By her own admission, Anne McCaffrey had found Dragonquest (1971) very difficult to write, to the point where she more or less burned down the first draft and started again. Which understandably did not make her overly inclined to start writing its sequel—especially since she had other non-dragon books to write. But five years later she published a companion novel aimed at younger readers, Dragonsong (1976), swiftly followed by a sequel, Dragonsinger (1977), both set during the time of Dragonquest.
She clearly still had more to say about dragons.
This eventually led to a short story, “A Time When,” published by the New England Science Fiction Association in 1975, which McCaffrey expanded into a novel, The White Dragon (1978), one of the first science fiction books to land on The New York Times Best Seller list.
The predecessors to The White Dragon had all focused on struggle of one type or another: the struggle of a vengeful woman against a patriarchal society that had deeply failed her (and dragons!) in Dragonflight; a fragile political coalition fighting a growing, unpredictable environmental threat (Dragonquest); and two young and talented outsiders desperately trying to earn their places on Pern (The Harper Hall Trilogy). The White Dragon took a distinctly different approach, telling the story of a young, highly privileged guy—in the full sense of that term—cementing his position as, well, a still young but even more privileged guy.
It’s not that The White Dragon lacks the environmental themes of its predecessor, although these themes are considerably muted in this book. Or harpers—Masterharper Robinton and several characters from The Harper Hall Trilogy make appearances in this book, although that trilogy’s fascination with music is almost completely absent.
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And it’s not that Jaxom, Lord Holder of Ruatha Hold, the protagonist of the novel, lacks problems, or doesn’t feel the need to prove himself. For one thing, he is an orphan. His mother died in childbirth on the same day that his father, the conqueror Lord Fax, died in a duel with F’lar. Jaxom has since been raised by his milk mother, Deelan, who isn’t in the book much, and former dragonrider turned master craftsman weaver turned Lord Holder Lytol. And despite—or perhaps because of—his rank, he is bullied and harassed by the other boys of the Hold. Nor is he exactly a “real” Lord Holder; his guardian, Lytol, does most to all of the work of running the Hold.
For another thing, despite not being a “real” Lord Holder, Jaxom is both a Lord and a dragonrider—a combination strictly forbidden by Pern’s rules. Dragons belong in the independent, autonomous Weyrs, as protectors of those living in Holds and Crafthalls, who in turn send tithes (read, taxes) to the Weyrs. A Lord Holder with a dragon doesn’t just screw up this system financially and socially, but is a Lord Holder with too much power. So, as a dragonrider, Lord Jaxom cannot be the Lord Holder of Ruatha Hold. Unfortunately, since Jaxom’s father killed most of the Ruathan family, the Hold only has two other claimants—Lessa and her son F’lessan, both dragonriders, and thus equally ineligible—in theory opening up Ruatha Hold to any claimant.
Lessa, however, holds another role, as the senior Weyrwoman of Pern and the acknowledged co-leader of the Northern Continent. Her word carries weight. And that weighted word wants someone of Ruathan blood to remain as Lord Holder of Ruatha. That is, Jaxom—the only other person with Ruathan blood. Only a few drops, granted, but that’s still Ruathan blood. Lessa doesn’t want the Hold going to anyone else
SPOILER: Absolutely none of this ends up going anywhere, except to introduce a secondary theme of the novel, population expansion and resource deprivation, a nice follow-up to Dragonquest’s focus on the various ways of combating invasive species.
The reason it doesn’t go anywhere is because Jaxom’s small dragon, Ruth, is not a normal dragon. He’s so abnormal that Jaxom’s initial, uncertain flight on his back takes place in front of several carefully watching dragons and human witnesses—including neighboring Lord Holder Groghe, the charming and ubiquitous Masterharper Robinton, Journeywoman Harper Menolly (popping in from her own novels), and several dragonriders. The concerned dragons tell Ruth to land after just a few minutes in the air, and warn Ruth that although the flights can gradually become longer, Ruth still must be careful. But even after this proof that Ruth is a proper dragon, given his small size and unusual color, the dragonriders agree: Ruth can and should stay at Ruatha Hold.
