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Never tell your mother that you're enjoying a book... ;) I let slip a while back that I'd really liked Temeraire, by Naomi Novik, and my mother decided that she would get me some others in the series for my birthday. Not that it's not appreciated, exactly - it's just that this is my mother, and therefore things can rarely be expected to go to plan. In her defence she did ask for titles, and even for a blow by blow account of how to find the dratted things in Ottakars. Or Waterstones, as we're supposed to pretend that it's called nowadays. It did all mean, though, that I couldn't go straight on reading the series, as I'd hoped; I had to wait for my birthday. And then of course my mother forgot the titles, but I suspect vaguely remembered something involving dragons, and wound up asking a shop assistant for help. The long and the short being that she bought me books three and four, which is appreciated. Obviously. But of course it meant I had to wait even longer so that I could get hold of book two myself. These things are sent to try us. ;)
The second book is an odd one. If I'd known going in that four-fifths of it would be about a long sea voyage from Britain to China, and that the last fifth would be about political wrangling in the Chinese royal court, I'd probably not have expected great things. Political wrangling in royal courts - even political wrangling involving dragons - doesn't often make for a great story, at least if you're me. Which you're not, granted. It's really good, though. The sea voyage is long, and consequently the action is limited. They very rarely leave the ship, and with Temeraire wounded due to a fight with the French early in the trip, he can't even go on his usual flights, which would be one way of expanding the action a little. So it pretty much all takes place in the same, limited arena, with half the cast not able to talk to the other because of the language barrier. And yet it works. It really does. I don't know that I'd say that "Throne Of Jade" is as good as "Temeraire", but it's not far off it. At times it suggests itself as a whodunnit, though it's always very clear what's going on, so that aspect doesn't quite work. The bad guy is obvious from the outset, and the attempts to murder Laurence the hero are never quite as surprising as I think they're supposed to be. Doesn't matter, though. The action scenes are good, and the murder attempts nicely visual. As with the last book, the authentic nineteenth centuryness is more or less note perfect, though it does show just once or twice that the author is a twenty-first century American, not a nineteenth century Brit. Still, that's rare enough for it not to matter, and I don't suppose it would really matter anyway. Laurence is still a stiff-necked aggravation, mind, but that's all part of the authentic nature of things, so I shouldn't really complain. We're used to our fictional heroes being given a modern spin, I guess, and it's rare for an historical character to be written so much in keeping with the period he comes from. Consequently when he remains so damned formal, it stands out a mile, and I do quite frequently want to punch him. He has relaxed a lot since book one, though. The informal nature of life in the Aerial Corps is definitely a good influence; and at least he's stopped being so damned sexist. Well, mostly.
The support characters get more of a look in here, necessarily since they're all trapped on a ship together most of the time. Laurence's crew seem more like real people now, with his second-in-command, the enjoyably informal Granby, really beginning to stand out. I was amazed that one of the ten year old cadets even gets killed in battle. Really wasn't expecting that, and bravo, I suppose. It's good when you don't know for sure that anybody's safe. Indeed the poor little fellow isn't the only member of the crew to be dead by the end of the book, and I suspect that changes lie ahead. Temeraire, intelligent, compassionate and splendidly forward-thinking as he is, intends to travel home from China to bring change to the lives of dragons back in Britain. He's a bit of a revolutionary, is Temeraire, much to the horror of poor stick-in-the-mud Laurence. :D Book three should be an interesting read.
Full marks for this series, anyway. A dragon leading the way for social change. I like it. :) These really are very entertaining books.
The second book is an odd one. If I'd known going in that four-fifths of it would be about a long sea voyage from Britain to China, and that the last fifth would be about political wrangling in the Chinese royal court, I'd probably not have expected great things. Political wrangling in royal courts - even political wrangling involving dragons - doesn't often make for a great story, at least if you're me. Which you're not, granted. It's really good, though. The sea voyage is long, and consequently the action is limited. They very rarely leave the ship, and with Temeraire wounded due to a fight with the French early in the trip, he can't even go on his usual flights, which would be one way of expanding the action a little. So it pretty much all takes place in the same, limited arena, with half the cast not able to talk to the other because of the language barrier. And yet it works. It really does. I don't know that I'd say that "Throne Of Jade" is as good as "Temeraire", but it's not far off it. At times it suggests itself as a whodunnit, though it's always very clear what's going on, so that aspect doesn't quite work. The bad guy is obvious from the outset, and the attempts to murder Laurence the hero are never quite as surprising as I think they're supposed to be. Doesn't matter, though. The action scenes are good, and the murder attempts nicely visual. As with the last book, the authentic nineteenth centuryness is more or less note perfect, though it does show just once or twice that the author is a twenty-first century American, not a nineteenth century Brit. Still, that's rare enough for it not to matter, and I don't suppose it would really matter anyway. Laurence is still a stiff-necked aggravation, mind, but that's all part of the authentic nature of things, so I shouldn't really complain. We're used to our fictional heroes being given a modern spin, I guess, and it's rare for an historical character to be written so much in keeping with the period he comes from. Consequently when he remains so damned formal, it stands out a mile, and I do quite frequently want to punch him. He has relaxed a lot since book one, though. The informal nature of life in the Aerial Corps is definitely a good influence; and at least he's stopped being so damned sexist. Well, mostly.
The support characters get more of a look in here, necessarily since they're all trapped on a ship together most of the time. Laurence's crew seem more like real people now, with his second-in-command, the enjoyably informal Granby, really beginning to stand out. I was amazed that one of the ten year old cadets even gets killed in battle. Really wasn't expecting that, and bravo, I suppose. It's good when you don't know for sure that anybody's safe. Indeed the poor little fellow isn't the only member of the crew to be dead by the end of the book, and I suspect that changes lie ahead. Temeraire, intelligent, compassionate and splendidly forward-thinking as he is, intends to travel home from China to bring change to the lives of dragons back in Britain. He's a bit of a revolutionary, is Temeraire, much to the horror of poor stick-in-the-mud Laurence. :D Book three should be an interesting read.
Full marks for this series, anyway. A dragon leading the way for social change. I like it. :) These really are very entertaining books.