The Heretic's Guide to Homecoming: Book Two: Practice by Sienna Tristen

The Heretic’s Guide to Homecoming: Book Two: Practice was, as the author put it, definitely a doorstopper of a book. I definitely enjoyed every moment, though I think Part Four could have probably been its own book.

I really liked Part Four. The tribes were well enough fleshed out. I liked the different wisewomen and the way they represented their tribes. I really enjoyed Nazum and what they brought to the Ronoah/Chasakava dynamic.

Part Five was interesting. Ronoah may have figured out how to be a person, but he hasn’t quite figured out how to talk about his feelings properly yet. I usually have a problem with this sort of “I’m not going to talk to you even though it might fix things” plot device, but I think it makes sense for Ronoah. He did come from a culture where that’s pretty much ALL they do, after all.

Part Six we finally arrive at The Pilgrim State. I thought it was neat. I also really liked finally getting more backstory on the being known toward the end of this part as Ybh. I liked Ronoah gaining some powers from Ybh. Seeing Tycho again was lots of fun, too.

Part Seven, we finally get to meet Ronoah’s family. This return was sweet and chill, every bit the homecoming Ronoah deserved. I liked this section a lot.

So yes, this was a doorstopper of a book. Highly enjoyable and a fully fleshed out world.

Favorite Lines

"You can’t always talk to someone the way you’d wanna be talked to. People learn all kinds of ways, and fancy feelings demon or not, you en’t in a position to begrudge ‘em that.” - Nazum

"You subjugate each other in the microcosm instead, it’s far more insidious.” - Haneong

“The gods give us a life and a role to play in it, but that role doesn’t mean much without other people to see it and know it’s real. We’re all held up by each other.” - Tycho  

Dragon Harper by Anne & Todd McCaffrey

Dragon Harper feels like it probably hit harder thanks to COVID. The primary story, after getting through the teenage drama part, is about a Flu Epidemic (Pandemic?) and how that's dealt with... which is, ya know, not super great given the current level of technology the Pernese are dealing with. I kind of knew what was coming, given that part of Dragonsblood takes place after Dragon Harper, but it still hit rather harder than I was expecting once I'd made the connection.

Okay, so backing up a little bit, the teenage drama parts of Dragon Harper had me rolling my eyes some. I'm just well over the teens and their melodramatic love stories at this point in my life, I think. Also, the duel thing. Kindan gets a sevenday of training to actually do the duel and I was wondering the whole time whether the Harpers also gave Vaxoram training for it. I don't think so and that whole situation just made me kinda mad. Stinks of favoritism toward Kindan. I know everyone knows Vaxoram is a bully and the agressor, but... yeah... didn't like that whole situation. Kindan also felt very Gary-Stu-ish during that whole incident.

I also wasn't a fan of Koriana's. She just seemed rather flat as a character to me. It was very clear she was going to be Kindan's love interest from the moment she Impressed the gold fire lizard and he Impressed the bronze. Other than that... much "meh" in her direction.

Anyway, back to the "Plague," as they dubbed it. Definitely felt true to life in a time period similar to what the Pernese are dealing with. Gotta love the complete loss of technology leading to things being much worse than they could have been. I do like that masks were thought of, although too late for a lot of people, obviously. My brain still can't quite comprehend the actual death toll. The numbers are just too high.

I feel like the time-travel aspect of the dragons abilities gets used alot for something that's not really supposed to be bandied about as one of their abilities. It's not exactly a bad thing, just seems to get used in just about every book so far. I did like the way it was used here and the way the dragonriders were able to help without exposing themselves to infection.

There were a few moments that had me in tears. Like, ugly crying, had to put the book down kind of tears. I won't spoil which moments, but they were there. Definitely a pleasant step up from how I felt next to nothing for any of the characters in Dragon's Fire.

So yeah, Dragon Harper was really good. I would have finished it in a day if I hadn't had life happening. The story's good, the pacing's good, the characters are alright... I find these characters don't exactly stand out vividly to me as ones from other books (Pern or otherwise), but they're at least recognizable. Dragon Harper is my favorite of the Pern books so far (chronologically, anyway).

Dragon's Fire by Anne & Todd McCaffrey

Dragon's Fire is honestly the worst Pern book I've read so far. The antagonists are one-note, most of the characters aren't even likeable, and the story is honestly just boring. The main point, it seems, is to explain the differences in Firestone and how the safe stuff came to be mined as opposed to the more unstable version... and how they figured out the Shunned problem.

