White Dragon

The first fantasy book i ever read was the White Dragon by Anne Mccaffery.i read this book nearly 20 years ago and it is still one of my favorites. it shaped my love for dragons. and now a little about the book:

The novel opens quite appropriately with Jaxom's first flight with Ruth, which gives the adults in the scene plenty of opportunity to remind him of his responsibilities, and thus clue the reader in to exactly what is at stake should anything go wrong. The authorities are taking no chances -- while most weyrlings are allowed to begin riding their dragons when they reach a minimally acceptable size, Jaxom has perforce waited until they are certain Ruth has reached his full growth and there is no possibility his strength will prove inadequate.

In some ways this seems a questionable practice, for the simple reason that Ruth would have no opportunity to develop his flight muscles at the developmentally appropriate time, and that it could easily result in the very weakness that they're trying so hard to prevent. However, the aerodynamics of dragon flight is rubber science anyway, and later books in the Pern series have revealed that it is actually a form of telekenesis with the wings used primarily for steering rather than lift, so it's really more of a plot device to emphasize just how long Jaxom's had to wait and how desperately he longs to actually be able to function as a dragonrider.

However, the Bildungsroman elements of the early chapters soon shade into political intrigue, as Jaxom discovers that all is not well in the Southern Continent. At the climax of Dragonquest, F'lar exiled to Southern Weyr all the Oldtimers who would not accept the leadership of Benden Weyr, thus resolving the crisis of leadership that was tearing Pern's fragile feudal society apart. But while the Oldtimers may have acquiesced to their exile out of necessity, they have not truly accepted it. Far from it, they have been actively conspiring to get around the restrictions in every way they can, and to undermine the authority of Benden Weyr's leadership.

But things are not going well for them. For the most part, the exiled Oldtimers were mostly older men already, and the few queen riders who accompanied them are old enough that their queen dragons are no longer rising to mate. As a result, these deposed leaders are beginning to see their exile as something far more sinister -- a plot to remove them from the scene by letting them die out without anyone to carry on their polity. Desperate, two of the senior Oldtimers decide to horn in on an open mating flight by a virgin queen, hoping thus to usurp the leadership of that Weyr.

However, things turn out badly, for the elderly dragons are no longer able to compete with a strong young queen. And men who have lost their dragons often go mad, not exactly a good situation in the crowded chambers in which the riders of the competing dragons wait to bed the rider of the queen dragon. Only by a desperate maneuver by which Jaxom and Ruth travel backwards in time are they able to bring help.

And then, just as things are about to completely unravel, Jaxom takes ill. He thinks it's just a head cold, so he orders Ruth to take him to a beautiful hidden cove in the Southern Continent where he thinks he can just bake the infection out of his lungs. But in fact it is firehead, a far more serious disease that can have life-threatening complications, particularly for dragonriders. Which means that Jaxom must survive lest his death or incapacitation result in political chaos, for Ruatha Hold has no heir.

The White Dragon was the last of the six original Pern books, written after the Harper Hall trilogy as well as the original two Dragonrider books. As a result, Anne McCaffrey was able to incorporate characters and narrative elements from those side stories, particularly Menolly and Sebell, as well as being able to take advantage of the development of Pernese culture which she had done in those stories, which took a more intimate view on life in a Hold and in the Harper Hall. As a result, The White Dragon feels richer and deeper than previous Pern books.