Dragon's Code by Gigi McCaffrey
Cover art by Chris Koehler
Cover design by David G. Stevenson and Susan Schultz
Published by Del Rey Books
Reviewed by Leigh Kimmel
When Anne McCaffrey passed away shortly after the completion of the intensely unsatisfactory Sky Dragons, I had mixed emotions. On one hand, it was frustrating that the novel ended with so much left dangling, as if there should be at least one more volume to tie off all the loose ends. On the other hand, I had been so disappointed with Todd McCaffrey's writing skills, and the lack of any visible development from his beginner mistakes, that I dreaded the thought of him writing any further novels now that his mother was permanently out of the picture and could offer no further guidance. I didn't want to watch the son's work, however well-meant, turn Pern into a travesty, a caricature of itself.
So imagine my astonishment when I was going through the science fiction books at a branch of our local public library and discovered a new Pern book on the shelves. I'd sort of known that Anne McCaffrey had other children, but I hadn't realized that her daughter also was interested in writing.
I really wanted to like this novel, especially after having gone for so many years without any new Pern books and having pretty much given up hope of ever having another new one again. However, as I sat down to read it, I didn't get very far before it started feeling more like yet another "authorized fanfic."
I hesitate to use that term, since so many people have such intense negative responses to fan fiction. Part of it is of course the issue of copyright infringement, but even when dealing with stories that are written in 'verses that have long since passed into the public domain (Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Lewis Carroll's Alice books, Jane Austen's novels, etc.), there are still the issues of such works being derivative in the literary sense (as opposed to the legal), and therefore being automatically of lower quality simply because they are written by fans of an established 'verse. And it doesn't have to be true, given the number of great works of literature that are in fact derivative. Almost all of Shakespeare's plays draw upon prior art, and John Milton's masterpieces Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained are a sort of Bible fanfic, even if the term fanfic had yet to be invented when he was writing.
Reading this novel, I think that the younger Ms. McCaffrey was attempting to create an effect somewhat similar to the way Robert Silverberg's "In Another Country" fits into C.L. Moore's famous novella "Vintage Season." That is, she was trying to write a novel that would continue Piemur's story from Dragondrums through the events of The White Dragon, effectively fitting inside the existing novels much the way Silverberg's does Moore's.
Unfortunately, upon reading this novel, I honestly don't think she succeeds. Time and again, characters make stupid mistakes for no more reason than it's necessary to move the story forward. Take for instance the scene in which Piemur fumbles his attempt to report to Robinton, and the Masterharper dismisses him as having sunstroke and thus having become confused. Why should Robinton, who in the original had supreme confidence in Piemur, suddenly regard him as so completely incompetent and worth so little that his apparent sunstroke arouses no alarm, no effort to make sure he is not in danger, but only an out-of-hand dismissal?
The only reason I can see for it is to suddenly thrust Piemur back on the outside, so that he'll take the mission to Nabol Hold, which is in disarray now that the corrupt Lord Meron has died and his numerous relations are badgering his successor for the things they were promised during the tenure of the late and unlamented Lord Holder. And then Piemur and Sebell make an amateurish attempt to infiltrate the Hold, only to have their paper-thin cover blown. The whole thing's the sort of thing a kid might dream up, without any adults to counsel restraint, yet Sebell's supposed to be a senior journeyman, accustomed to significant responsibility. Instead, Piemur's now having to frantically rescue Sebell in order to undo a mess that should never have happened in the first place.
And the whole thing with the Oldtimers' sickness seems to come out of nowhere. In The White Dragon, they and their dragons were all getting old, mostly because it was unsurprising that the older dragonriders should be the most hidebound of those who left their own time and came forward at Lessa's bidding to aid Benden Wear in the desperate battle against Thread. Speaking of which, there's even a ridiculous minor storyline about one group of Oldtimers wanting to go back to their own time -- and given Pern is a 'verse in which backward time travel is always to fulfill something that has already been predetermined, and it is known that none of the Oldtimers ever returned to their own time, is pretty obviously a whole bunch of wishful thinking on the part of the characters, and as such looks very much like an effort to fill up space in order to reach the requisite wordcount. Handled better, it could've shown the sheer desperation of those Oldtimers who'd proven unable to assimilate to the Ninth Turn, that they were grasping at straws, but I just don't see the necessary literary chops here.
Even the Impression scene seems to be put there mostly to satisfy the requirement that every Pern book have that peak experience, just like every Sime~Gen novel must have a Changeover scene. The White Dragon had the gist of the Impression of the queen dragon from Ramoth's stolen egg, and this scene just puts it on-camera and fills in the details. Worse, it feels like it was cribbed from Lessa's Impression of Ramoth back in "Weyr Search," which became the first section of Dragonflight.
Yet with all this novel's flaws, I still feel like Gigi McCaffrey genuinely loves her mother's creation and her fans, and wants to honor her mother's memory, as opposed to just churning out more and more novels in a beloved universe to milk that cash cow one more time. Unfortunately, like her brother. Todd, she just doesn't seem to have the level of talent or skill to do her mother's world justice. Perhaps it would've been better if she'd chosen one of the earlier eras that hadn't been touched upon, maybe that first Long Interval when there were four hundred Turns rather than the usual two hundred between Passes, and explored how those generations avoided the trap Lessa and F'lar's generation were caught in. At least there there would've been some time for Gigi to make her beginner mistakes without mangling much-beloved characters from the earliest books of the Pern series.
Alternatively, it might be better to bring in an established professional author with a strong track record of being able to write in an existing universe with respect and affection, capturing the spirit of the 'verse and the voice of the original author. If that's not possible, it may well be time to say good-bye and let Pern come to an end, rather than dragging out endless sequels of ever-declining quality until it becomes a parody of itself.
Buy Dragon's Code from Amazon.com
Review posted September 5, 2021