I kind of liked getting some "behind the scenes" stuff at Camp Natalon that synchs up with the events of Dragon's Kin. Knowing that Zist had some more going on than just Nuella's lessons. Honestly, Pellar's story toward the beginning of "Book One" was the most engaging part of the book.

I found the rest of the book very disjointed. Too many POVs and too many absolutely horrible characters. Horrible in their personalities, although they also didn't feel very rounded, either. I'm really not sure how D'gan ever became a dragonrider. I would have thought the dragons would be better judges of character, but I guess not. Tenim is one note as all get-out. He's just greedy and that's it. And Tarik... still a horrible human-being. Makes sense that he was Shunned. Oh, and Moran... he's really just super flawed and not fleshed out nearly at all. Like, kind of good for him, taking in strays, but he largely throws their care onto Hala so... eh. Just too much absolute nonsense, in my opinion.

I honestly feel like I could have skipped Dragon's Fire in my chronological reread and not missed anything.

Dragon's Kin by Anne and Todd McCaffrey

The story of Kindan and Nuella. I liked it well enough and it was a quick read. I learned an awful lot about coal mining that I didn't know before. I also don't really have a lot of feelings about Dragon's Kin. It was an okay story with an obvious antagonist who didn't really end up doing that much or really participating in the story.

Dragon's Kin was very slice-of-life. Kindan's story took up the majority of the book, while sprinkling in bits of Nuella throughout. Also, due to the order in which I'm reading the Pern books, I was kind of like "well, this thing with the watch-wher doesn't last all that long and I vaguely remember Nuella having more to do with watch-whers so... let's just see where this goes." I did not remember anything from my first read, though.

It was a little surprising and heart-breaking to know that any knowledge the Pernese might have had about watch-whers was completely lost between when Wind Blossom created them and the "present" of Dragon's Kin. I know they lost a great deal of information when the computers ultimately went down, but I also feel like watch-whers and their care should have been more important than I guess they are. It also kind of hurts to know their original purpose and "see" them chained up as they often are. Just thoroughly disheartened by the loss of important information... though not completely surprised... Roman concrete and all.

Dragon's Kin is definitely a more intimate story than the last few Pern books. I don't really think that's a bad thing, just different. 

In Other News

I have hit my recent goal and updated to 125.

Dragonseye by Anne McCaffrey

Dragonseye is interesting. First, it has to let readers know the changes that have happened, basically since the last moment of Dragonsdawn (as Dragonsblood had yet to be written at this point). It had to straddle the 200+ year time difference and the divide in technology levels during that timeframe. I think it did that reasonably well. Secondly, Dragonseye had to tell an entertaining story. This went mostly okay, though the overall ending felt protracted.

It is interesting to read these books in chronological order. I haven’t read a good chunk of them before. I can see where parts of Pernese history are being filled in. Like the learning songs being written. It doesn’t quite feel like a checklist of things that need to be explained being explained, but it also kind of does. I didn’t ever think about how certain things (like the learning songs) came to be, but it is nice to have the explanation. “Seeing” the experience of declining tech is also kind of sad, to be honest. Like, you know it’s gonna happen eventually, but “being there” for it is a whole other matter. I was also not expecting there to be any kind of argument over “losing” Earth’s history, though it makes sense from the person it came from. There really is no reason to keep absolute ancient history from a planet you will never go to or interact with alive for most of the population.

Okay so… Lord Chalkin. Immediate hatred for this man and all his ilk, in and out of fiction. The EXPERTS are telling you what’s going to happen and you are just willfully not listening to them because you “know better” because of your rudimentary science classes. Speaking of which, he apparently also didn’t pay enough attention to understand that the tech the original Pernese settlers had is WAY beyond current capabilities. And, ah yes, Chalkin is such an ass he doesn’t want to thank a dragon for transporting him. Fuck this guy. I am extremely glad everyone in the text agrees. I also feel like Chalkin’s inclusion is just a little too much reality seeping into my Science Fantasy book right this moment. I will concede that this feeling is a product of when I’m reading. The ending to Chalkin’s storyline was satisfying.

I really enjoyed the look into being a newly Impressed dragonrider. Even more so that it’s a female Green rider. Debera’s a good POV character and I’m in love with Morath. Hard not to love the dragons, I think, but still. Love them. I also didn’t mind the romance between Debera and Iantine. It was sweet and just enough in the romance category.

