For young women only?

[manephelien]

She's definitely not just writing for young female readers, she has fans of both sexes, ages eight to eighty plus.

[pyan]

'Anne McCaffrey is the Barbara Cartland of science fiction.' Kingsley Amis.
Re-reading some of the books a few years on, I think he has a point, but I can remember loving them years ago, and eagerly waiting for the next Pern novel to be issued.
Nowadays I cringe at some of the dialogue, and as it has been said, her continuity is atrocious.I also don't like her milking old stories by retelling them from another viewpoint - I thought Masterharper of Pern was dreadful.
Perhaps it's an age/experience thing - as you read more, you get more critical of bad style and writing, and become fussier about plotting, style and content.
Sorry to sound so negative; the truth is I was saddened not to enjoy re-reading books of which I had such fond memories.

[Princess Ivy]

Originally Posted by pyanfaruk

'Anne McCaffrey is the Barbara Cartland of science fiction.' Kingsley Amis.
Re-reading some of the books a few years on, I think he has a point, but I can remember loving them years ago, and eagerly waiting for the next Pern novel to be issued.
Nowadays I cringe at some of the dialogue, and as it has been said, her continuity is atrocious.I also don't like her milking old stories by retelling them from another viewpoint - I thought Masterharper of Pern was dreadful.
Perhaps it's an age/experience thing - as you read more, you get more critical of bad style and writing, and become fussier about plotting, style and content.
Sorry to sound so negative; the truth is I was saddened not to enjoy re-reading books of which I had such fond memories.

i agree on many of your points, especially about the masteryharper of pern, but i still love the simple niceness of her stories and that they usually have a happy ending. also characters that i really can hate or love. i am currently re-reading the pegasus cycle and enjoying it just as much, if not more, because of the silly mistakes and cheesyness.

[CBellenis]

I think that there's a odd (and wrong!) received wisdom that girls will read books about boys, but not the other way round - that's surely true only if the book is marketed badly?
The feminist in me always had difficulty with Gold rider not being the weyr leader, more so now than when I first read them. Does this make them more girly or more for boys?? (I have terrible trouble not seeing people as people first...)

[Goldrider Thais]

first of all, i think that is a wicked joke...i know plenty of people(males included) who are mccaffrey fans, especially to Pern.
second, i also have a ditty with the goldrider being second to the weyrleader...its her gold that his bronze needs to fly!

[Talysia]

I can see why people would assume this, but having re-read the books recently I still can't see anything in them that would single them out as being specifically for young women.

[Goldrider Thais]

i can't either, like i've posted before, i know plenty of male pern fans, and they are straight! (you can tell by the whole testosterone over-flows)

[mirinda]

Well I am a girl and young, but I can't see Pern being just for young women either. Really who hasn't dreamed of riding a dragon? I think this appeals to many people.

[manephelien]

Yeah.

My main gripe with the McCaffrey books these days is that we get very few ambivalent characters. She does write about strong women, but even these are usually tamed by finding a husband and starting a family (Menolly, even Lessa to a certain extent). Women who enjoy sex for its own sake or as a means to manipulate men rather than as a means to starting a family are evil (Kylara, Avril Bitra), while the virginal monogamists are good (Brekke, who lost her dragon more or less because she was horrified at the thought of having sex with anyone except F'nor, who all but raped her at their first sexual encounter!).

No, I don't consider AMC's women as healthy role models for youngsters. They're fun to read, I grant you that, but AMC is not, and never has been, a feminist. Any more than Barbara Cartland is.

[mirinda]

I see your point, but you must look at the time in which Mccaffrey grew up. Times were much much different then. Perhaps (and this is just an idea) this accounts for how she portrays her female characters?

[manephelien]

It may explain some of it, but not all. Of course, she's only grown lazier as she grows older, in the sense that her characters tend to be even more one-dimensional now than they were when she was younger.

[mirinda]

Yeah i didn't mean it as an excuse just maybe a point to consider. But i believe no matter what time you are born in you should be able to create good characters male or female. I'll have to take your word on the new books.