Meanwhile, now that Jaxom can fly, he’s forced to attend various classes with other promising young people. It’s mostly an attempt to prevent a repeat of the previous “well, the last people who knew how to do X died, so, now we’ve lost that technology” that caused so many problems in the first novel. These lessons include an astronomy meeting with Wansor, who has finally figured out the orbits of the other planets in this system, and concluded that these other planets are responsible for the fluctuations in the orbit of the Red Star—allowing everyone on Pern, with a little bit of advanced math, to figure out just when Thread will arrive.
SPOILER TWO: Before everyone leaps in to protest the physics here, Wansor’s conclusions here turn out to be entirely wrong in a later book. I can only assume that at this point in the series, McCaffrey hadn’t quite worked out the size/density/orbit of the Red Star—all kinda key factors in figuring out something like this—but in the meantime, let’s just be kind and note that Wansor has only been doing this astronomy thing for the equivalent of five years now. Mistakes are understandable.
And since this is a lesson moment, let’s pause for some definitions:
Milk mother: More or less the same thing as a wet nurse—a woman already nursing her own child who agrees to nurse another child, though in this case, combined with actually fostering the child.
Milk brother: The milk mother’s son (presumably a daughter would be called a milk sister), someone the foster child is supposed to feel a debt of gratitude, since if not for the milk brother, the child would not be alive. Jaxom isn’t exactly on board with this entire definition, for the record. Or should I say on dragon?
Firestone: It’s come up before, but I forgot to mention it: a substance that dragons have to chew before they can release the flames that burn Thread away in the sky.
Threadscore: Also something that’s come up before, but I forgot to mention it: the wounds left by Thread. Extremely painful, frequently leaving noticeable scars.
Timing it: The relatively new term for something initially introduced in Dragonflight—traveling through time on a dragon.
Anyway, the astronomy lessons bore Jaxom, who has heard it all before and is more concerned with, well, proving that Ruth is a proper dragon (that is, a dragon who can chew firestone and produce flames) and with proving that he, Jaxom, is a manly sort of manly man who yes, has no problems getting girls even if he’s not interested in making a match with a daughter of a neighboring Lord Holder.
The dialogue about this is Not Great, so let’s move on to the next bit: Jaxom’s Adventures in Trying to Teach Ruth How to Chew Firestone. These adventures include Jaxom wondering if he could or should conquer other holds, deciding to pick up a girl as cover for his actual activities, stealing firestone from the Ruatha Hold watchdragon, deceiving his guardian Lord Lytol, and cleaning up firestone vomit—this last not exactly enough to make Jaxom endearing.
Which is just one of many problems that pop up early in this novel. To be fair, some of these problems —most notably the sudden introduction of a number of characters from The Harper Hall Trilogy—were probably inevitable. Those novels, featuring cameo appearances from various Dragonquest characters, had been popular, and the decision to drag Menolly and later Sebell and Piemur into this novel certainly makes sense from a “what would my fans want?” point of view.
And, to be fair, getting to see Menolly again and finding out what happened to her after the Harper Hall Trilogy is great. I love seeing her talent and skills acknowledged, and I love knowing that she’s continuing to create music and have adventures. If anything, those adventures have even expanded: In her own books she did outrun Thread and Impress nine fire lizards, while in this book, she rides dragons, sails to distant continents, hangs out with the most important people on Pern, and explores ancient ruins. This is all pretty great.
But her introduction into this novel feels forced and awkward, as does her character transformation from shy, diffident girl feeling a desperate need to prove herself, to a confident character who doesn’t hesitate to slug a wounded Jaxom. To be fair, Jaxom is being more than a bit of a jerk here, and Menolly has slugged other people before this in her own books, including the spoiled sons and daughters of Lord Holders, so that’s perfectly in character. And to be equally fair, this not entirely convincing character transformation also appeared in the last book of Menolly’s series, Dragondrums —a book which appeared one year after The White Dragon.
