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Well, Amazon told me it was on the way, and then pretty much right after that, the whole of Gloucestershire vanished under a gigantic snowdrift, so I did wonder if I'd have to wait until the thaw to get the blasted thing. It took an age, but it did get here - and just in time, too. The postman handed me the nice, cardboard, Amazony envelope, then announced that that was it, and he wasn't going any further. Don't really blame him, either, as the way ahead was less "road", and more "huge pile of snow". And then it started snowing even more. That was several days ago, and there's been no post since, so the timing was jolly good, really.
The story, then. Laurence is back from his mission of mercy to Europe, saving the dragons from the dastardly British plan to kill them all with dragon flu. Predictably enough he winds up in prison, and that's where the book starts - with him locked up, and Temeraire off in the breeding grounds. As so often happens, Temeraire finds himself mixed up with a bunch of rather interesting new dragons, the best of which this time seem to be Majestatis, a splendidly laconic type I'd have liked to have seen more of (although admittedly he was probably much happier taking a back seat); and Perscitia, a bouncy and argumentative geek, with an ego the size of Wales. Bored of having to have sex all the time (well, who isn't?!) Temeraire gathers together his latest motley crew, and decides that if the government is going to be bloody silly about everything all the time, he might as well go and do their fighting for them. And fair enough, really. Meanwhile, said government realise that they need all the dragons they can get, and decide to let Laurence go for long enough to make himself useful. Although "Go and fight our war for us for a bit and then we'll hang you afterwards" doesn't strike me as much of a job offer. It is fair to say, though, that I don't have half as good a sense of duty as Laurence. And boy does Laurence have one almighty sense of duty. He's annoyed me a bit in the past, being so uptight and formal - which is fair enough, as it's historically accurate. He annoys me immensely in this book, though. He seems to spend the first two thirds of it moping. And it's not "Oh no, they're going to kill me when this is over," moping, or "Poor Temeraire, what's to become of him," moping (actually, be fair - some of it does concern the latter, though briefly). It's "My poor tarnished reputation!" moping. And "What will my estranged family think of me?!" moping. And even, at one point, "My family hasn't been murdered, and my ancestral home hasn't been burnt to the ground! And all because I was nice to the French! Oh woe is me!" moping. Now the duty and honour bit I can understand, but regretting the fact that he didn't find his mother's bludgeoned body in the burnt out remains of the family home is a little beyond me. Still, he is an angsty fellow, and he always has been. It's not like this is out of character. It just made me want to clobber him more than usual. All of which makes it sound as though I don't like him, when I do. I just... want to punch him occasionally. For his own good, naturally. ;)
It's a good book, anyway. Well - they all are. Black Powder War is still my favourite so far, but Victory Of Eagles is no slouch by comparison. The battle scenes are atmospheric, and nicely convey the sheer brutality of warfare, and the characters are all well drawn. I still much prefer Granby and Iskierka to Laurence and Temeraire, though. In this book, Iskierka has become even more unmanageable than ever, and I did wonder at one point why I still like her. The truth is, though, that she just can't help being endearing. And poor Granby, dragged along in her wake, dressed up to the nines whether he likes it or not, and somehow feeling it's his fault that this gigantic, fire-breathing pirate doesn't feel inclined to do what he says. Not sure I'd do what some little human said, either, if I was a gigantic, fire-breathing pirate. Especially when the only incentive seems to be cows. By the time her misbehaving has caused Granby to be captured by the French, resulting in Temeraire, Laurence and the inexplicably present (though extremely welcome) Tharkay having to launch a rescue mission, one does wonder why she's not just given her marching orders. Granby's helpless devotion to her regardless is amusing, but not explanation enough as to why everybody else tolerates her. Being Britain's lone fire-breather can't be that great a draw, given that Britain got along fine for years before they found her. Still, I think she's great. She's a pirate dragon, though, so she can't help but be awesome. Surely the only thing cooler is a pirate dinosaur?!