I felt the ending of Dragonseye went on a bit too long. I understand that the actual story had to do with the reemergence of Thread and not Chalkin’s whole thing… but it felt like the end of Chalkin’s storyline should have been the end of the book. Not that I didn’t like getting a bit more of day-to-day in the Weyr, but it seemed to go on longer with each page.

But yeah… overall, I enjoyed Dragonseye. Had a hard time putting it down, actually. Excellent story. Excellent writing. Had enough info to stand alone, if need be.

Favorite Lines

"That was the purpose of education: to develop the skills required to solve problems. And to utilize the potential that existed in everyone -- even a Bitran, he added sourly." - Narration, Clisser's POV

"The people needed dragons' help. I listen. We all do." - Charanth

Thought This Was Interesting

"He read accounts of persons who never left their home place, contacting others only by electronics, living as eremites. Not so much out of fear of the outside world, as out of indolence." - Narration, Clisser's POV

Just amused at the Sci-Fi foresight of McCaffrey from 1997.

The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall by Anne McCaffrey

My review is broken into pieces following each individual story in the order I read them in. I read all the stories from this anthology. You may clap.

“The Survey: P.E.R.N.”: I enjoyed it. Actually kind of interesting to see an off-planet team evaluation of Pern.

“The Dolphin’s Bell”: Really nice to get some idea as to what “Dolphineering” was like in the beginning of Pern’s occupation. I was not expecting the Dunkirk reference. I’m honestly not sure what I was expecting, but this was a nice story following The Crossing’s water route.

“The Ford of Red Hanrahan”: Liked it well enough. Felt like it got a little too into the details of moving from Fort to the new holding. I was pleasantly surprised at which holding this turned out to be, so I won’t spoil it.

“The Second Weyr”: Teared up a bit when the Weyr was named, even though I knew it was coming. The rest of the story was just a lot of “ah yes, these things need to happen” but it was entertaining enough.

“Rescue Run”: Honestly, really weird to be thrown back into the hardcore Sci-Fi part of the the Pern universe after being out of it for a bit. I hate Kimmer. I think it was ultimately irresponsible of Benden and his crew to not do some more investigating of the Northern Continent, but, ya know, Pern can just exist outside of the broader human empire or whatever.

Dragonsblood by Todd McCaffrey

Dragonsblood is a beautiful first outing for Todd McCaffrey. It truly feels completely connected to the rest of the Pern novels. Not only that, but the triumphant ending had me in tears. The overall story line is a little complicated and there are a lot of characters to keep track of, but it really makes the world feel lived-in.

I quite like Lorana as a character. She does kind of seem like an overly-cheerful type, but that's balanced by all the suffering the poor girl went through and goes through in this book. I feel, like her multi-dragon-hearing predecessors, Lorana would, and I guess does, make a good Weyrwoman. I am glad we get to know her some before she Impresses Arith.

Wind Blossom was nice to get to know outside of the small bits in Dragonsdawn. I feel for her. Generational trauma combined with the Watch-Wher stuff could not have been easy for her. Not to mention trying to break herself of similarly traumatizing Emorra. It must have also been heart-wrenching for a healer like her to be faced with the decline in technology, as she was. I can't imagine having to go from having genetic manipulation capabilities to not even being able to synthesize antibiotics.

I honestly found the parts with D'gan extremely annoying, though they do eventually pan out plot-wise. I despise characters who are just so caught up in their own crap to the detriment of others, especially if they're supposed to be leading them. Like, sir, you're not even listening to your DRAGON when he tells you he's unwell. What. The. Fuck. Ugh. Thanks for being a despicable plot-point, though, I guess.

I'm also not going to lie, my eyes glazed over when the intricacies of Pernese DNA/PNA was discussed. That felt a little too in the weeds, but I also understand how it was necessary to explain just how different they are from the humans we're used to dealing with. Just got a little to hard Sci-Fi for my little brain to handle for a moment there. That said, the entire disease story line definitely hit different in 2024 than I imagine it did on my first read. COVID and all that. And worse, as it's the dragons affected and the human characters have little to nothing they can even do about it.

Dragonsblood is definitely a fantastic entry into the Pern lexicon.

Favorite Line

"A atarved stomach needs to learn to eat all over again." - K'tan