Certainly, you need to find reasons for intelligent creatures (like McCaffrey's or Novik's dragons) letting themzselves be used as beasts of burden. McCaffrey eventually decided that they had been bio-engineered to want to bond with and serve humans. Novik is using the situation of intelligent creatures in servitude to explore slavery versus co-operation of free individuals as models of organising society. Both of which work for me, because there are explanations.
What is interesting about Lackey's dragons, is that in making them animals, and focusing on the whole issue of training them (remember in all of this that when she's not being an author, one of the things she does is work with raptors, and I think she's extrapolated a lot from that experience), she's going against the standard fantasy image of dragons as vastly intelligent and wise creatures.
I like writing that does new things with traditional concepts.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-02-03 11:18 pm (UTC)What is interesting about Lackey's dragons, is that in making them animals, and focusing on the whole issue of training them (remember in all of this that when she's not being an author, one of the things she does is work with raptors, and I think she's extrapolated a lot from that experience), she's going against the standard fantasy image of dragons as vastly intelligent and wise creatures.
I like writing that does new things with traditional concepts.