Her friendship with Jaxom feels equally forced. Which is slightly puzzling: Menolly and Jaxom, after all, are about the same age. They both Impressed by accident, while trying to save fire lizards and a dragon respectively. But they otherwise have little in common; indeed, Menolly’s previous interactions with Holders of any type have not been particularly positive. And many of Jaxom’s thoughts about Menolly feel less like thoughts Jaxom—or anyone—would have, and more like reasons to keep her in the book.
Take, for instance, the moment when Jaxom starts running through a list of his friends who might be willing to help him steal firestone so he can teach Ruth to be a proper dragon. This works well as a handy list of Jaxom’s friends—and as a quick illustration of just who is attending these classes—but Jaxom’s conclusion, that Menolly would be just the person, makes no sense. In her own books, certainly, Menolly challenges and changes the status quo—but out of her love for music and talent. She’s not a rulebreaker. Indeed, she often lectures others on the need to follow the rules, and tries very hard to follow them herself. And more to the point, in this novel, she’s not a dragonrider, and has no direct access to firestone. How is she the ideal person to help steal firestone? Because McCaffrey wanted to emphasize her friendship with Jaxom to give a reason for a journeywoman Harper to have adventures with a dragon.
Awkward.
But the real problem is Jaxom, the least sympathetic protagonist in the Pern books so far. Writing unsympathetic characters was not new ground for McCaffrey—she had even included their viewpoints in earlier Pern books. But in those viewpoints, she had scrupulously included just enough to show that even her most antagonistic characters had some reason for their grievances.
Jaxom is an exception to the rule. Oh, he certainly tells himself, and his dragon, and readers, that he has real problems. And, as mentioned above, he does have real problems. But most of those problems stem from unbelievably good luck and a remarkably privileged position. He’s a Lord. He’s a dragonrider. He—unlike every other main character save F’nor introduced so far—has not one, but two caring, involved, and alive parents focused on his welfare. He—unlike every other main character so far, including F’nor—was not required to do physical labor as a teenager. To be fair, he does end up doing that in this novel—as part of attracting a girl. But it’s presented as Jaxom helping out as a favor, not as Jaxom needing to do the work.
Jaxom doesn’t appreciate any of this—except for his dragon—in the slightest, leading to a lot (and I do mean a lot) of whining.
It’s pretty typical teenage behavior. So typical that I feel I should note that I liked and identified with Jaxom much more when I was fourteen than I do now. But at the same time, it leads Jaxom to make some major misjudgments. He is convinced, for instance, that by treating him as a sickly child, his milk mother Deelan has fostered the resentment of his milk brother, Dorse—something that, in turn, leads Jaxom to resent Deelan.
It seems equally likely that Dorse’s resentment comes from another cause entirely: jealousy. As Jaxom’s milk brother, Dorse gets to share Jaxom’s things—but is never regarded as Jaxom’s equal. Indeed, when the idea of fosterlings and playmates for Jaxom is raised, Dorse is never even mentioned. Instead, everyone (well, everyone other than Dorse, at least) agrees that Jaxom needs to have companions of his own rank—that is, children of other Lords. Groghe sends over his son, who becomes Jaxom’s new companion. Dorse soon vanishes from the novel. So, to be fair, does Lord Groghe’s son, but there’s a fairly strong hint that he’ll be back.
It’s no wonder that Dorse harbors some resentment.
Not that Jaxom—with an amazing ability to look at all of his advantages in life and see them as problems—realizes this.
He’s almost a poster child for whiny, privileged wealthy guys everywhere.
Enough to make the book not worth reading? No. Because in yet another stroke of luck, Jaxom happens to be in a novel that he’s not worthy of, glimmers of which also appear in these early chapters.
A few of those glimmers are introduced, unsurprisingly, by Masterharper Robinton, who with his usual penchant for thinking in very useful plot summaries, notes that Pern has now shifted from the invasive species crisis to an overpopulation crisis. Concerns about human overpopulation had gained prominence throughout the 1970s, making it a natural theme for the novel—helped by the setup in previous books. The fight against Thread has gone so well, and birth control among the holders is so limited (or unavailable) that multiple Lord and regular Holders have an abundance of sons—and no land to give them. Those of you who are thinking that, okay, then they can just be harpers or mechanics or weavers—something useful, that is—should probably drop that thought, since the Lord Holders want their kids to be, well, Lord Holders.
