Restoree by Anne McCaffrey

My Rating: 2.5 / 5.0

Amazon Rating: 4.60 / 5.00

Goodreads Rating: 3.84 / 5.00

One moment Sara is walking through the streets of New York City, the next she is overwhelmed by a terrible stench and the sky darkens. After this she is mercifully unconscious for most of the time, with occasional flashes of incredible pain and glimpses of mutilated people everywhere within an enclosed space.

Some time later, she gradually returns to full consciousness to find that she is acting as a nurse to a comatose man. However, the greatest surprise is that she has a new body, one that she does not recognize. As she goes through her daily routine, she comes to the realization that most of the other nurses are not so conscious of their surroundings and are treated as if they are blind and deaf. Acting as if she were the same, she overhears the guards discussing the man that she cares for and discovers that he is actually the Regent and is being drugged through his food to keep him unconscious. She also discovers that she is no longer on Earth, but on the planet Lothar.

She stops feeding the Regent his drugged food, replacing it with her own, and finally manages to wake him from his drug-induced sleep. As they race to escape, she becomes embroiled in the dangerous politics of a strange world.

I first read this title in the late 1980s when I was first introduced to Ms McCaffrey’s writing by my husband to be. In fact, I think it was actually the very first of her works that I tried, which makes me realize how much my tastes have changed since then. Unlike The Ship Who Sang and Dragonflight, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed when I reread them recently, I was amazed that I had ever liked this title at all. Perhaps if I had seen this cover, from a later edition, I might have avoided it like the plague . . .

The premise is very interesting. A young woman is abducted from Earth, appears to be butchered and / or tortured and then wakes to find that she has a new appearance and is on an alien world. That would be interesting enough, but she is being used as a non-thinking nurse for a man that she discovers is a very important political figure. For some reason she does not remain semiconscious like the other nurses, but recovers her full consciousness and is sensible enough to realize that she needs to hide her difference. Obviously she is intrigued by her charge and appalled to find that he is being kept drugged. When she has him sufficiently recovered they escape and then launch themselves into an adventure of political intrigue and maneuvering.

As I said, this is all very intriguing and allows Ms McCaffrey to explore some interesting Science Fiction ideas. However, no amount of wonderful concepts can get us away from the fact that this is structured somewhat like a Romance novel and that the female lead has absolutely no agency at all. Oh sure, she is spunky, independent and strong willed, but the only direct action that she takes is to reduce Harlan’s medication. After that she is told what to do for the rest of the book and is pushed, pulled and physically assaulted with monotonous frequency. There is nothing more likely to switch me off a novel than an allegedly feisty woman who is actually just a pawn for the men around her.

Ironically, Ms McCaffrey wrote this title as being a reaction to the portrayal of women in Science Fiction at the time, so it is a shame that it has not stood the test of time.

“Restoree” was a once-off jab at the way women were portrayed in science-fiction. Don’t forget that book was published in 1967. I have no need to write a sequel since it served its purpose of an intelligent, survivor-type woman as the protagonist of an S-F story. (pernhome.com)

I can only be glad that I read more of her works and found them to be less romantic and more egalitarian in their treatment of women. I was genuinely surprised at how I had warped the memory of this story and I am afraid that I cannot recommend it to anyone wanting to read Ms McCaffrey’s non-Pern titles.

I read this as part of:

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey

My Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

Amazon Rating: 4.50 / 5.00

Goodreads Rating: 4.06 / 5.00

I read this book as part of a Read Along. You can find my posts here:  Week 1   Week 2  

The planet of Pern is subject to a strange phenomenon that returns every two hundred years or so. During the roughly fifty years of a Pass, Thread falls from the sky in waves like a series of rainstorms. During each Threadfall, the strange, alien organisms drift down from the sky, seemingly inert until they touch something, anything, organic, which they will destroy with mindless savagery. Only two things can hold the Thread in check: stone and the fire from dragons. Pern’s society has adapted to survive this threat by creating and supporting the Weyrs, where dragon riders and their linked partners can train to fight the Thread when it comes. However, it has been more than four hundred years since the last Pass and many now believe that Thread will never come again. This belief makes it increasingly difficult for the last surviving Weyr to continue its role of leading the rest of the population in preparing for the next Pass. The other five Weyrs have been deserted since the last Pass, which only adds fuel to the speculation that dragons, and their riders, are no longer needed and should not be supported by the rest of society. F’Lar is convinced that the next Pass is approaching, but he has to fight his own leaders to persuade them that Thread is not simply a child’s tale.

