So I finally got caught up with the Pern series, incidentally also providing me with the first re-read, first fully new read, first paperback read, first hardcover read, and first library book read(s) of the new year.
When last I went and had a look at the newer books I'd missed in the series, it was several years ago, and the next-to-last of the collaborations by
Anne McCaffrey and her son
Todd McCaffrey had just come out. Last year I was feeling nostalgic and started a reread of Anne's original books, and checked out
The Skies of Pern to refresh myself on what the latest developments in the original Ninth Pass continuity were, and thought I might as well also have a look at
Sky Dragons, which supposedly wrapped up the cliffhanger from
Dragon's Time just prior to the Third Pass.
I say "supposedly", because it doesn't actually really. Admittedly, it's been a long time since I read DT, so I've probably forgotten things in the meantime, but whatever plot device problems were causing troubles with the time travel aren't explained.
Considering that the characters don't actually have a high enough level of scientific knowledge in their culture to begin to speculate on causes as well as effects, this is somewhat understandable. But the narrative is curiously uncurious about unpacking the things which it made major issues of in the last book, and there's not even any sort of emotional reunion scene when the time-stranded groups are finally reunited. They're just quietly living together after a few timeskips, with not even much in the way of recollection of how purportedly traumatic it was for them to be separated. Instead, this book focuses on a whole lot of domestic fluff.
I mentioned
when I originally read DT that Todd McCaffrey's books felt like a not-particularly-canon-compliant fanfic AU of the Pern series proper, and this installment only heightens the effect, as I believe that technically, the story is basically what gets called "curtain fic", which apparently involves a whole bunch of shopping for curtains. It's all about young people setting up their own Weyr and making a whole bunch of mistakes along the way (some preventable with a bit of thought and proper planning, others probably unavoidable), with a side of interpersonal drama alongside the logistics problems of reinventing the wheel.
Because not only does it really feel like a retread of a number of plot points from earlier and better Pern stories, it also feels like the would-be Weyrpeople have also conveniently forgotten a whole bunch of things they should have already known how to do, so that they can dramatically rediscover How To Train Your Dragon®, now with added cutesy wise-before-their-time psychic kid guidance.
Speaking of which, not having learned their lesson from inexplicably screwing up time travel in the last book, there's even more "solving" problems through gratuitous use of time travel, and you'd think that the wise-before-their-time psychic kid would know better than to blab about it to the non-time-travelling locals whose aid one is soliciting, but again it's a convenient dramatic revelation moment which really does nothing for the plot, much like so many of the rest.
While the situations are milked for drama, there's no real feeling of tension to them, because in a way, they're presented as being high stakes while actually being fairly low-risk.
It's established early on that no one who's important will really get seriously hurt in a way that will change their life beyond feeling very sad about things and maybe a little not-particularly-disabling maiming which doesn't truly impair their functionality. And the heroes are so obviously good and true and in the right that any disagreements are going to be resolved in their favour, because the rebels are without a cause with solid grounds and it's a cosmetic breach that will be mended with shows of contrition and forgiveness and Care Bear Hugs™ for the survivors who didn't die of their rash foolishness in straying from the true path.
There may be physical risk, but there's no real emotional stakes, as the characters may angst, but they never have to truly re-evaluate their view of the world or their place in it (or even their views of other characters and their places) or even make choices that are truly hard because of having to weigh and choose between conflicting motivations of equivalent strength and compulsion, rather than mere difficulty in performing actions or the momentary guilt of picking a friend over a stranger.
And finally, after having gone on through the entire book about how all of this was to prepare the newbie Weyr for a particular very important event where they'll prove themselves,
Maybe this is supposed to thematically echo
Dragonflight, but the thing about that is that Lessa's Ride (and by an opposite token, Moreta's Ride as well)
is the big dramatic event which caps the story, and the aftermath of its success (or tragedy) is the epilogue that can be skimmed over. Domestic fluff about setting up a Weyr and gradually learning how not to die of preventable mistakes in between having Babies Ever After doesn't quite have the same climactic effect to it, and seeming to cut off before you get to the
real triumph undercuts the impression of overwhelming success by resourceful plucky struggling youngsters against doubts and unfavourable odds, and the story really should have gone more for the ending of
Dragonsdawn, if that was what they were trying to do.
Apparently
Sky Dragons is going to be the last book in Todd McCaffrey' Second Interval subseries, and the last Pern book until enough of Anne's notes for
After the Fall in the Ninth Pass are fleshed out and released, which will follow up on the preparations made in
The Skies of Pern for how the various Weyrs will adapt to the permanancy of life without Thread.
I'd actually completely forgotten that bit (not to mention the high stakes plot device which was the
raison d'ętre for the convenient development of New Powers As The Plot Demands, not to mention New Personalities As The Plot Demands for some of the established characters, which admittedly is a pre-existing McCaffrey writing flaw). I personally think it would have been more interesting if it turned out that it was a real difficulty that couldn't have been so easily potentially dealt with and given the dragonriders a convenient new niche at the same time, and that all the people of Pern would have had to do a serious re-evaluation of their way of life and ability to work together.
But eh, the books haven't taken major risks for quite some time, so it's only to be expected that everything gets neatly wrapped up with only some not-particularly-disabling maiming that doesn't really change things all that much for the individuals involved, who get compensatory extra hugs. And while it didn't come with the best storytelling, it was nice to see what had been happening with the world post-AIVAS and catch up on old favourite characters and there was at least some attempt to suggest the future direction of Pern (and the expected societal backlash from the hidebound).
Another wallow in mostly domestic fluff, but at least it was fluff that happened with characters who'd built up a sufficient stock of goodwill and had enough genuinely challenging and affecting things happen to them in the past that it felt like a well-deserved retirement. And I did like the portrayals of the surveying and search and rescue and emergency evacuation operations, which seems like by far a more useful niche replacement profession than the thing they came up with instead, if doing regular instantaneous transport is that far beneath them (dragons and their riders sure are snobby).
Despite its myriad flaws, I still love Pern, even in the "modern" age of lower quality stories about it, enough that I'll certainly be checking out
After the Fall if and when it comes out. But from the library, as the newer books seem to only merit.