In their slight defense, we do see many of the Lord Holders in this book working as land managers or helping to harvest or plant crops or later, provide building materials. Against that, this land hunger, especially for the unexplored lands of the Southern Continent (which could, Lord Holders, be kept as nice nature reserves, a solution that would fit the environmental themes of this novel), has a distinct sense of greed about it. Not to mention that the Oldtimers exiled to the Southern Continent and the settlers who suddenly had the Oldtimers foisted on them might just want to have a say in this.
But The White Dragon doesn’t just have a whiny, privileged protagonist and discussions of environmental issues and population pressure. It also has the little white dragon, Ruth—arguably the real draw of the novel. We’ll get to Ruth in upcoming posts.
Mari Ness currently lives rather close to a certain large replica of Hogwarts, which allows her to sample butterbeer on occasion. Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Lightspeed, Fireside, Apex, Daily Science Fiction, Nightmare, Shimmer and assorted other publications—including Tor.com. Her poetry novella, Through Immortal Shadows Singing, was released in 2017 by Papaveria Press. You can follow her on Twitter @mari_ness.
This was the first pern book I read. I was 11 or so and LOVED it.
Jaxom is one of my favorite characters in the Pern books. NOT for what he started as, but for what he eventually ends up as. He undergoes the most character growth of any of the major characters. F’lar, F’nor, Robinton, and Lessa stay virtually unchanged through the series. Lessa does become a little less antagonistic. Menolly gains some confidence, but is already the most talented composer and musician on Pern when we first meet her.
Jaxom is a whiny, useless, well-intentioned boy who has to figure out what he is and isn’t capable of. And then figure out what it is he should actually be doing to do the most good.
” I liked and identified with Jaxom much more when I was fourteen than I do now”
Oh yes. And some things, his exploitation of the droit du seigneur for example, have not aged well at all. The other things in the book redeem the book, and Jaxom. Still a decent book. Within Sturgeon’s 10%.
I am disappointed that you jumped straight to “White Dragon”. I had hoped you were taking all the books in publication order. Oh well. Onward!
I remember my friend who introduced Pern to me said this was his favorite book in the series.
Jaxom basically sounds like a spoiled teen, so maybe it’s a feature, not a bug ;) Especially as it sounds like he does get better (it’s been so long since I read these books I don’t remember all the character beats).
Dragonsinger has always been my favorite- it’s a boarding school story!
Yeah, Jaxom’s got 1st World Problems, but as already mentioned, he grows up into a decent person. He turns out to be a really good Lord Holder, thanks to mentors like Lytol and Robinton.
DragonSinger was the first Pern book I picked up- it was my roommate’s. I read a bit of it and liked this super musically talented heroine with her cool mini-dragons. But there were references to things I didn’t know from earlier books, so I went back and read those, then all the Harper Hall trilogy. I still pick up DragonSinger as a “comfort read” now and then. It appeals to me because it shows Aristotle’s formula for happiness- exercising your talent along lines of excellence, in a setting appropriate for their scope. I always loved the scene where she plays in the quartet for the first time, and since I started playing chamber music a few years ago, I really get it. I don’t have such mad sight reading skills, though!
@3
True, droit du seigneur is repulsive to us, but really not shocking in a feudal society. Jaxom does try it briefly, but is disgusted with himself and later seeks an actual relationship with a woman on equal terms, so credit to him for that. Although it’s never explicitly stated, I get the impression that there’s no shaming of those young women, any HalfBlood offspring are generously supported, and their future marriage prospects aren’t tainted (the people who settled Pern didn’t bring along that awful cult of female purity). Not approving of the practice, just noting the all participants could be willing in many cases. One could say that Corana was using Jaxom as much as he used her, although we don’t get her perspective.
“Her friendship with Jaxom feels equally forced. Which is slightly puzzling: Menolly and Jaxom, after all, are about the same age.”
Not so much? Seven years (“Turns”) pass between Dragonsong — when Menolly sees Jaxom Impress as a boy (having been born a year? two? before the Pass started) and she’s about to be whisked off to the Harper Hall, old enough to be treated as least as a mid-teen — and the beginning of The White Dragon. That’s more than enough time for Menolly to grow into herself, at that.