Lessa is the sole surviving member of the noble family that used to rule Ruatha Hold. When her family was slaughtered she hid with the watch-wher, a dragon-like creature that watches over the Hold and warns of approaching threats. Disguised as a kitchen drudge, she has survived in the Hold, plotting revenge against Fax, the man who killed her family. When F’Lar comes to Ruatha in search of candidates to offer the latest clutch of dragon eggs, he realizes that Lessa is a good prospect for the single golden egg in the clutch that will hatch to produce the next Queen. With her as Weyrwoman, he has a chance of changing the Weyr’s policies and keeping the world safe when the Thread returns.

This book was originally published in 1968, although two segments had appeared in Analog magazine in the year before. It is one of the first of Ms McCaffrey’s books that I read more than twenty years ago and I am glad to say that it stands the test of time. I was concerned that it might appear dated after all these years, but it has stayed remarkably fresh and relevant, offering up a marvelously detailed and fully conceived world that falls somewhere between Fantasy and Science Fiction. It is the first in a series that now totals some twenty-four volumes, and the exploration of the Science Fiction aspects is more pronounced in some of these titles than others.

At first glance the setting is thoroughly Fantasy, with a medieval feel to its feudal society. However, the Introduction places us firmly in a Science Fiction universe, making it clear that Pern is actually a human colony on a planet orbiting the star Rukbat. This places Pern’s society in a rather different context, as we can see that the threat of Thread has pushed a people capable of interstellar flight into a pre-industrial period of their development and effectively stalled their ability to progress beyond this phase. The repeated effects of Threadfall are so catastrophic that is no wonder that these people are barely able to survive the long Passes, when harvesting food becomes almost impossible and cowering in stone structures is their best choice. It is a testament to the determination of previous generations that there are still people on the planet at all.

Other than this piece of information the other Science Fiction elements are rather limited. Perhaps the most important is the Thread itself, which appears to be derived from the Red Star, one of Pern’s neighboring planets. The nature of Thread is never really addressed, although the destruction that is causes is demonstrated rather graphically and we learn a lot about how to destroy it. This again fits with the idea that it is such a devastating menace that the people have never had the chance to develop the resources needed to understand what it actually is. This makes a very nice change from the standard trope of a thinking enemy that has some reason, even if it is a totally evil one, to take action against our protagonists. The Thread is alive, but in a non-thinking way, which somehow makes it so much more terrifying. There is no negotiation to be attempted or surrender to be given: they must simply endure until the Red Star moves on and the Pass finishes.

Finally, we have the dragons, although they do not really fulfill the classic Science Fiction element that we would expect. Rather it is their ability to travel between that takes us away from Fantasy to a certain extent. Whereas nothing else in this world appears to be inherently magical or unexpectedly talented, this ability is truly unique. By thinking about a place in great detail, a dragon can move into a type of non-space that they call between and then pop back out into the normal world at a different location. This ability to translocate at will is crucial to their ability to avoid and fight Thread and is a nice contrast to their fire breathing, which actually relies upon them chewing stone containing phosphine. This mundane explanation for the expected ability to belch out fire makes the whole between concept seem so much more exotic.

The lack of a major enemy, in favor of the impersonal Thread, is certainly refreshing, although we do get a few human bad guys to detest. However, most of the conflict comes from the prevailing belief that there will never be another Pass and that the Weyr is now a redundant relic of an earlier age. We get to feel all smug and satisfied as the naysayers learn the truth the hard way, but few of them are truly evil people, which adds to the satisfyingly normal feel of the society that we observe. Just as with World War Z by Max Brooks, it is interesting to see how societies cope with disaster and to follow individuals as they come to terms with their world being turned upside down.

