slarter's Full Review: Anne McCaffrey - White Dragon
I’m sure it’s difficult, sometimes, to write a novel that is eagerly anticipated by fans of your writing. The pressure must be daunting, knowing that you have to live up to the standard that you yourself set with your earlier work. This must be especially difficult if you just don’t have a clue what your characters should do next. Please understand that by this introduction I do not mean to imply that Ms. McCaffrey doesn’t know what she is doing with this book. I merely mention it because I know myself well enough to understand that anytime I am saddled with people’s expectations, I tend to want to go in the opposite direction. Perhaps that’s not a universal tendency, but I wonder if authors sometimes take a different tack just because they’re expected to stay the same course they’ve been steering for a while. In all honesty, to a limited degree this does seem to be what has happened in the third installment of The Dragonriders of Pern. In this novel, McCaffrey moves in a different direction, exploring different characters in different situations. Does it work? Read on to find out.
Characters & Plot Jaxom, the young Lord Holder of Ruatha, was not supposed to impress a dragon. In one fortuitous, thoughtless moment, however, he became the rider of Ruth, the only white dragon in the history of Pern. Though he is smaller than other dragons, Ruth is anything but a runt, making up for his diminutive stature by dint of agility and intelligence. Unique among his peers, Ruth always knows when he is. Now Jaxom also finds himself to be unique among his peers, neither fully dragonrider nor fully Holder. Having grown up under the guardianship of dour, undemonstrative Lytol, he yearns for something new, a grand adventure for him and his dragon to share.
F’lar and Lessa, leaders of Benden Weyr, look to a time in the future when dragonriders no longer need to fly against thread. With their success at seeding grubs on the northern continent, come the next pass of the red star, dragonriders will have a much diminished role. If they could learn to survive without being beholden to the tithes of the grudging Lord Holders, life would be significantly eased. The southern continent would be the most logical place in which to build a new life, but for now it has been ceded to the Oldtimers, who still hold a definite grudge against Benden, and against F’lar in particular. It is only a matter of time before they are desperate enough to retaliate against the northern Weyrs, and when they do, Jaxom and Ruth may be the only ones who can repair the damage.
Analysis Dragonflight and Dragonquest (follow the links at the bottom of the page for the reviews if you’d like) centered almost entirely around the story of Lessa and F’lar. In The White Dragon, Anne McCaffrey takes us in a different direction, focusing instead on a pair of heretofore minor players in Jaxom and Ruth. This shift in emphasis is slightly disappointing, at first, for those of us who have grown somewhat attached to Benden Weyr’s inhabitants, but McCaffrey manages to allay any initial fears within a couple of chapters. Her grasp of characterization and narrative is still very solid, allowing her to build up a whole new set of characters and a new situation in a compelling, believable manner. This is perhaps aided by the fact that our beloved Benden Weyrleaders and the Master Harper Robinton still feature prominently in Jaxom’s story. Indeed, most of the moments of high drama center on these individuals, with Jaxom either peripherally or directly involved also.
Many of the elements that made Dragonquest such a wonderful book are included in this next novel as well. Of course, McCaffrey’s characterizations continue to shine, and her capacity for building tension remains undiminished. The continued uncovering of Pern’s past is also elaborated upon, as more of the southern continent is explored. Another facet of the story that sees more elaboration is, interestingly, the sexuality of dragonriders. Jaxom’s internal struggle with Ruth’s slow maturation serves as a backdrop to both his own developing sexuality and a hitherto-unknown aspect of dragonrider sexuality. It is never spelled out explicitly, but homosexuality as a feature of Pernese life is definitely touched upon, which is certainly an interesting inclusion. In 1978, when The White Dragon was first published, our culture was certainly not as accepting of alternate lifestyles as it is now, so even McCaffrey’s brief skirting around the issue is notable.
While it is definitely a good book in its own right, The White Dragon does not quite compare to its predecessor. The major issue, I believe, is the lack of a well-defined threat. In the first Dragonriders of Pern book, the threat took the form of thread. In the second, both thread and a major sociopolitical conflict provided the tension. In the third, however, tension derives from a few key events here and there, but not a major, external threat. The scale of the conflict is diminished, which bleeds a little of the immediacy and importance from the story. Other small problems crop up here and there, mainly having to do with the logistics of time travel and memory, but a willing suspension of disbelief will gloss these over well enough. Even so, the story is neither as tight nor as focused as the previous ones.
Finale
Despite its not quite living up to the excellent standard set by Dragonquest, The White Dragon is still a worthy novel, and takes characters that we have come to know and enjoy farther in their respective journeys. The occasional literary shortcut notwithstanding, McCaffrey has provided a decent closure to the initial Dragonriders of Pern series, one which anyone who has read the first couple of novels will appreciate. It does not boast the emotional impact of her earlier works, but ends quite satisfactorily. If you enjoyed Dragonflight and Dragonquest, definitely continue on to this book, and see how the story ends.
Never had there been as close a bonding as the one that existed between the daring and adventurous young Lord Jaxom and his extraordinary white dragon...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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