A Quokka Dreeds its Weird

This amazing novel features 1) humans riding intelligent telepathic alien dragonflies, 2) a hidden village of Pueblo Indians on another planet, 3) a restored WWII Gooney Bird aircraft, 4) ( spoiler! ), 5) ( spoiler! )

Kesbe Temiya, a Pueblo Indian pilot from Earth, gets hired to go to another planet to fly a restored WWII Gooney Bird from the spaceport to the home of a wealthy collector of rare airplanes. She runs into bad weather and is rescued by a boy riding an aronan (a giant alien dragonfly), who leads her to his hidden colony of Pueblo Indian dragonfly riders, the Pai. They are unknown to the rest of the population of the planet because they want to live in peace and not be bothered. Kesbe realizes that they are the descendants of a supposedly lost expedition.

Because of damage to her plane, she's stuck with them for a while, long enough to get to know some of them and befriend Imiya, the boy who rescued her, and his beloved aronan. Kesbe is in a weird position with them, as she's the first outsider they've dealt with in ages, and while she's technically of their culture, there have been BIG divergences since they landed on the planet, and Kesbe never lived in any kind of traditional village when she was on Earth. The culture clashes are thoughtful and well-done.

Kesbe notices some strange things going on in the village. Only children and teenagers ride the aronans. Once the teenagers go through a ceremony and become adults, they never ride again and their aronans are never seen again. No one in the village will discuss this, and the young humans and aronans who haven't been through the ceremony are not told what it entails. Imiya is also worried about this, and afraid of losing his beloved aronan. Is something sinister happening beneath the surface of the seemingly pleasant community?

( spoiler! )

Super weird book but I liked it a lot. The plot is kind of rickety but the worldbuilding is great. If you like "people riding intelligent flying creatures" and anthropological SF, you will probably like this.

I read this batshit work of anthropological SF when it first came out in 1990, then unfortunately lost it. I am pleased to report that it is now available as an ebook.