Another Book

Okay, so I've finally broken down and read a book from one of the authors that has been haunting my "must read" list for the longest time: Anne McCaffrey. I really don't know why it's taken me so long to finally pick up one of her books and read it, but I know that it will be another while before I pick up another one of her titles again.

Now, now... I'm not trying to be mean here, there is probably a really good chance that the book I read, Dragonflight, may not have been the best book to start with. Also, there is another good chance that if I would have known that there was going to be time travel nonsense involved in the story that I wouldn't have chosen this particular title at all.

I do have a thing about including time travel in books and movies - the only exception being "Back to the Future". There are other movies that I have enjoyed that have time travel in them, but it's not the time travel part that I enjoy - I usually get really annoyed by it. There are quite a few Star Trek movies that have time travel that I've actually, almost enjoyed. :-) :-)

Okay, so going back to the book - and I'll have to warn you, if you get upset with spoilers, I'm a master of spoiling everything about a book or movie. So, if you don't want to hear any more, then just stop here. :-) :-) For those that have already read the book or don't care, please keep reading. :-) :-)

The story was going along okay with the main character, Lessa, being chosen by the golden dragon and her mental connection to not only her own dragon, but all of the dragons. It was a little slow at first, but this didn't really bother me at all. Some of the best books I've read had slow story starts. :-) The part that had me rolling my eyes was when Lessa was being taught to fly "in between" and accidentally figured out how to time travel. Now, here is where this got on my nerves... and if I'm wrong, please feel free to let me know. But how can a beginner to flying on a dragon have just figured out that the dragons can time travel, when so many generations have been traveling the same way? There must have been at least someone in the past - which seems to be hundreds of years, if not more - discover that this was possible? Then, to top that off, this beginner goes back in time 400 years and teaches the other dragon riders how to time travel to get back to her time. I just shake my head on how ridiculous this part of the story developed. This is just my opinion now, okay? I'm not trying to say that Anne McCaffrey is a bad writer or anything, just this part of the story didn't do it for me.

As for the writing itself, it was actually pretty good. I loved the uniqueness of the names of the characters. F'lar being the only unique name I can remember (sorry, the book has already gone back to the library so I can't look the rest up). But I like when writers invent or use really unique names when writing fantasy or sci-fi. That was one of the things that made me like Terry Books so much. :-) :-) I've read some really neat fantasy books that just didn't have the same flavor because the names were just a little too common to me. Yeah, it's me, not the writing itself... if I'm going to read fantasy - especially when they take place in a completely different realm with different species and such, I want the names to be as unique as the planet that they're supposed to come from. :-) I just love to nit pick, don't I? :-) :-)

So, I think it is safe for me to say that I'll probably not continue reading the "Dragonriders of Pern" series unless someone can tell me otherwise. If time travel is a regular thing in this series, then I really don't want to read anymore. If this is a regular thing with the author, then I don't think I'll read any more of her titles anymore either. So, for you McCaffrey fans out there, I am willing to give another book a chance, so if you have any suggestions, please let me know! :-) :-)

I also just finished another series that I've been listening to in audiobooks for the past few months by Patricia Briggs - The Mercy Thompson series. The person who suggested it was a really neat kid that I know, Evan, who not only has very similar taste in movies that I do, but also loves to read and knit almost as much as I do too! :-) :-) I wont write about the books now, but I did want to send out a huge THANK YOU to Evan for suggesting such a neat series. :-) :-)