Our protagonists are a little earnest, especially F’Lar, but this is also a function of their life experiences and so it fits perfectly with the world that they inhabit. However, they also demonstrate my one problem with this title. F’Lar and Lessa have a difficult relationship and they are both very closed off, private people, so they have some trouble admitting their feelings for one another. Even so, I did get very annoyed with the number of times that he grabs hold of her and shakes her. Whenever she appears to be being awkward, argumentative or uncooperative he resorts to physical violence in order to ‘shake some sense into her’. I found this very objectionable and, although I doubt that it would appear in a book written today, it made it rather difficult for me to like F’Lar as much as I should. Somehow I struggle with a hero who keeps assaulting his partner.

It is interesting to note that this misogynistic approach to communication is at odds with the sexual relationships shown within the Weyr. The riders are psychically linked to their dragons, and so when the dragons mate their riders do as well. As the dragons are somewhat liberal in their mating choices, this means that some of the female riders mate with many men and do not have monogamous relationships. Also a female dragon that is not a Queen can bond with a male rider, and so we can assume that homosexual relationships are perfectly acceptable as well. This liberal attitude to sex is one area where the riders are shown to be very different from those who live outside the Weyrs, where more conservative family relationships are the expected norms.

However, putting this interesting dichotomy in attitudes to violence and sex to one side, there are many things to enjoy in this title. As I have already mentioned, the setting is still unique enough to be interesting, but there are two other aspects that are even more of a ‘selling point’ in my opinion.

Firstly, there is the character of MasterHarper Robinton, who is a firm favorite with the fans of the series. He is so vividly drawn that I have to believe that he is modeled upon someone that Ms McCaffrey knew very well. He is hilarious and provides some wonderful moments of light relief, whilst providing a sensible, levelheaded counterpoint to F’Lar’s sometimes over-emotional assessments of situations. He is also the leader of the Harpers, the teachers and scholars of Pern’s society, which is itself an interesting concept. Given that Thread can destroy anything organic, and because nobody survives from one Pass to the next, all the information about Threadfall is communicated via ballads and songs. This choice of dependence upon the Oral Tradition was excellent because it is a perfect fit for the needs of the society, but also allows information to be transmitted without complete understanding so that it has to be deciphered in the present. The songs and poems that constitute the teachings about the Thread are interesting and add an extra dimension to the world.

However, the most enjoyable aspect of this whole series are the dragons themselves. They are suitably alien in their thought processes, so that they are most definitely not human, which provides ample opportunity for comedy and disparaging differences of opinion. Lessa is unusual because she can hear all dragons and not just the one she is bonded to, so we often get a dragon’s commentary on what their rider is saying, which can be very funny. In general, the dragons have excellent characters and are loveable in their own right: they seem to be heavily based upon cats, so you can imagine their love of food, luxury and attention. However, I really wish that we did not get reminded of their color so frequently. This writer’s tick gets annoying about one third of the way into the book and actually becomes laughable after that, but is a small price to pay for the dragons themselves.  

Whilst I would suggest that this title in the series is rather light on aspects that are truly Science Fiction, I can promise that the later novels take the reader both forward and backward in time within Pern’s history revealing some wonderfully interesting ideas. As it stands, I would recommend Dragonflight as a great introduction to one of my favorite authors, especially if you are a little uneasy about plunging straight into something with heavy Science Fiction tropes or an exotic Fantasy setting. This series deals with real human people who are struggling to survive a very unusual threat. Whilst it is not Fantasy-lite, it relies upon elements that are not too outlandish or difficult to visualize and so you can concentrate on the story and enjoy the banter between the characters. 

  

I read this title as part of:

 

Witch World by Andre Norton

My Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

Amazon Rating: 4.40 / 5.00

Goodreads Rating: 3.81 / 5.00

Simon Tregarth was a colonel during the war, but somehow ended up being involved with the black market in the aftermath. On the run from a very angry, and powerful, crime organization, he knows that it is only a matter of time before they find him. As if in answer to his prayers, he is contacted by Dr. Petronius, who has a reputation for helping men to disappear without trace and thus avoid unpleasant ends. Petronius explains that he is the guardian of the Siege Perilous, which was made famous in the Arthurian legends. It has the power to transport people to another world: a world that is attuned to the personality of the person travelling via this magical object. He asks only for all of Tregarth’s remaining money, which seems perfectly reasonable in return for total safety.

