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Title: The White Dragon (The Dragonriders of Pern Book 3)
Author: Anne McCaffrey
Published: New York: Ballantine Books, 1986
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 468
Total Page Count: 133,555
Text Number: 391
Read Because: continuing the series, e-book borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Jaxom is the future Lord Holder of Ruatha, but in defiance of tradition he's also bonded to a dragon—the small, unusual, white Ruth. This is the story of his coming of age, as he insists on embracing both of his roles and leaves Pern changed in his wake. The White Dragon is an improvement over its immediate predecessor, Dragonquest, in large part because it has a stronger focus: Jaxom, whose maturation is realistic if not compelling. Jaxom's bond with Ruth is more unique, both because Ruth is better characterized than most dragons and because sex is an active issue in their relationship. This brings into the forefront something that lingered unexamined at the fringes of previous Pern books, but surprisingly—given the slut-shaming and implied rape that suffuse those books—it's a liberal examination. Jaxom's sexuality is problematically heteronormative, but the way he negotiates sexual activity and identity with Ruth is strange, intimate, and compelling. McCaffrey's writing, however, has undergone no change: The White Dragon is overlong—the world of Pern has attained significant, if artificially structured, complexity, but it can be at the cost of a good story—and artless; dialog is particularly cumbersome. This is the last I plan to read of Pern, perhaps indefinitely, and I still don't recommend this series, nor this book—but The White Dragon does bring some interesting things to the table.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
But let's not pretend that the book in the least ways handles sex well—wait just a second, did our sympathetic male protagonist just wish that a "difficult" female character would be raped in order to put her in her place? ( Yes, yes he did. )
Author: Anne McCaffrey
Published: New York: Ballantine Books, 1986
Rating: 3 of 5
Page Count: 468
Total Page Count: 133,555
Text Number: 391
Read Because: continuing the series, e-book borrowed from the Multnomah County Library
Review: Jaxom is the future Lord Holder of Ruatha, but in defiance of tradition he's also bonded to a dragon—the small, unusual, white Ruth. This is the story of his coming of age, as he insists on embracing both of his roles and leaves Pern changed in his wake. The White Dragon is an improvement over its immediate predecessor, Dragonquest, in large part because it has a stronger focus: Jaxom, whose maturation is realistic if not compelling. Jaxom's bond with Ruth is more unique, both because Ruth is better characterized than most dragons and because sex is an active issue in their relationship. This brings into the forefront something that lingered unexamined at the fringes of previous Pern books, but surprisingly—given the slut-shaming and implied rape that suffuse those books—it's a liberal examination. Jaxom's sexuality is problematically heteronormative, but the way he negotiates sexual activity and identity with Ruth is strange, intimate, and compelling. McCaffrey's writing, however, has undergone no change: The White Dragon is overlong—the world of Pern has attained significant, if artificially structured, complexity, but it can be at the cost of a good story—and artless; dialog is particularly cumbersome. This is the last I plan to read of Pern, perhaps indefinitely, and I still don't recommend this series, nor this book—but The White Dragon does bring some interesting things to the table.
Review posted here on Amazon.com.
But let's not pretend that the book in the least ways handles sex well—wait just a second, did our sympathetic male protagonist just wish that a "difficult" female character would be raped in order to put her in her place? ( Yes, yes he did. )