@8 There is not much, if any, evidence that droit du seigneur ever existed in feudal society. There could hardly be a better way of destroying any loyalty a vassal might feel for his lord. Reason enough to be sure it never existed.
Why does a male dragon have a female name?
Menolly was at Benden Weyr at the Hatching, when Jaxom Impressed Ruth, Menolly at that time was fifteen Turns, & Jaxom was about twelve Turns. Menolly is not the only girl who slugged one of Lord Groghe’s spoiled sons, a Runner named Tenna decked Benis’ brother Horon, mistaking him for his twin Haligon, who ran her off the runner trace that was taking her to Fort Hold. (This is from the short story, “Runner of Pern”, which introduces another, not so well knon Craft). Menolly didn’t slug Lord Sangel’s favorite granddaughter, Pona, but I think she was going to give her hair a makeover with her belt knife, for calling her a thief.
@11, why not?
@10, I meant to use “feudal” as a description of a society with a rigid class structure with each class having different privileges and obligations, rather than a comparison to just Medieval Europe. Pern certainly is feudal in that aspect. There are examples in many different cultures of kings and chieftains using their positions to have more sex partners. On Pern the Lord Holders have that “right”, although it doesn’t look like they are going after newly married women, so new husbands aren’t being offended. At least in the examples I can recall the women aren’t married, and their families see opportunity in the affairs.
@@@@@ 11
because Pern didn’t keep the earth Bible? As all dragons have names ending in “th”, McCaffrey had every reason to use Ruth, which also puns off of the noun, which means “compassion for the misery of another” and “sorrow for one’s own faults”, both of which Jaxom is familiar with.
I’m not sure if I read this first, or DragonSinger, but both are firmly in my favourite Pern books list.
Jaxom definitely is a whiny privileged brat, but he’s an interesting one. And when I first read it I thought he was amazing. Although the whole Corana thing was a bit weird then and yes, hasn’t aged well. But his book just gets soo much better, it’s a great plot and Sharra is awesomel
“He—unlike every other main character save F’nor introduced so far—has not one, but two caring, involved, and alive parents focused on his welfare. “
Umm, Jaxom is an orphan.
@17: personal involvement in the reproductive process is neither necessary nor sufficient to be a parent.
@@@@@ 11 Ruth isn’t exactly a male dragon. Something I’m sure will be covered soon.
Lytol was not the Lord Holder of Ruatha, he was Lord Warder, in other words, Jaxom’s guardian. The reason that Jaxom was not Lord Holder, was because the Council of Lods Holder had not confirmed him as such. The Jaxom Dorse rivalry stems from the fact that Jaxom, to be Lord Holder had to have certain standards, & yes he had to be grateful to Deelan, but Dorse, saw this as a way to get more than his share, because he knew that Jaxom couldn’t complain about it, because that was unseemly behavior for a future Lord Holder. This started while they were young, & they disguised it with minor tussles. One thing Jaxom does want is praise from Lytol, who tends not to be very demonstrative. The classes at Telgar, at the Smithcraft Hall were a scheme of Master Robinton’s to get all three of the socio-political groups on Pern, especially the young folk to engage in discussions. The one who didn’t care for this was F’lessan, Lessa & F’lar’s only child. As for claimants on Ruatha, in a later book, “Renegades”, it will be mentioned, but more in the short story, “The Girl Who Heard Dragons”, Arimina, the titulat character, has a brother Pell, who, technically speaking has a stronger claim on Ruatha, as their mother, Barla, is closer in kinship to Lessa, than Lady Gemma, Jaxom’s mother was. Jaxom actually had tacit permission to teach Ruth how to chew firestone, from N’ton, Weyrleader of Fort Hold, to which Ruatha is beholden, the blood connection to Benden thru Lessa, not withstanding
Ah. I’ve avoided rereading the Pern novels over the last decade or so because I am afraid of precisely this. They remain a pleasant formative memory, and this new analysis has been great, but I don’t know if I really want to delve back into my childhood like that.
