DragonFlight -- Final Thoughts (Part 2)

Walle:
I enjoyed the book a lot, because it was very interesting. Even though it used stuff like dragons, and mythological creatures that we know about, I think she gave it her own twist. It was pretty unique. I liked the entire idea of the threads. The way she used the little details.

Dande:
This time around reading it, I didn't like it as much, but I still liked it and I still like so many things about it. I have such a soft spot in my heart for Pern, the world, and all the stories there. I obviously enjoyed it and it's obvious—I obviously—

Newhope:
It's obvious.

[laughs]

Newhope:
You don't have to say anything.

Dande:
I would recommend this book, and obviously I have—[she cracks up]

Smiley:
No, no, don't be self-conscious.

Dande:
No, I'm freaking out about the obvious thing. Wvskier: said "obviously."

Newhope:
What? No, she didn't.

[laughs]

Wvskier:
You're trying to put the blame on me?

Newhope:
Obviously!

[laughs]

Dande:
Okay! I love the world, and it's one of my favorite series. I mean, I have a lot of favorites, but it's definitely up there, and I think that's it's just really good fantasy.

Wvskier:
Even though it's old.

Dande:
Even though it's old, yeah. Well, it's forty years old.

Newhope:
It's really, really old.

Walle:
Oh, wow, I didn't realize.

Dande:
So . . . are we done?

Wvskier:
The only thing I have to say is that as soon as you get through the first book it gets a lot better.

Jolly:
Well, I would hope so.

Dande:
Keep reading.

DragonFlight -- Final Thoughts (Part 1)

Dande:
So I think we should go around and have final thoughts.

Newhope:
In general, the book was okay. It had a shaky start, but it had great plot twists, in my opinion. I really liked where it went with the whole book, where it started out being with the one plot, and it switched completely, and it ended up being a book where I actually enjoyed it. I actually wanted to find out what happened at the end. It left it off to a sequel, and I know how many books there are that have been written for it, and I enjoyed the ending.

Jolly:
I read ten pages, and I was confused.

[laughs]

Jolly:
I have no idea what you guys have been saying this entire time.

Lasagna:
Me too.

Chair:
I didn't read any of it.

Smiley:
Well, I—I don't know. Like I said, I read it really fast, and I haven't read the end yet, so I don't know if it's going to be really good at the end, but I agree with Newhope: the beginning was really not inviting to read the entire novel, and the middle was kind of boring.

[laughs]

Smiley:
But maybe if I read the end, and maybe if I read it slower and at my own pace, I will like it. But I did like the plot, and I did like the whole between times thing, even though I didn't get the between thing until later on. It was a good book.

Wvskier:
I obviously love the series. I actually find her writing style very similar to J. R. R. Tolkien's. Basically it sort of draws out, not the boring stuff, but the stuff you wouldn't really read about, not the action.

Newhope:
Like J. R. R. Tolkien's description of the darkness of a cave that goes on for pages . . .

Wvskier:
It basically shows the minor things in the book, and I find that pretty interesting, because basically you don't normally read about every single little detail. And that's what I like about her, basically.

DragonFlight -- Bloopers: When You're Not in The Room

[Dande,blogmaster, recorder, and transcriber extraordinaire, is about to leave the room to find a wayward book clubber.]

Dande:
You know, the last time I left for a little bit too, and I got to hear your whole conversation when I was gone, when I was listening to the tape. Just so you know.

[laughs]

Dande:
You guys were good. You didn't say anything mean or anything.

Jolly:
That you know of . . .

Dande:
I have good friends! Okay, I'll leave now.

[she leaves]

Chair:
Dande's gone! Party!

[laughs]

Smiley:
She does realize we can turn it off and say things about her that she doesn't know . . .

Newhope:
Well, she realizes it now!

[laughs]

Newhope:
No, I don't want to touch it, because I don't want to accidentally erase anything.

Smiley:
Just kidding, Dande!

DragonFlight -- The Rest of the Series (Part 2)

Dande:
Overall, I liked it. I mean, there were problems with it, but there are so many books that have problems like that and it is so boring it is not worth it. But I think this book was worth it, especially since it is the start of such a great series.

Newhope:
I really like the whole time thing. I did not know that the plot would revolve around time travel like that.

Walle:
Sometimes it felt like the book is not really supposed to be a book. It's just a set up for books to follow.

Smiley:
Like a prologue-book.

Walle:
And then every time we would talk about something it's like, "It's explained in a later book! It's explained in a later book!"