Once through the gateway, Tregarth finds himself in the Witch World, where virginal Witches wield magic while male soldiers fight to protect them. He rescues a Witch and is accepted into their army, befriending Koris, the deformed leader of the Estcarp army. He soon finds himself in the forefront of the fight against the mysterious Kolder who are slowly invading the continent and turning its inhabitants into mindless killing machines. As he struggles to uncover the true identity of the Kolder he becomes increasingly close to the Witch that he rescued and uncovers his own ability to wield magic.

This is one of those series that I have always meant to read but has somehow never reached the top of my TBR pile. With the incentive of various challenges to encourage me, I finally decided to see if it lived up to its Hugo Award nomination. I am pleased to say that, unlike A Wizard of Earthsea, it seems to deserve its place on all those ‘Top Fantasy Series’ lists out there. It does feel a little dated now, but it is fifty years old, so that is hardly surprising. 

The Witch World itself is lavishly detailed and totally developed. We experience a series of very different cultures and societies, but they are not presented via a mass of exposition. If anything, I would have liked some more detail and perhaps a little longer to immerse myself in each one before we moved on to the next. This was definitely a book that would have benefitted from a good glossary or appendix explaining some of the terms and concepts as it was a little too light on explanations for my taste.

Interestingly, the one area where we had copious detail was one that could have been removed without any reduction in understanding. Ms Norton spends altogether far too much time detailing the history and operation of the Siege Perilous. I felt like this section of the book was almost totally irrelevant and dragged on whilst I was eager to get through the gateway and see the magical world beyond. I know that the idea of the gateways, and those that travel through them, are important to the overall storyline, but I was getting rather impatient with Dr. Petronius and his extended explanation. It was very obvious that Tregarth was a man running out of time, so he would not need much persuasion to try to avoid his pursuers, even if he thought that Petronius was crazy.

The other jarring section of the book was the switch from Tregarth’s POV to that of Loyse. It was great to see a strong female character and I liked her a great deal, but I was left with uneasy feeling that I should have some idea why we were suddenly interested in her. As far as I can tell, she is not mentioned prior to the chapters that follow her so to be suddenly dropped into her head was somewhat unsettling. I felt that this section of the story would have been far more successfully told from the POV of the Witch Jaelithe whom we had previously met and who was obviously a major character.

At this point I must mention one strange choice that Ms Norton made with respect to the Witches. She tells us that there is a great deal of power in names, a fairly common device when dealing with magic, but does not give the various Witches nicknames, even in Tregarth’s mind. This causes some confusion and uncertainty about the particular Witches involved in certain sections of the book. I find it hard to believe that Tregarth would not assign some sort of identifying tag to each Witch that he encounters, even if he never speaks it out loud. This choice led to very clumsy repeats of his identification of Jaelithe as the woman he had rescued at the start of the novel and giving her some sort of name would have been so much easier. In fact, we only learn her name at the very end of the book when she effectively revokes her status as a Witch by acting on her attraction to our hero.

This brings us to one aspect of the world that I really did enjoy: the magic. For some reason it is confined to women, thus making them a powerful force in society, which was a very nice change for a society that was basically your typical Medieval European fantasy setting. I also liked the way that the magic was mind-based and more to do with mental discipline and good luck than anything else. This fallibility was also a nice deviation from the usual whizz, bang, point and shoot type of magic that we see so often. It also meant that the Witches had to work together with their male army in order to really accomplish anything, showing a fairly equal society in many aspects. This equality was even highlighted by the disapproval that they felt for the Falconers’ society, which was male-dominated and used their women as breeding machines.

The plot rips along at a fast pace, almost too fast at times, and covers a lot of ground. We see a lot of the continent and meet a fairly impressive array of characters in a short space of time, which unfortunately leads to them having little depth. Even our lead characters are fairly two-dimensional and do not show any real growth. This is disappointing and means that I do not feel a massive desire to return to the world and find out what they do next. The overall story is fairly predictable, but I am not sure if this is because so many titles have reworked it in the subsequent decades. There are some wonderful touches, such as the Falconers’ ability to communicate through their birds, which I would like to explore in more detail, but I do not feel much urgency to return to this world.

I read this as part of a whole heap of challenges: