Hello my lovely readers, how are you all this fine morning? Have you been staying up until all hours watching the Olympics? I may have been trading sleep for extra Olympic hours so if I seem a little loopy...well I'm always a little loopy so carry on. So this rambling will be a bit different. I am going to be combining two books into one big synopsis and rambling because I think they fit together to well and offer way to much comparative goodness to do separately, besides I would be constantly referring to the other book so this will be much easier...I think. The books are two from my beloved Anne
McCaffrey's Pern series.
Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern and the companion novelette
Nerilka's Story. I love both of these books for two very different reasons. The first book (which I shall refer to as Moreta) is one of Ms. McCaffery's signature Dragonrider tales, complete with many characters, various places and sweeping story. The second book, (which is more of a novelette and will be referred to as Nerilka) is about the exact same event/story but told from a much smaller more personal view. As always SPOILERS AHEAD
We start our story in the past...well the past compared to the first Dragonrider books...well just go with it. Moreta is the current Weyrwoman of Fort Weyr and is stuck with Sh'gall a capable but humorless Weyrleader. Moreta is on her way to the Ruathan Gather where she hopes to watch runner races, drink Benden white, and dance the night away in her new dress. She and her queen dragon Orlith go and do just that with the added bonus of the company of Alessan, the new Lord Holder of Ruatha. Alessan is a younger man, vigorous, wry and also an avid runnerbeast racer. He is most known for the tragic death of his young bride Suriana, whom in a world where marriages are usually made for alliance was a rare one of love. His wife was thrown from an untrained runnerbeast and broke her back, sending Alessan into a deep mourning. He is finally recovering and is now trying to dodge the numerous attempts at the high-born daughters of his fellow Lord Holders to take her place. As the races progress, a runnerbeast collapses and dies, apparently from an unknown respiratory illness. While sad, the runner is cleared away and the Gather continues. Moreta is meets Oklina, Alessans youngest sister who is in turn introduced to the bronze dragon rider
B'lerion. After dancing the night away with Alessan, Moreta returns to her Weyr with her dragon who is near to clutching. They do their duty and fight the menace
Thread (which is explained in the start of every book), looking foward to it ending in the next eight turns and a chance at least 200 years of Thread free life to look forward to. Unfortunately a crimp is put into all the happiness when a plague brought up from the Southern Continent threatens all human and runnerbeast life on Pern. We eventually find out that it is a flue like illness and its initial outbreak kills off a huge percentage of people who catch it. Hardest hit are the two holds that held gathers, Ista and Ruatha, with Keroon being hard hit as it is an area known for its runnerbeast breeding. Even worse is that the dragonriders start succumbing to this illness, causing riders to die and their dragons to go
between, unable to live without their riders. This is the biggest calamity possible as it inhibits the ability of the dragonriders to do their first duty which is to protect Pern from the deadly Thread, which is not kind enough to stop falling just because the whole world is sick and dying. The healthy dragonriders decide to pool resources and miraculously discharge their duty. Eventually it is discovered that a vaccine can be made out of the blood of the people who have recovered from the disease, unfortunately the vaccine has to be given to every living person and runnerbeast on Pern before the next outbreak hits, or they will probably not survive the next wave. Moreta, Alessan, Olkina, B'lerion, and the healers Capiam and Desdra use a technique called "timing" which is essentially a dragon ability to go
between times as well as space. This is incredibly dangerous and is discouraged for the most part. They use timing to go to a remote island in the future to gather supplies enough to inoculate all of Pern. As they do this Moreta and Alessan finally give in to the intense attraction they had been feeling, as do the rest of the party (insert eyebrow waggle here). They decide the best way to distribute the serum is via dragonback, using a very tight timing schedule. Plans are put into dissary when on of the Weyrs refuses to help. Moreta decides to finish of the route, riding the old queen Holth as her Orlith is stuck on the Nesting Grounds with her eggs. Old Holth and Moreta finish the grueling task and take of one last time...and never come out from
between. The death of Holth and Moreta are a huge loss to the planet,
just as it was getting back on its feet. Leri (Holth's rider) and Orlith stay until the eggs hatch (with Olkina Impressing the Queen) and then they to go
between. Two year later
Nerilka's Story was published here is that story. Nerilka is the daughter of Lord Tolocamp and his wife Lady Pendra of Fort Hold. She is tall, ungainly and likes to be useful. She is left behind when her father, mother and her older (and prettier) sisters go to the gather at Ruatha, presumably to try and get the new Lord Holder Alessan to marry one of them. While they are there the plague appears and Nerilka does her best to help her brother (who was left in charge while her father was away) maintain the quarantine placed on the planet. She also offers her help at Healer Hall (which is located in Fort Hold) and any of the over abundance of supplies her Hold has.