Dande:
I just made this up in my head, but I could imagine that the author knew about this whole world, and this is just the introduction.

Smiley:
Maybe she wanted it to go slow. Compared to The Hunger Games, this went by really slow. Like Newhope said, in the middle it was really dull. Maybe that's just because she wanted it to be slow.

Dande:
I think that certain things about the book would have been lost if she—

Smiley:
Went faster?

Dande:
Yeah, you definitely did feel that it was a world.

DragonFlight -- The Rest of the Series (Part 1)

Dande:
I encourage anyone who liked this book to go read the rest of the series, because they just get better from here.

Wvskier:
Definitely. Dragonflight is not the greatest book in the series.

Dande:
Well, I didn't know which one to start with, except for the first one, you know?

Wvskier:
Dragonflight is just information. Basically, they are introducing you to the characters, they are introducing you to the plot.

Newhope:
Well every last paragraph basically sets it up for a sequel. It totally does.

Lasagna:
Are all of the other ones good?

Wvskier:
Oh, yeah. They're a lot better.

Dande:
They're really different. She doesn't get stuck in a series thing where she is writing the same books over and over again. She writes them in the same world, but they're really different books.

Wvskier:
Because there's also this Harper trilogy where it goes on mainly in the Harper Hall—it's corresponding with this timeline, but it's a completely different point of view.

Walle:
So are there other books that include these characters from their point of views? Or do they keep switching?

Wvskier:
They are actually minor characters in other books. It's pretty interesting.

Walle:
But does it still stick to Lessa's and F'lar's perspectives sometimes?

Dande:
I don't think so . . .

Wvskier:
Lessa and F'lar are important characters, but you're not following their plotline specifically anymore.

DragonFlight -- The Between, The End, & A Paradox

Newhope:
A massive plot hole to me was the between. They never explained the between.

Smiley:
Yeah, they never did.

Newhope:
I felt like they just made it up because they wanted something to guide the story along.

Wvskier:
The between is nothing. In one of the other books they go on with that.

* * *

Dande:
I thought that that was such a cool way to end it and tie it all together, that solution that they found. I thought that was unique. I didn't see it coming at all, that they'd go back and bring the Weyrs forward.

Newhope:
I did not know that the book would go back in time.

Smiley:
I did like that too, how she mentioned things in the beginning of the book and how it affected things later in the end. Like, the between time thing? I knew that was coming, I knew they would go to the south continent.

Newhope:
But the going back four hundred years thing is what you don't predict. I'm kinda wondering how that cycle started. If you think about it, it has to start somewhere. It makes sense that she goes back in time because they're not there, but it's a circle.

Dande:
It's a paradox.

Newhope:
It can't happen!

Dande:
It doesn't matter!

Newhope:
They should have been there, they should have had no need to go back. That's why I'm like, "Oh, wow, that hurts."

Wvskier:
Well, I think why they went back—yes, it is a paradox—but one of the main things, I guess the reason why they did that, is that over the four hundred years, since there are so many doubts, maybe all five Weyrs would have diminished. So bringing forward four Weyrs all trained in fighting the Thread would help with this current Pass.

DragonFlight -- Politics (Part 2) & Population Control

Walle:
They said that there are records that show the path of the red planet, so why couldn't they need to determine their breeding on that? Once the Thread has passed, let the dragons decline a bit, but not let them die out? And then once the Threads start coming back, or when there's imminent danger, they could always start breeding.

Wvskier:
Well, during a Threadfall, dragons do start breeding more, and after a Threadfall they don't lay as many eggs, so that is one of the factors.

Newhope:
Speed up right before it.

Dande:
But they didn't do that this time, because the Queen was so bad.

Wvskier:
I think the reason why people were so resentful was there was only one Weyr left and they were so pitiful at that point. There were hardly any supplies going to the Weyr because the four other Weyrs came to the future. I think that is the turning point. Yes, they are that strong. They have more than one Queen; they have multiple Queens now. They can basically hold their own planet as long as they get the supplies and stuff.

Dande:
Yeah, the little Weyr wasn't as impressive anymore, it didn't inspire any awe anymore. So people didn't care. But definitely you see in other books, books that go to the past where the dragons are in their prime, and you see how the dragonriders are like, "Ahhh! Dragonriders!" In earlier times, that was the way it was.

Wvskier:
In earlier times people always wanted to be dragonriders, it was their dream. Now that they're back, it's probably going to start happing again. "They're the saviors of our world!"