonflight: The earliest of the Pern books …
After Anne Mcaffrey died late 2011 I rooted around in my bookshelves for all my old pern paperbacks from the early 80's. I was utterly obsessed with these books when I was a young teenager, and they were extremely formative in my own history as a writer. The first novel I ever wrote -- longhand, in mead spiralbound notebooks -- was a thin knockoff of Dragonflight (I seem to remember it had unicorns, but I'm so embarrassed by that book I haven't managed to actually read enough of it to check).
I reread all three books in the first Pern trilogy because I was curious to see if they held up to my very fond memories of them. Sadly the answer was no. Sometimes its best to let your fond childhood memories remain memories. :(
(I've duplicated this review across all three books).
Dragonflight: The earliest of the Pern books and the most problematic. It's a fast read and an OK story, but...ugh. My memories of the book were that it was one of the few SF books at the time that revolved around a strong female lead, one that I could identify and aspire to when I was 13. I was appalled to discover on reread that the gender politics are solidly prefeminist and really, really icky. And the writing is terrible -- terrible characters, terrible descriptions, too many similar confusing names, to many shift of POV. I was ashamed for my younger self for liking this book so much.
Dragonquest: Similar gender issues in this book to the previous, but better writing and a really compelling plot. I ripped through the book in a few hours. Not great art, but good storytelling. The best of the three.
The White Dragon: I didn't realize that the entire Harper Hall trilogy is supposed to take place in between Dragonquest and TWD, and I should have read those before starting this one. I didn't think much of this book; it felt much more leisurely than the fast-paced plotting of Dragonquest, with many more characters and threads (heh) and not a lot of narrative tensions. Jaxom as a character didn't much appeal to me, and it was just as gross to see the wierd gender politics of Pern from the male point of view. The big reveal as to the origins of Pern seems a sort of deus ex machina letdown (although the extended prologues always explained this, it was never a big part of the plot). It just didn't feel like a satisfying conclusion to me, and after reading this book I just felt all dragonned out.
Also as a side note, everyone is always striding in these books. F'lar strode in to the room! F'nor strode out of the weyr! I mentioned it to my husband about 2/3rds through TWD and then I couldn't help laughing about it every time the word showed up after that. You could make a drinking game out of it and get truly pissed indeed.