Once again, I’m here for Mary List and her setting facts straight and stating what’s what.
(I almost which these posts had been structured as a point-counterpoint dialogue).
I liked Jaxom precisely because he was useless. I got the impression when I first read TWD in my early teens that he could vanish entirely and nobody would be discommoded–except, of course, Ruth. I also got the impression that everybody else in the book knew that, including Jaxom himself (but excepting, of course, Ruth). Someday he was going to be a real Lord Holder (at least on the surface of things), but until then he was…just…Lord Jaxom, don’t you have something else to do? Somewhere else to be?
And then the dumb kid goes and Impresses an equally useless dragon, and the two of them have to find a place or make it.
@23,
Kind of an Ivan equivalent, without Miles to put him in gear.
I hated Jaxom and The White Dragon was my least-favourite of the first six novels as a direct result. Never did understand why Menolly let him think of her as a friend when he was so obviously not worth it.
@15
” As all dragons have names ending in “th””
I had never noticed that! What a clever bit of worldbuilding.
I keep wondering if it’s a good idea to do a re-read of the Dragonriders books, or not. I loved them as a teen, but definitely not all of them. I remember I was one hundred percent smitten when what I thought was a Fantasy book actually turned out to be Science Fiction. It was actually the first thing that promptly came to my mind when someone asked on an astronomy live stream about the Trappist1 system if the planets were close enough for panspermia to happen.
But then later one of the other books was just so badly written imho, as if written by a completely different person, that I pretty much haven’t touched the series since. o.0; I wonder if it was one of the books directed at younger readers, or if it maybe just suffered from a real bad translation into German.
@27
Some of the later books were written by her son, and the last couple of books written by McCaffrey herself were not as good as previous ones. Felt like she’d taken one book and stretched it out over three and the stretch marks were showing.
@@@@@ 21 & 27
I agree, the Suck Fairy has been at these books pretty thoroughly. I found them riveting in my teens, but the writing clunks and groans louder and louder every time I revisit. I think I quit at All the Weyrs of Pern. I revisit Menolly’s books for the description of a music school and the pleasure of making music, but that’s it.
@@@@@ 26
The dragon names remain one of my favorite bits of worldbuilding in the books. Say “Ramoth” to yourself and visualize one big, aggressive mother dragon. “Mnementh” looks and sounds lovely. While some of the names sound like hasty inventions, I think names like “Canth” and “Ruth” are also supposed to have connotations relevant to the story.
While we’re talking about names, how is one supposed to say “Menolly”? MENolly? meNOLly? I’ve never been able to make it sound right to myself.
@25: I figured she was paying it forward when I first read TWD. Jaxom’s situation isn’t quite like hers was, but like her, he is fighting for a place that people don’t want him to have.
At a book signing at At The Sign of the Dragon bookshop Anne McCaffrey pronounced the name menno-lee. She also remarked that dragons lisp!
Ruth is who Ruth is, he always kows where & when he is. For a dragon who isn’t supposed to understand absract concepts, Ruth does. He isn’t interested in mating flights, but, as a dragon is bound mimd to mind & heart to heart with his rider, Ruth share the experience of lovemaking with Jaxom. His ability to know where & when he is will soon come in handy twice, & save Pern from a disaster worse than “Thread”.
What’s difficult about saying MenOlly?
@@@@@31
thanks! The lack of stress still sounds weird in my mind’s ear, but that may just be me.
@@@@@ 33
Issue isn’t difficulty but “correctness”. I don’t have any trouble saying other characters’ names to myself when reading, but wondering how to handle a name that pops up a good bit throws me out of the story. And, as you see from previous comments, both of my guesses were wrong – a big gap between authorial intention and reader reception.
@29
“While we’re talking about names, how is one supposed to say “Menolly”? MENolly? meNOLly? I’ve never been able to make it sound right to myself.”
In my head, “Menolly” always sounded like “Melody”. Guess her profession led me to that.
30: That’s … even worse?
There are many, many other people on Pern who are stuck in lives they’d rather not be living with gifts they’d prefer to exercise. Menolly was one of them. She could be paying it forward in many ways to many people.
