Spoiler Free Summary: Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey is the second book in the Dragonriders of Pern series (at least what is commonly regarded as the first in the main arc). The Thread has returned, but so have the dragonriders. Lessa’s actions (from Book One) have brought back the help F’lar needed to defend Pern, but the Oldtimers are breeding dissent, and their presence may actually turn into a hinderance. As F’lar works to find a way to defeat the Thread once and for all, he’s distracted by the need to keep order among the dragonriders.
Character: So normally I hate political drama. Adding dragons to the mix helps a lot, but that’s not why this story works for me. The reason it works is the characters. After Dragonflight, I’m in love with Lessa, F’lar and F’nor and their dragons. The political intrigue is amplified because the reader understand how driven F’lar is to defeat the Thread and how frustrating it is (and thus the readers are on his behalf) to be rebelled against. That emotional conflict is the only way to make political conflict interesting. It’s the same with a cop and robber story. If you don’t understand the motivations of the cop and robber, it’s just a hollow plot line. At least with cops and robbers, there’s guaranteed action. I will say I think the Oldtimers’ points of view could have been more relevant, but with how connected I was to the main cast already, I didn’t care.
Exposition: Dragonquest is sort of a reward for making it through the first five chapters of Dragonflight in regard to exposition. Now that the world is built and defined, there are far fewer blocks of exposition. As an epic fantasy story, there are absolutely blocks of exposition, but it’s not nearly as much as there were in Book One, where we had to learn pretty much everything about how the planet works.
Worldbuilding: Things only get better with this book. Without addition exposition, McCaffrey expands on Pern and the cause of Thread. We learn more about the world of Pern and its society. I’ll ever beleive Pern is the standard bearer for worldbuilding in fiction.
Dialogue: This book continues the trend set by Book One. The dialogue is so much more than plot positioning or badly hidden exposition. Instead, the dialogue adds to the characters and it adds to the emotion of the scene. The characters aren’t narrating information like a bad play. Instead, we’re immersed in a world in which we can hear the characters and the conversations they have. They are indeed relevant to the plot, but they’re not cookie-cutter plot outlines.
Description: What shines here in McCaffrey’s description is how carefully she uses adjectives near action verbs. If I were studying in school, I might find the time to read this book and underline the verbs and circle the adjectives she uses to give those verbs additional sensory value. There’s one particular scene in the book where she artfully depicts a chaotic event without loosing the reader or slowing down the pace of the story. Sure, there’s more description than I like, but it only adds to the immersive nature of the world.
Overall: Dragonquest is proof that political intrigue doesn’t have to be boring. I think McCaffrey did right what Herbert did wrong. I’m sure others disagree with me, and I respect that opinion, but stick with me. Herbert gave the worldbuilding and political intrigue first, and then added character. McCaffrey made us care about the characters first and then added the political conflict. When we connect emotionally to characters, we’re far more patient as readers than when writers want to show off their notes for 100 pages before we really come to understand our characters. This book highlights a lot of those aspects.
Thanks for reading
Matt
Exposition: The exposition of this book is a little on the heavy side. There are a few segments where I feel Hiller is giving scope to the book, but I don’t think I personally needed it. Though there are patches of over exposition, they don’t slow the pace or enjoyment of the book.
Dialogue: There’s a scene near the end of the book between Imani and one of her regular customers that I felt was a sign of a next level from Hiller. I wouldn’t begrudge an editor telling him to delete it, but it was strong writing that helped reveal the character. We see this again when Derik talks to a character referred to as Baba. Those two scenes are great examples of how dialogue can move a plot and define a character.
Spoiler Free Summary: Magic-Borne is the final book in the Crown of Stones trilogy. It takes place pretty soon after the events of Magic-Scars. Ian is trying to solve the mystery of his scars, save a loved one, defeat his father, and find a way to bring peace to the land. We get a lot of questions answered and the readers will get a complete resolution, which is all any reader of a series can ask for these days.
Worldbuilding: So what I have to do here is admit that if someone shouts that the ending “seems” convenient (or at least the plot device that brings about the end), I couldn’t get too angry because I’d understand what they see. I’d like to argue though that what Schneider did here is not MUCH different (if not even done better) than what McCaffrey did in Dragon Riders of Pern. Before anyone throws stuff at me, realize I’m only drawing a correlation between plot devices.
Description: I mentioned problems with how I saw characters in the review for Scars, and Schneider followed up her novel with much more character description. Her extra attention to smaller character details made the book that much more visceral than the last. I thought this was a great blend between setting, scene, and character description. This was an improvement from Scars to Borne.
