#you know what's actually way more interesting? grubs and telescopes

[emblazonet]

Dragonquest

Ok I finally finished it!

Warning for frank spoilers about a half-century old book.

There really wasn't much questing, was there? Does the title refer to the very end, with F'nor going to the Red Star? Or did the publishers title it Dragon+rando-fantasy word-here, to get people interested? Because the whole plot was a bunch of people talking to each other with varying degrees of success.

I think it's a miracle I finally sorted who everyone was by the end of it. I can now tell apart F'nor and F'lar. I hate those names so much.

Things I liked:

Lessa is allowed to be judgemental and wrong about things. She's still a bitch! She's still talented at manipulating people! She's still respected by people! Love that actually

Lessa and F'lar as a couple, actually. THE SNARK and then all those tender touches betraying their deeper feelings? UGH

FIRE LIZARDS

A bunch of leaders of the land squabbling like school children over who gets to look in a telescope!!! PERFECT SCENE 11/10

The status is never quo. Seriously, McCaffrey establishes something and then in the next chapter cheerfully upends it. The political structure of the land keeps shifting, people's opinions shift (or don't) to accomodate technological rediscoveries or innovations, the friction between Oldtimers and everyone else makes so much sense and I'm so glad that's the plot point book 2 opens on!

And F'nor actually Did The Thing and went to the Red Star! That was super epic!!

Dragons. Draaaagons. Dragondragondragon. I love them all.

Things I was significantly less fond of:

Why is Kylara's entirely plotline Like That? Why have her slut shamed when she could have just been written as greedy and foolish??? Kylara can be an awful person that's cool, but the way she was written was Bad and didn't have to be like that. She could've been an interesting foil for Lessa (and Brekke I guess)... but she wasn't. We don't even find out how she feels about her dragon dying!

Brekke, to be honest. She's boring af, her romance with F'nor is trite, and the most exciting part of her narrative was when her dragon died. Rip Wirenth poor thing, but that dragon queen battle scene WAS riveting, so I did enjoy that. I wanted to like Brekke but there was no hook, nothing that made me feel anything about her one way or the other

There are too many male characters doing stuff and not enough ladies, but honestly for sci fi of that time period it's not the worst offender

I don't know why everyone on Pern is repulsed by grubs so much tbh?

In general though, I liked Dragonquest! But it did... it did... drag on. (Yes, I went there. Deal with it. :3)

It had some middle book pacing issues. I enjoy that it didn't have a traditional three-part structure, but the beginning was slooooow and I didn't have much investment with the many many (mostly male) characters... and it was hard to keep up with them! The description is quite sparse, so it's hard to attach any sensory memory to the characters. I should have flipped to the back more to refresh on who was the lord of what, etc.

But yeah, generally very interesting. I like the conflicts that happen most of the time, I think the central conflict of Pern vs Thread/spores is actually really interesting and such a refreshing change from a lot of fantasy I've read lately. This book is truly about a lot of logistical conversations, and I appreciate that. Flawed but interesting.

7/10 looking forward to the next installments.

[polarishq]

Meet GRETCHEN SULLIVAN. They are TWENTY-NINE  years old and hail from SEATTLE, WA. Gretchen embodies the constellation, HOROLOGIUM. They use SHE/HER pronouns. Their faceclaim is ZENDAYA COLEMAN.

Horologium reminds me of a polished telescope, color coded notes, a furrowed brow, high waisted jeans, a non-committal shrug, scribbling in a journal, a shaking leg resulting from too much caffeine, unexplained absences, double fisting to-go cups of coffee, never knowing what bed she’ll wake up in (and yet desperately needs to get laid, please, she’s such a pain in the ass), mint chocolate chip ice cream, plaid blazers, absentminded doodles, florence & the machine, math nerd shit, cool wall art, and star gazing.

