Reviews

Dragonquest by Anne McCaffrey

neglet's review against another edition

Rereading for the zillionth time.... Still enjoy the plot, and the extra development of old characters and new. Not loving the rampant misogyny espoused by even otherwise sympathetic characters, but still think this would be a terrific TV series.

willwork4airfare's review against another edition

4.0

I love that the second installment picks up after the fight. War isn’t the focus of these novels despite masculinity and combat still being a large part of the fantasy plot, and I just appreciate it more than I can say. She didn’t wait long to re-establish how badly women are still treated in this series, with the usual exception of the main heroine (Lessa). I was excited and looking forward to her collaboration with the women from the past, but it doesn’t look like it’s meant to be.

The treatment of women consistently bothered me while reading even if it’s to be expected in fantasy and even though there are attempts to combat those ideas. Kylara with her flaming red hair and her “promiscuity” are so cliché it’s laughable. Some elements of the plot are so fantastical while others are so predictable, I really love the juxtaposition. Despite all its flaws, I’m sucked into the narrative and I can’t get enough of reading it. It’s one of those series that is really able to transport me to another place in my mind. I love the backstory and everything I learn about Pern and its solar system. I just wish there wasn’t so much sexual assault and coercion.

I’m not a huge fan of second installments, especially ones that just seem broken in half to allow the real action occur during the third (I think Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and White Dragon stand alone as a trilogy themselves), but there are many factors at work that prove she is intending to write a formulaic novel, so it’s easy to forgive in context. I’m definitely a fan of this series and I’m so glad I got into it!

gsanta1's review against another edition

4.0

Better than the first, and I liked the first.

So many great scenes, and interesting characters.

Learning more about the Red Planet, grubs, drama with the Oltimers, drama with unstable weyrwoman.

Much, much more.
I was surprised every chapter.

Oh, and fire-lizards too!

eacolgan's review against another edition

3.0

I didn't enjoy this one as much as my reread of Dragonflight. One, the POV from Lessa which I enjoyed in the first book was almost entirely absent. Way to overthrow your supposed heroine to the stories of her male counterparts, McCaffrey. Two, while the politics were awesome and I love that sort of 'digging in to effect change' type of story, it got muddled for me with all the different POVs. Actually I think that's my biggest criticism of book 2 - it could have been diluted down to F'lar, F'nor, Jaxom, and maybe the Masterharper, and still had the same story.

jackdoud's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

trsclee's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

genderqueer_hiker's review against another edition

3.0

Misogyny, fatphobia, heterosexism, and sexism galore

alaina_v_navarro's review against another edition

4.0

Maybe it’s become I’m a bit simple minded but I love this story. To me it is engaging, the characters are lovable, the story is unique and I think especially when in a lot of modern fantasy books they are just copy and paste versions of each other and I think this story is refreshingly unique

rhganci's review against another edition

4.0

Jumping ahead 7 Turns, I felt like this book settled me into the continued plot very comfortably. She became a bit longer-winded in this volume, spending a bit more time with character’s thoughts and reflections of events, but only once or twice did I feel distracted from the story and the danger of the Threadfall. F’nor takes a centerpiece in this novel, and it felt natural, being totally separate from the first book, which centered on F’lar and Lessa (both of whom appear in this book), who have settled in nicely to their role as dragonrider celebrities, so to speak. The conflict with the Oldtimers was a natural permutation of what would happen when people 400 years different attempt to do the same thing, and I was surprised at some of the sweet knife fights in these books. I was thinking I should really feel the absence of swordplay more in these books, but the way the world is set up really seems to not need swords and sorcery—more than a fantasy, these are works of hard science fiction, dealing with the colonization of planets and celestial occurrences. There are also some interesting themes dealing with human history and the propensity to forget useful, helpful, and even necessary things, with a hint of critique on what seemed like revisionist history—the value of the grubs being totally forgotten and overlooked. It was pretty good, though I missed the “training” scenes from the previous book. I want to ride a dragon—maybe a white one? I’m glad that the third book deals with that aspect of the story—a white dragon sounds awesome.

dankolar's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5