(Like “A Time When,” the extract from The White Dragon, this was first published in a limited edition hardback, this time by the ironically-named publisher Cheap Street in 1986.)
Aramina and her family are on the run from the vicious ex-noblewoman Thella. Thella is searching for them because Aramina can hear dragons, which would be an asset in Thella’s quest for power.
The story of Aramina and what eventually happens to her is explained in much greater detail in The Renegades Of Pern but this novella has got so much to offer on its own that it should be more widely read.
The edition I have is from the 2003 collection A Gift Of Dragons. It contains three other stories and is the second-largest Pern anthology. The other stories are “The Smallest Dragonboy,” “Runner Of Pern” and “Ever The Twain.” It’s also collected in the Anne McCaffrey anthology (Anne-thology? … I’ll see myself out.), The Girl Who Heard Dragons.
A Gift Of Dragons is rather beautifully illustrated by Tom Kidd and his art adds to the effect of the stories.
The style is slightly different to that which Anne McCaffrey usually wrote her books in, taking a softer tone with the writing, as befits a story with a main character who is little more than a child. But it makes the stakes – helping an injured adult to safety, evading capture from a ruthless pursuer – feel even higher as the prose reminds us of when we were smaller and more defenceless with only our native wit to get us out of dangerous predicaments we may have found ourselves in. Because while the stakes are pretty low compared to some of the other books in this series, the consequences are looking to be fairly ominous and dangerous to Aramina and her family.
But this tone also highlights the whimsical nature of some scenes – such as bronze dragon Heth helping to lift a wagon that has a broken wheel – and the drama of others – Heth, again, but this time racing through a forest at ground level, but needing to duck so he doesn’t catch his wings on low branches.
That’s right: Heth. K’van, the hero of “The Smallest Dragonboy” makes a return here and he gets some suitably heroic and intelligent moments, showing that he has grown into a sensible young man.
This story takes place just a short time after his first appearance because he is just a weyrling (a cadet dragonrider, if you will) who is out patrolling with more experienced riders (in this case, T’gellan and Mirrim). We also get some appearances from other major characters before story’s end as well, marking the end of a dangerous part of Aramina’s life as she is rescued from the clutches of Thella and her henchmen.
As a sidenote, it’s interesting to note that Aramina parallels Nerilka from Moreta: Dragonlady Of Pern and Nerilka’s Story. Nerilka first appeared as a minor character in someone else’s novel and was then given a shorter book of her own: Aramina begins as the main character in her own story and then becomes part of an ensemble of characters in a later novel.
We will return to Aramina in The Renegades Of Pern, but she plays a smaller part in that, largely because a big chunk of her story is told using Thella as a point-of-view character. However, the peril in her life has not disappeared, and her development in later books is somewhat interesting, as McCaffrey reflects that the life she has led, as well as the skills that she has, might not bring her the life that she expects or wants…
Coming Up Next: Dragonsdawn