Overall: I stand by my opinion that Scars is the best of the three, but this book is a very satisfying and complete conclusion to a great story. Where Scars upped the drama and the emotion, Borne lets us slip into the the resolution like a warm bath. I appreciate how this story tied up all the loose ends and let us leave this world feeling as if we’ve seen all there is to see, for now. This also holds true to how I usually feel about trilogies. I tend to like the second act best because that’s where the most drama is. That makes this book a perfect conclusion. No, it’s not the most exciting book because it can’t be. A reader has to leave a story knowing there’s nothing more (in a manner of speaking) to be seen from this arc. Borne does that. If Schneider ever decides to go back, I’m going to be immensely pleased. This was a sold, complete, well told story with an amazing protagonist and a fascinating twist on a few old tropes.
A note on content and content warning. Not only is this book designed for adults, I must admit that this has some aspects of tone and conduct that strike me the wrong way. While this affected MY enjoyment of the book, it does not diminish the quality of the writer or it’s narrative. This is important for me to say because I developed this new review format to be objective. The reasons I struggled with the book have more to do with my own past and my own issues than it does with why this book might be of interest to other readers. That said, readers with an aversion to certain sexual situations may want to speak to a friend who’s read this book before reading it themselves.
Whilst wandering the Earth in search of more skills, I came upon a scroll. I don’t know how it came to be under a rock in a cave I didn’t realize I’d need to sleep in until the snow grew so thick I couldn’t see, nor do I understand why I bothered to glance at it before I burned said paper for much-desired warmth. The important thing is I read it.
I re-read the word over and over. Was there more? Nothing. Who would waste so much paper for a single, five-letter word? The excitement I felt when I saw the title was replaced by the need for self-preservation. My body was shaking from the cold at this point and my fingers were likely to become individually wrapped popsicles.
“You gonna hold me all day, or do you mean to do something?”
“I still don’t have any ideas.”
Frustrated, I stabbed the pen onto the scroll and started writing a story about an argumentative quill destined to help an aspiring author create the greatest story ever told.
I’d decided to be a writer, and I realized all I needed to be so was to write. I started out as a discovery writer. I just made crap up and wrote until it made sense to me. I kept going until I’d finished my first book. It was awful. The description was lacking. The setting made no sense. The plot was trite.
I joined the Navy and learned how to be a journalist. I saw a bit of the world. I got distracted, but I eventually recommitted to what I wanted to be. I wanted to be a writer, so I wrote. I tried to save that first book. I literally tried 21 times to make that book something ready to be published. It’s still not. So I wrote a new book. I joined a writer’s group. Those words came more and more easily to me. The more I wrote, the more I wrote. The more times I typed “the end,” the more times I started a new book.
Everyone with a dream has that moment of calling. It’s almost never some obvious magical moment in a cave with a magical, talking quill. It’s hardly ever some wise old traveler coming to change your life. The real world isn’t that kind. The real world lets you do, whatever it is you want to do.
I don’t care what you write. Just write. I don’t care if it’s good; that’s what editing is for. I don’t care if no one likes it; write what you like. Just write. It doesn’t have to be a thousand words. It can be a block of time or a smaller number of words. But every day you write, you’ll find it easier to write. I promise! Every day you write, you’ll find you’ve written more and more. I promise!
Everything feels real while reading this. Yes, there are things about the magic system that give me questions, but I’m willing to let it go until I read the last book. None of those questions feel like cheats. Usually, by book two, I like to have a pretty solid feel for how a magic system works. My gripe is that, while the basic premise is easy to grasp, I still can’t quite summarize the mechanics of how the system works. This may be because the system is a part of the plot. As we learn about the magic, we understand what’s going on in the book more. To just come out with it would cheat the reader of discovering certain things for themselves. Only those obsessed with diagraming and breakdown of abilities would be disappointed. Bonus points for the Eldering. Their history was a nice touch.
Description: I have a better sense of the world than I do the characters. I naturally see Ian more clearly in my mind that the other characters. I confess characters don’t sit well in my imagination to begin with. What I do know is that all the characters get their fair share of description. It’s not enough to get through my particularly thick skull, but I think most readers will be fine with it. I think the settings are stronger because they bring better images to my imagination. What Schneider does well though is weave those things in. I hate being beaten to death with description or minute detail. Not once in the book did I skim over a section because I felt it was just overwritten description.
M.L.S. Weech 