Girls=Good. Girls+Dragons=Better?

Over the many (at least 25!) years of my life, I have tried many things for the first time because of a girl. Unfortunately, those things have rarely been things like "hitchhiking through the Swiss Alps" or "beluga caviar" or "page 76 of the Kama Sutra". Because the lens through which I view my world is so heavily tinted by the things I watch, read, and listen to, I have made the assumption (often incorrectly) that the path to a girl's heart is through getting to like the things she likes in this milleau. And while a cute girl who suddenly started quoting the Mountain Goats and Wet Hot American Summer would undoubtedly stir my loins (metaphorically, natch), these forays into new pop culture have rarely served me well romantically. They have, however, turned me on to such wonderful things as the Barenaked Ladies (who were my favorite band sophomore year of high school), "This Must be The Place" by the Talking Heads (my favorite song of all time), The X-Files, and A Bright Room Called Day. All were mentioned in passing/totally beloved by/featured on the facebook profile of a girl I was interested in, and investigated for that reason and that reason alone. Cumulatively, I went on 2 1/2 dates with those four girls.

Recently, I have been complicatedly sort of seeing a girl (theres been way too much autobiography in this post already to go into more than that) who, defying a long held theory of mine, is both very attractive and likes fantasy novels. While she's not anxiously awaiting George R.R. Martin's next book or anything, she does still love Tolkien and, may, perhaps, have an entire shelf devoted to the works of Anne McCaffrey. I don't know what else McCaffrey writes, but this girl (who will remain nameless despite the fact that the only person reading this who knows her is Pat, and he knows about it already) claims to only like the books in her "Dragonriders of Pern" series, of which Dragonflight is the first. The Dragonriders series (I would assume, having only read the first) takes place on a far off planet called Pern. Pern is more or less a medieval-style society...the inhabitants live in large fortresses called "Holds" which are ruled, fiefdom-like, by a lord, and also, people ride dragons. Seriously. Apparently the dragons are called dragons because, well, they resemble the old Earth legend of dragons, but the distinction as to whether these dragons are dragons are merely dragonlike is mostly academic. The dragons are ridden by specially chosen dragonriders, who can communicate telephathically with their mounts. The dragons and dragonriders historically have held a place of honor in society, as it is their job to combat (by breathing fire) the "Threads", spindly things that drop every so often from the adjacent "Red Star" (presumably, a nearby star), and, if unchecked, destroy everything green and growing on Pern, and burn something fierce if they touch you.

Beyond that complicated backstory, Dragonflight is pretty standard intro fantasy. There have been no thread attacks in 400 "turns" (either a season or a year), so everyone is complacent, except for a headstrong dragonrider who wants to lead the remaining dragonriders. He is allowed to do this only after he discovers an orphaned girl with special powers, who must learn to accept her destiny as the leader of the main dragon force (she does so by riding the Queen dragon...etc etc). The Threads do return, and then as if matters weren't complicated enough, the dragonriders discover time travel, and a lot of Lost-esque time jumping occurs (complete with time sickness). Lessa (the destined girl) figures out all of what she needs to in time to save the day, and the day is saved. I'm not quite sure where the other books go from here. The writing is not very good, in fantasy terms it falls somewhere between Jordan and my personal least fave Terry Goodkind...its also strangely G-Rated. Sexual relationships are implied, but everything takes place off-screen. The few battle sequences are decently exciting, but the time travel stuff is so thrown together...I mean, i certainly don't recommend it, but I can see why if you were a girl and already liked dragons and magic it would appeal to you, and its not bad. And, if the relationship (or whatever it is) lasts, I have promised to not give up til I've read at least the first three. So I'll let you know.