BIOGRAPHY

Gretchen comes from a long line of witches, and yet that was always a secondary factor in her upbringing; her parents, both in academia, put a lot of emphasis on education and a career. Her experience with magic was just the essentials–she was taught charms and other basics that would help her keep some semblance of control–but beyond that, Gretchen never really thought of herself as a witch. Being a womanaging half as quickly as all of her peers, Gretchen had to fight tooth and nail for every bit of success she’s ever earned. Luckily, she’s brilliant to boot; math and science have always come naturally for her, so while she often has to be loud in order to be heard, her proven skills have built clout behind her name over the years.

At 20, she graduated from MIT and went on to get her Masters in Physics at the University of Cambridge. While she was there, Horologium appeared on her hip; it was a surprise, considering she had no idea she had any inclination toward time magic save for a couple of odd flukes (but all witches have some odd flukes, as far as she’s concerned), but it didn’t deter her from being solely focused on her career. Unfortunately for her, Horologium had different plans. The longer she ignored her constellation, the more things started happening–namely, being thrust into a different timeline.

The first time it happened, Gretchen was only there for a day, but she thought she was going absolutely insane. This single other timeline that Gretchen continues to find herself in is similar in a lot of ways; the Gretchen there has built a life, has family and friends and a boyfriend, but is, at the same time, completely different. Gretchen doesn’t know what happens to alternate-timeline-her when she wakes up in that timeline, but she’s figured out that she seems to just… disappear in her actual life. Gretchen can’t control what timeline she wakes up in, and it only seems to happen when she’s asleep–no matter what she does, she can’t seem to control how to move from one to the other on her own accord, which is frustrating as all hell, to say the least.

It was minor, at first. A day here, a day there–it took Gretchen quite some time to figure out what was happening, let alone get a grip on the situation. For a girl who always wanted full control over every facet of her being, this sudden happenstance was angering and distracting. Horologium started causing impactful issues in her life that she couldn’t explain away once she started getting her PhD in Astronomy from CalTech and disappearing for days, sometimes weeks at a time. It took her an extra year to complete the program, but at that point, she knew that she needed to get a grip on whatever was happening to her. When a timeline hop cost her a life changing interview at NASA, Gretchen came to Polaris, desperate.

She’s been here for a year, now, and while she’s learned other elements of time magic, she still can’t figure out how to control the timeline hopping. Gretchen has been maintaining two lives as best she can, and her Polaris speculate a lot over why she disappears so much–frankly, only her professors know, as she’s inconsistent in her class attendance. She doesn’t care about being some powerful witch; all she wants is to gain enough control to stop timeline hopping involuntarily and to get back to her life. It’s just taking a lot longer than she thought it would.

INCLINATION

Horologium, the Pendulum Clock, often chooses to sponsor someone who is inclined toward time magic. Horologium is most powerful when the user is able to maintain balance in their own lives, but often, when they can’t, they can lose control of their inclination easily. Due to the sensitivity of time magic, Horologium only sponsors those who have proven to be responsible. While they’re primarily able to travel between various timelines and time travel, Horologium can also manipulate time for others and perceive both past and future in a limited capacity.

CONNECTIONS

Filling Alaric’s Favorite Student.

Filling Carter MacArthur’s Grub Hub.

Filling Francine Martin’s Ugh, You Again.

Alternate: This is someone that Gretchen has a friendship/relationship/tumultuous relationship with in the other timeline, but in this one? Not so much. She frequently has trouble reconciling the two versions of this person, and it creates some interesting interactions, to say the least. (Alt timeline Gretchen does have a boyfriend, which could be fun, but not a necessity! Also frankly this could be more than one person.)

Older Brother: Gretchen’s older brother. Very open - only thing set is they grew up with parents who pushed them toward getting an education/having a prosperous career.

The Cover Story: This is the only person aside from her family and the planets that know where Gretchen goes when she disappears, and that’s her best friend at Polaris. This person covers for her a lot and Gretchen does… something for them in return.

Penned by Ashley ★