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Old 09-01-2010, 11:12 PM   #48
ATDrake
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Okay, then I'm pretty sure I can recommend to you Anne McCaffrey's Harper Hall Trilogy (Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, Dragondrums) for older teens, set in her popular Pern universe with the dragons; these particular novels follow musically-talented teens as they discover their gifts and get training.

There should be absolutely no H or D words in it, since the author is very adamant that the Pernese have no religion*, and the people in the books swear purely by made-up fantasy oaths like "Cracks!" and "Shards!"

I can only really recommend to you this YA set of novels, which have no sex, no real violence (a bit of bullying and some physical mistreatment, though), and no real swearing, either. There may be an occasional mention of dragon mating flights having a physical effect on their emotionally bonded riders, and blue and green (usually male) riders getting together because of it, but it's all background and never explicit.

The "adult" Pern novels are more problematic, especially as McCaffrey seems to have bought into that old-fashioned "Rape is Love" bad bodice-ripper romance meme. Not to mention the distressing quality deterioration over time.

However, I think that you might be able to safely read "Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern", which is one of her best-written novels from both a technical and storytelling perspective (and omits the above trope entirely), and its tie-in "Nerilka's Story", based on a minor character's view of the greater plot.

But I should warn you that the Pernese culture has different cultural mores, so there's going to be what would be considered premarital sex (glossed over and not described in love scenes or the like), open relationships (also, some just plain cheating), and out-of-wedlock childbearing (in the past backgrounds of the characters).

Also, one particular blue/green rider partnership does take on a little more prominence as one member of the pairing ends up with a couple of important tasks to do to advance the plot, but he stays a secondary character, and the nature of the partnership is not a major talking point, beyond the caring and concern expressed by the characters for each other in a few brief scenes.

If the above may be too much for you, then Nerilka's Story should still be okay, as it omits that particular relationship entirely since the viewpoint character doesn't even know those other characters exist, although her father does keep a mistress who is disapproved of in the story.

* Myself, I'd argue that the defacto near-worship of the dragons by the Pernese replaces anything official.

Edit: I should mention that while these are technically science fiction (the Pernese are the descendents of space colonists and the dragons are genetically engineered), the setting of these particular books in the series has a very medieval-ish low-tech fantasy flavour.

Last edited by ATDrake; 09-01-2010 at 11:20 PM.
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