Not one of those people can be as impossibly privileged and whiny about it as Jaxom.
Given the number of whiny people, especially teens and pre-teens, that I’ve known in my life, I found this statement extremely humorous.
Jaxon is definitely privileged, but he’s still a human stuck in a specific place in a rigid system that he didn’t choose. I think it takes him a little to realize yeah he hdidnt choose it but come on he’s at the top and should be grateful and humble and pay it forward—which is pretty true to how real people who have some innate decency would react. The teenage whiny part of that journey is especially realistic. But I suppose it’s telling about what I was used to in fantasy that, aside from the Corana thing that made me kind of mad, I didn’t find it as a noteworthy thing, but now as a non teenager and having read more widely since, it’s not a POV that holds my interest.
I just reread The White Dragon recently and I think it was in the first section of this book that there was a throwaway line about a hold steward (not lytol, some guy who works for him) casually beating or starving drudges (I can’t remember which) as part of normal hold management, when Jaxon was approaching him to ask for permission to leave or something, and the framing or the scene was one of oh poor Jaxon being a little Lord is haaarrd with this backdrop of casual drudge abuse that was just…wtf!!! It’s a weird juxtaposition that happens a lot on pern actually, she focuses on these higher social status characters doing cool things and being all rational and working together with lofty ideals…and randomly we are told drudges live horrible lives, or women are carried off against their will presumably to be sex slaves, without those things ever being explored in character povs. You kinda forget they’re even there a lot of the time. It’s a jarring way to talk about a fictional society.
First, I will say this again, it was only the exiled Oldtimers who were kinapping young women, along with smuggling goods back to their Weyr, mainly with the assistance of Lord Holder Meron, of Nabol Hold. All, to basically thumb their noses at F’lar & Lessa. Second, in the beginning of “The White Dragon”, Jaxom, & N’ton, the Weyrleader of Fort Weyr are getting Ruth all cleaned up for his first flight, N’ton makes the observation that Ruth isn’t white, he’s all dragon colors, because he could see glints of gold, green, blue, brown, & bronze on Ruth. Third, Brand works for Jaxom, not Lytol, Jaxom came to see him, to politely ask him to ask Deelan to stop sending her fire lizard after him, along with Brand’s own, because he just wants to have tim by himself. As to the dudges being threatened with water rations, unless they brought Brand x number of dead tunnel snakes (The Pernese equivalents of rats & mice), if you read “Dragondrums”, the third book in the Harper Hall Trilogy, Piemur’s fellow drum apprentices immediately took him in dislike when he was moved to the Drum Heights after his voice changed, in the course of the book, the said apprentices played nasty pranks on Piemur, one that nearly killed him, & for this they were grounded to the Drum Heights on water rations. Another example, when the aforesaid apprentices backtalked to Menolly, now a Journeyman, she was able put them on water rations also
The reason Jaxom wished to be by himself was so he could teach Ruth to chew firestone, which N’ton gave him tacit permission to do. N’ton said, “Don’t let anyone catch you giving Ruth firestone, abd be careful when you do”. Jaxom had already learned to fly “between” , and he had an excellent sense of timing, so Ruth & Jaxom were able to prevent a tragedy worse than “Thread”.
I think it’s bizarre how people judge Jaxom. While flawed, he was truly a good person who tried to please everyone. Failing at times, true, but those flaws made him interesting. While privileged he was also challenged by events out of his own control. (Read: Fax/blood right/insecurity due to never being able to live up to lytols expectations) In the end the challenges he faced forged him into a strong character that I remember fondly to this day. One could even argue he the true hero of the overarching storyline.
This is one of the most twisted reviews of this book I’ve ever read. It is a coming of age story. Sure he has some privilege’s to start with, but the problem is that he doesn’t fit the normal mold expected of that position. His dragon, while seeming to be another privilege, is a hinderance and adds to his non-conformity. His journey in this book is about taking his non-conformities and forcing change to the status quo. It also continues the historical exploration of the planet and its Earth colony past. As someone without such a privileged societal position, his youthful angst and issues was totally relatable as it is more an age thing than a privilege thing.