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Dragonquest started off with even worse gender politics than Dragonflight, which was actually shocking because of how bad it was in that book. It's like McCaffrey decided she hadn't made it quite clear enough how patriarchal society was and needed to double down. However, the concept of a gender egalitarian society was mentioned. And in a way that hints that maybe it'll happen. Not in this book, though.

Luckily, the plot turned away from how much of an annoying, self-centered, power-hungry bitch Kylara is and towards more sci-fantasy elements and political intrigue between men. Sad when you are desperate for a story to stop centering women because of how misogynist it is, them not having as much to do with the plot is a relief.

The book kind of feels like an excuse to show off the world, rather than to tell a good story. And sure, the world is cool. But the characters are shallow and cliche, and their relationships are glossed over to focus on the tech and how a feudal society would handle it. Also cool. But even just focusing on the intrigue of Kylara and Meron, fleshing them out more to be less "greedy selfish man and greedy selfish woman fuck shit up" could have been a whole book.

Also, F'nor rapes Brekke. Book 1, F'lar rapes Lessa (but it's okay, she falls in love with him /s), book 2 F'nor rapes Brekke (but it's okay, he was the only person she wanted to bone and it was for her own good /s)... will Jaxom rape someone in book 3? I suppose we'll find out.

I remember reading this series as a kid and loving it, but now I am an adult and can see how misogynist this book is. The women, other than the Wheyrwoman, do not ride dragons. They cook and clean, when they are mentioned at all. More women are riding dragons at the end, but that changes almost nothing. It's still only Queens flying, and they are segregated to their own unit.

The patriarchal bullshit doesn't stop there. The main character, a woman, has a mental breakdown because she knows that she will be shaken and yelled at by her partner when she returns from a trip he forbade her to take. And he does shake her and yell at her. "Never disobey me again." It's played for laughs. Earlier in the story he is literally committing the equivalent of spousal rape. He calls it such, and only wishes that the main character would enjoy the sex.

The main plot is thin but acceptable. It feels like a deus ex machina, even though it isn't. The characters are flat, and there's no character development. Unless going from unwilling mate to willing mate counts as development (which you shouldn't, because it happened like a switch flipping).

Nostalgia and curiosity will drive me to read at least one of the sequels, but if I were picking this up fresh I wouldn't be willing to pick up the next one.