Book Review: Dragongirl

Dragongirl was provided to me by the publisher for review. It's the latest entry in the ongoing Dragonriders of Pern series initially by Anne McCaffrey, and of late taken over by her son Todd McCaffrey.
He definitely has the feel of the world and know's how to make us care about these characters - especially the dragons. When a dragon dies, we feel it just like the dragonrider, but we resist going between because we want to find out what happens.

There's so much history in the Pern saga, and so much time between books, that I have trouble remembering where in the timeline we are, even though there's a handy timeline in the front of the book. That's just me though. Readers closer to the series probably have no problem remembering. I know we're still pretty early in the Pernese calendar and not as far into the sage as Ms. McCaffrey's later books from the White Dragon on. Todd McCaffrey's book go back in time, literally some times, to fill in some history of Pern for us.

This latest tale seems mostly a character piece, focusing on interaction, relationships, and drama between the characters. The dragon-sickness and the short-fall of dragons necessary to fight Thread are just pieces of a story that serves mainly to move characters around and bring them and other plot pieces into place for the next book.

That's okay though. I surely don't mind reading a Pern novel that sets up another one. That just means more Pern novels for me to read! And there's absolutely nothing wrong with more Dragonriders of Pern!

I'm intrigued by the watch-whers (cousins to dragons) and their possibilities. And I miss the fire lizards. I haven't read one of Anne McCaffrey's Pern books in quite awhile, but I don't recall sex being such a big part of the story, a little here and there maybe, but not such an integral part. Nothing graphic here though. And I don't recall polyamory being so front and center in past books either - though I guess for the Queen riders, it's bound to happen. Maybe I just don't recall these things even though they were present. I just wanted to mention it.

If you like character drama you should read this book. Anyone that likes heroic dragons should read this book (and any other Pern book). Any Pern fan should read this book.