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The Queen of Dragons

Before there was Westeros, there was a land called Pern. Before there was the Mother of Dragons, there was the Weyrwoman, Lessa. 

How did I come to travel to this wonderful land of Pern, you may ask. Well, as a direct result of my obsessive and stubborn personality, of course. 

You may remember that I recently reread The Queen of the Tearling, a 21st century fantasy fiction novel that I am particularly fond of. Upon rereading this novel, however, I came across a scene that disturbed me:

"She scanned the bookshelves, but deep down she knew that she had no real adventure stories with a female hero." (Johansen, 275)

Queen Kelsea's book collection did have the works of Tolkien and Rowling, for which I cannot fault her, but this one line left me wondering what sort of fantasy fiction we will treasure in the future. Don't get me wrong, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter are classics in my eyes, and I have reread them several times (often once a year), but that does not mean that there are no female adventure heroes in our literary world. 

The Queen of Dragons

I had only a few examples of female heroes on my own bookshelf (published before Kelsea's reign), such as The Hunger Games trilogy, but I did not feel that this sufficiently proved my point. If I have an opinion, I need facts to back it up. So I consulted Google, and was bombarded with a list of writers from the 20th century to help me find an example of the female adventure hero that Queen Kelsea should have known.

Among this list of books was Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey, which was published in 1968. The protagonist, Lessa of Pern, was chosen by the queen dragon to be her rider, and thus became Weyrwoman of Benden Weyr. This was a position of honour, one that Lessa could not refuse, but it also came with a strict set of rules.

Unfortunately for the dragonriders, obedience was not one of Lessa's attributes. 

The Woman Warrior

Four hundred years had passed since the land of Pern was last threatened by Thread attacks, a threat that dragonriders are sworn to fight against. In this tranquil time, only one of six Weyrs remain, and the dragonriders of Benden Weyr conform to a strict tradition that has been morphed to fit their own needs. From the time Lessa is chosen by the golden queen dragon, Ramoth, she is told what she can and cannot do by the bronze riders, but these rules do not sit well with her. Lessa continuously fights against the rules, choosing to follow her heart instead, but one question remains: Will she be enough to save Pern from the imminent Thread attack?

There is no other way to say this: Anne McCaffrey wrote a 5 star novel. Lessa is the female hero Queen Kelsea longed to read about, and I wish she had. My true wish (because Kelsea is a fictional character and I cannot do anything about her reading material) is that you will read this novel. If you are a fan of fantasy or science fiction, or if you are in search of a female adventure hero, I truly believe you will enjoy this novel. 

I am grateful that I can now add Dragonflight and the following two volumes of The Dragonriders of Pern series to my collection. If you have suggestions on books with female heroes, or any book recommendations for me, please comment below, or reach out via email (theopinionatedbookworm@gmail.com) or Instagram (@theopinionatedbookworm1). 

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