Jessica reviewed Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey (Dragonriders of Pern (2))
None
3 stars
Dragonquest started off with even worse gender politics than Dragonflight, which was actually shocking because of how bad it was in that book. It's like McCaffrey decided she hadn't made it quite clear enough how patriarchal society was and needed to double down. However, the concept of a gender egalitarian society was mentioned. And in a way that hints that maybe it'll happen. Not in this book, though.
Luckily, the plot turned away from how much of an annoying, self-centered, power-hungry bitch Kylara is and towards more sci-fantasy elements and political intrigue between men. Sad when you are desperate for a story to stop centering women because of how misogynist it is, them not having as much to do with the plot is a relief.
The book kind of feels like an excuse to show off the world, rather than to tell a good story. And sure, the world is …
Dragonquest started off with even worse gender politics than Dragonflight, which was actually shocking because of how bad it was in that book. It's like McCaffrey decided she hadn't made it quite clear enough how patriarchal society was and needed to double down. However, the concept of a gender egalitarian society was mentioned. And in a way that hints that maybe it'll happen. Not in this book, though.
Luckily, the plot turned away from how much of an annoying, self-centered, power-hungry bitch Kylara is and towards more sci-fantasy elements and political intrigue between men. Sad when you are desperate for a story to stop centering women because of how misogynist it is, them not having as much to do with the plot is a relief.
The book kind of feels like an excuse to show off the world, rather than to tell a good story. And sure, the world is cool. But the characters are shallow and cliche, and their relationships are glossed over to focus on the tech and how a feudal society would handle it. Also cool. But even just focusing on the intrigue of Kylara and Meron, fleshing them out more to be less "greedy selfish man and greedy selfish woman fuck shit up" could have been a whole book.
Also, F'nor rapes Brekke. Book 1, F'lar rapes Lessa (but it's okay, she falls in love with him /s), book 2 F'nor rapes Brekke (but it's okay, he was the only person she wanted to bone and it was for her own good /s)... will Jaxom rape someone in book 3? I suppose we'll find out.