After I made my way through The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings the first time, my mom handed me the first book in the Dragonriders of Pern series. I read the first chapter and never picked it up again. I think maybe it was a cross between being burned out on having to work so hard on what I was reading and the fact that Anne McCaffrey wrote the first book in 1968 and so the language was quite a bit more complicated than what I was used to. Either way, I was totally lost and didn’t really give them much thought after that.
But with my writing project on 52 in 52, I am finding that I’m drawn to writing stories that are pretty much outside the typical genre that I choose to read. So, I’m making an effort to start reading in the sci-fi/fantasy and mystery/suspense realms so I can hopefully get a bit more familiar with story flow and language.
So I picked up Dragonflight a couple of days ago to give it another run. I had to struggle a bit through the first chapter as she just jumps right into the story without giving much explanation so I had this overarching feeling of just being utterly lost, but I kept going and finished the book today. And I loved it. I mean, the names she chose for her characters are great fodder for making fun (F’lar, S’lel, mnemnenth – I mean, seriously?) but despite the goofy names, I totally got sucked in. And what I think I loved the most about it was the language that gave me such trouble the first time I picked it up. The flow of her writing is just so gorgeous. She obviously relishes in the words she chooses to tell her story (which is probably a good thing since it balances out the fact that the story itself is riddled with dragon sized holes).
I’m enamored enough with the characters to pick up the next book and then I’ll pick up Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine and a few of Neil Gaiman’s. I’m looking forward to it.
But I really need good mystery/suspense recommendations…hint, hint…
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