While they accept the supplies, her help is rejected. Nerilka's father returns, breaking quarantine...though he holes himself up in his room to "protect" the hold leaving his wife and other daughters in Ruatha where they end up dying. As as soon as word reaches him of his wife's death, he installs his mistress the simpering and incapable Anella as his wife and Lady Holder. This young twitty thing (who to add insult to injury is younger then Nerilka) takes control of the Hold. The Healer Hall applies to Lord Tolocamp for extra supplies as they are running short, and are denied. They are also denied the ability to help the people in the internment camp that had been set up outside the Hold. For Nerilka this is the last straw. She cuts her hair, dresses as a drudge and takes matters into her own hands. After securing supplies for the Healers Hall, she goes into the camps to work as a nurse (at this point she has been vaccinated). She eventually ends up in Ruatha where she had dreamed about ever since her foster sister Suriana had married her Lord Alessan. Nerilka or Rill as she is now known proves how helpful she can be and is asked to stay on and help restore Ruatha. Rill is as happy as can be and gets right to work. She is there when news of Moreta's death comes and is the one to attempt to comfort Alessan in his grief. For Alessan this is one more tragedy in a long string and it is more then he can take, he tells Rill that he just wants to die. Rill tells him that he can't die, at least not until their is a Ruathan heir, or the hold will fall to another holder. Alessan (who knew all along that Rill was Nerilka, from Suriana's sketches) makes a deal that he will marry Nerilka and as soon as their is an heir, she has to mix him his cup (his way of committing suicide). Not knowing what else to do she agrees. Eventually Oklina impresses her queen, and Nerilka bears Alessan a child, but instead of dying, he decides to live. Nerilka knows that he will never be the light hearted man Suriana married, or the reckless racer Moreta loved, but he is a good man who loves and cares for his family and readily recognizes Nerilka for her work and effort and that is enough for him.
Whew that was really really really long...you ready for some more? Good. I love reading these two books together, not only 'cause they are companion pieces but for the complete and different views you get. With Moreta you see a strong, older woman who has not only born several children but is in charge of one of the largest Weyrs and is responsible for the care and safety of essentially a whole planet. She is capable, decisive, fun-loving, and knows how to take responsibility. I love that she is not some young supple waif of a girl, but a mature woman, who is described at being near the end of her child-bearing years, which puts her in her 30's or 40's, yet she is also described as desirable and fun and lovely...despite the cropped hair and fine lines on her face. This is not the type of heroine we see a lot, usually it is the young, the new, the virginal, the unattached that the story centers around. I love that we have a mother, who as much as she loves her
born children, knows she must be more then that, she is a mother figure that is not at all homey or hearth bound. Then we have Nerilka, who's story is told in the first person, which is one of the few times I have heard this style from this author, but it works for this story. Nerilka was born and raised in a completely different way then Moreta, she is a high-born Holder, taught to be much more decorous and dainty (even if she is not) she knows that arts of running a household, she knows how important a well run hold is. She is well aware if costs, supplies and help get out of hand it could spell disaster. It is her diligence in this sort of "homey" work that not only saves her Hold (which is the biggest and oldest on Pern) but potentially many others as well. She does things on a smaller scale then Moreta, yet what she does is just as important if not more so to the overall survival of Pern. Moreta is passionate and free, partly because of her being part of the Weyr (which by virtue of the dragons have to have a different code of conduct) and partly because of her nature. Nerilka is more aware of her duty and is willing to fulfill it to the point of honor. Moreta has a passionate, if ill-advised love affair with Alessan while Nerilka does what needs to be done after her death in helping Alessan continue forward. In Alessan we see three different yet very valid kind of romantic loves. We here about his first bloom of wild, young love with his wife Suriana, we get a more passionate, plunging love of Moreta, and finally a dutiful, which eventually turns into a mature and deep love for Nerilka. I like that between these two books we see that not every love has to be a wild flame of desire at first sight with a pretty young unknown yet dangerous factor...you know what I mean. I also like that these books show you
can have more then one love, that you can move on without being disloyal, or loving somebody any less. The best part is, after all my rambling on love, neither of these books is a love story, in fact in Moreta the page count of Alessan and Moreta together is fairly minimal compared to the rest of the book. As far as the story there is so much for me to dive into full force. I love that medicine was a central part of this story as that is one of my personal passions. The science was fairly accurate and the methods well thought out. I liked learning about the healing aspect of dragons and their riders (this is so what I would do if I lived on Pern!) I also love how this book fits into the history of Pern. In the original
trilogy the song
Moreta's Last Ride is sung and is also mentioned several times in the
Harper Hall trilogy so to actually read the story is pretty cool, and adding Nerilka to the mix made it even better. The stories also remind us that this is actually a science fiction story when they talk about the Crossing and their ancestors and the old records that talk about influenza, connecting to an even deeper history. So obviously I love these books and think you should read all of them, and will know continue my Anne McCaffery kick 'cause I just LOVE LOVE LOVE reading her stuff! I give this combination of books 9 out of 10 golden queen dragons!
What do you think of companion books? How do you feel about non-stock characters? What do you like to see in your stories (e.g. medicine, music, sports)? How obsessed am I with Anne McCaffrey?
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