Book Review: Dragonflight

Title: Dragonflight

Author: Anne McCaffrey

ISBN: 978-0-552-08453-6

First Published: 1968

Blurb:

The men who rode the dragons were a breed apart. Chosen when the dragons were first hatched, they became soul-mates for life with the huge, magnificent beasts they controlled – the green, blue, brown and bronzes – beautiful – terrible – the only creatures who could defend the planet Pern from the blood-red star. But without the Queen, the dragons would become extinct. Only the gigantic, golden Queen could breed the new flights. And the Queen was fading…dying…leaving behind one last, huge, golden egg.

Review:

When I first began reading Dragonflight, I was a little put off the language. Despite this, I kept at it, and the plot quickly grabbed my attention.

My gripe with McCaffrey’s use of language is that it feels as though she consulted a thesaurus for every other word. Rather that making the text more sophisticated, it made it feel contrived and difficult to read. There are, however, a couple of fantastic instances of language-use. One that I particularly enjoyed was the use of “Thread-bare”.

Fortunately, the plot does more than enough to make up for this shortcoming. Whilst not the most sophisticated, it is a thoroughly enjoyable romp through a fantasy land, complete with dragons and time travel. The time travel aspects begin to get a little complicated, and it takes a bit of thought to keep up with what is happening and when.

McCaffrey does an excellent job at slowly explaining the facts of the world throughout the novel. At first it feels a little frustrating to not understand the numerous references she drops in the beginning, but all becomes clear as you get through the novel. Unlike other novels that use a character who is as clueless as the reader about such things, Dragonflight has no such character. They all understand these references, so the explanations are a little slow in the coming. However, this allows the plot to continue without being stalled by extensive exposition, and makes for more enjoyable reading in the long-run.

Her characters are strong and interesting. In particular, Lessa shows great determination, and her tragic history makes her role in the plot all the more rewarding. F’lar is also an interesting character. His is a stressful situation, and McCaffrey does a good job at showing the effects it has on him.

The relationship between dragon and rider is a very interesting one, and is the part of the novel that got me hooked to it. When I saw the kind of bond they have with one another, it made me want a dragon of my own. This helped to make me want to read the book further.

The conclusion to the book is satisfying, yet also leaves it very open for the next in the series. The ending has a good balance between feeling as though the story has ended, yet also making me want to continue reading to find out what will happen.

Overall, I would recommend this book to any reader who enjoys fantasy. Whilst it is certainly aimed at teenagers, there is still a lot of satisfaction to be had for adults wishing to relive the excitement of their younger years.

Ratings:

Character: 8/10

Plot: 8/10

Style: 6/10

Overall: 7/10