Letter from Hope
Todd,
I read Dragonsblood and really loved it. However, it left me with a question your mum has dealt with in a roundabout way. Dragons, being the constantly, marvelously adaptable creatures they are, wouldn’t a plague as described in Dragonsblood “turn on” an urge for hatchlings to re-impress? I wondered about this, since there would be so many dragonless riders. However, the new generation should go to the young searched riders. Ah, youth!
It just presents an interesting paradox in my mind.
Thanks,
-Hope
Hope,
You know, I don’t know. There’s a danger with having genes be too malleable and responsive — it produces such things as auto-immune diseases. I don’t think that hatchlings would find previously impressed riders as “tasty” as fresh, new candidates. Also, I don’t know if it’d be fair to those old impressed riders. Brekke certainly seemed to think so, as did Lytol — and they should know.
Cheers,
Todd