Aaaaaand It's Gone (Dragonsdawn - Final)

 

A map of Pern

I had an in-depth discussion planned...

 I expected to have a lot more to say about Dragonsdawn when I finished but I find myself grasping for words. There was actually a lot I wanted to discuss but somehow that words slipped out of my head when I wasn't paying attention. Over my long weekend, camping and going to an anime convention, I managed to finish the novel over the course of several early mornings. I had planned to do two separate posts but I've decided instead to combine the rest of the book into one final post focusing more on my final impressions and less on the gritty details of the book.

Dragonsdawn, like many good books I've read, strikes me as ideal material to create a movie from. It has a wide cast of bold, vibrant, and most importantly, human personalities that demand real acting. It has detailed reference material for creating scenes and props, an epic sprawling world, and events and catastrophes on a such a vast scale that it demands the viewer's attention. Considering that the book was written in the year I was born I'm surprised that no one has made a notable attempt at a big-screen adaptation. On the same note, however, it's probably also a good thing that it hasn't been done yet as CG technology has only recently gotten good enough to really do the world of Pern justice. Still, that said I'd really like to see a movie adaptation of Dragonsdawn, not because I think that a movie could do better, but because the story is already told so well that the only real way I can think of to improve upon it is to add a visual element.

Far Far Away - (Dragonsdawn)

This book has seen much abuse/love. 

What a crazy couple of weeks it has been since my last entry. I've been chiseling away at my latest book, Dragonsdawn, slowly, very slowly, but surely. I was very prepared to marathon my way through my current book but instead I've been tackling my first Pern novel five or so pages at a time whenever I can find a spare moment. In the past three weeks my sister stayed with me for a week on a visit from Las Vegas, I traveled to New York for a family reunion, attended a birthday party, made preparations to sell a number of my belongings in a garage sale, and somehow managed to avoid going crazy during my work week. Now I have a big convention/concert to go to starting tomorrow, but I figured I'd use my fleeting moment of time squeeze in a update. Whew! Needless to say but I've found it difficult to squeeze in many good reading sessions when I've had a hard time keeping up with routine stuff. Still, the project can and will continue! It just means that some of us might be centenarians by the time I near the end.

So, again, my newest novel is Dragonsdawn by Anne McCaffrey, a book that comes highly recommended by my lovely wife Jennifer (read: pestered into submission). Dragonsdawn is apparently one of many set in a world called Pern and despite its rather tell-tale title I've found the book to surprisingly absent of fantasy and and traditional dragons. In fact, although it has been hinted that this changes, Dragonsdawn is quite easily sci-fi, which has been quite a pleasant discovery.