Sheesh, do I ramble. Unexpectedly angered by the treatment of the Navy in this book. Britain's Navy is the greatest in the world (yes, I know it currently consists of one small boy in a dinghy, but it's a very, very good dinghy, okay?!). In centuries gone by, the Navy allowed Britain to conquer the world, which admittedly was a gittish thing to do, but that doesn't stop it being a remarkable achievement. And yes, Nelson was a right sod, but then in the eighteenth century, by modern standards, pretty much everybody was. So it would be unfair to point too many fingers. To have the fleet wiped out by a dragon just seems to cheapen all that, somehow. I can't quite put my finger on why. It's an alternative history, and some things have to be different. The army gets treated okay, though. The government isn't mocked half as much as they deserve. So why do that to the Navy? Nelson was supposed to go out like a hero, not swamped by a dragon's roar. But then I do come from a Naval family, so maybe that explains the reaction. I don't know. Oh, but almost instant forgiveness - she's switched to staying "sapient" instead of "sentient"! See, I knew she was too smart not to have noticed that eventually. :) And then suddenly it's the end of the book, and Laurence and Temeraire are being transported to Australia, with Tharkay (again inexplicably, but I like him so what the hey) going with them. I guess he likes the company. So it seems it's goodbye to Maximus and Lily, to Roland and Berkley, to Edith and Catherine and even the newly discovered Majestatis and Perscitia. And the little band of pirate dragons recruited by Iskierka. Damn. Still, it could have been worse. There was I, goggling at the pages, thinking that we weren't even going to get a goodbye from Granby and the firestorm, when suddenly there they are, flying in to join the expedition. Hurrah! :D Which I guess makes Granby either a deserter or one very embarrassed kidnap victim. At any rate, they're coming too (or at least, I hope they don't turn back), so book six is now looking very, very good indeed. I would like to read it now, please. Right now, as soon as I've finished typing. Sadly it's apparently not due with the publishers for another six months. *pout* Actually it's doubly exciting, as the first five books have been set pretty much smack bang in the middle of my history degree. Now, however, they're sailing straight out of it. I know almost nothing about Australian history (barring the bad bits, that everybody knows). And I'm not going to read up on it in advance, either. Probably. It'll be nice to have no historical expectations whatsoever.
I hope somebody's warned Iskierka that there are very few opportunities for piracy in the seas around Australia, though. Poor thing - she might just have to resort to gold mining.
The story, then. Laurence is back from his mission of mercy to Europe, saving the dragons from the dastardly British plan to kill them all with dragon flu. Predictably enough he winds up in prison, and that's where the book starts - with him locked up, and Temeraire off in the breeding grounds. As so often happens, Temeraire finds himself mixed up with a bunch of rather interesting new dragons, the best of which this time seem to be Majestatis, a splendidly laconic type I'd have liked to have seen more of (although admittedly he was probably much happier taking a back seat); and Perscitia, a bouncy and argumentative geek, with an ego the size of Wales. Bored of having to have sex all the time (well, who isn't?!) Temeraire gathers together his latest motley crew, and decides that if the government is going to be bloody silly about everything all the time, he might as well go and do their fighting for them. And fair enough, really. Meanwhile, said government realise that they need all the dragons they can get, and decide to let Laurence go for long enough to make himself useful. Although "Go and fight our war for us for a bit and then we'll hang you afterwards" doesn't strike me as much of a job offer. It is fair to say, though, that I don't have half as good a sense of duty as Laurence. And boy does Laurence have one almighty sense of duty. He's annoyed me a bit in the past, being so uptight and formal - which is fair enough, as it's historically accurate. He annoys me immensely in this book, though. He seems to spend the first two thirds of it moping. And it's not "Oh no, they're going to kill me when this is over," moping, or "Poor Temeraire, what's to become of him," moping (actually, be fair - some of it does concern the latter, though briefly). It's "My poor tarnished reputation!" moping. And "What will my estranged family think of me?!" moping. And even, at one point, "My family hasn't been murdered, and my ancestral home hasn't been burnt to the ground! And all because I was nice to the French! Oh woe is me!" moping. Now the duty and honour bit I can understand, but regretting the fact that he didn't find his mother's bludgeoned body in the burnt out remains of the family home is a little beyond me. Still, he is an angsty fellow, and he always has been. It's not like this is out of character. It just made me want to clobber him more than usual. All of which makes it sound as though I don't like him, when I do. I just... want to punch him occasionally. For his own good, naturally. ;)
It's a good book, anyway. Well - they all are. Black Powder War is still my favourite so far, but Victory Of Eagles is no slouch by comparison. The battle scenes are atmospheric, and nicely convey the sheer brutality of warfare, and the characters are all well drawn. I still much prefer Granby and Iskierka to Laurence and Temeraire, though. In this book, Iskierka has become even more unmanageable than ever, and I did wonder at one point why I still like her. The truth is, though, that she just can't help being endearing. And poor Granby, dragged along in her wake, dressed up to the nines whether he likes it or not, and somehow feeling it's his fault that this gigantic, fire-breathing pirate doesn't feel inclined to do what he says. Not sure I'd do what some little human said, either, if I was a gigantic, fire-breathing pirate. Especially when the only incentive seems to be cows. By the time her misbehaving has caused Granby to be captured by the French, resulting in Temeraire, Laurence and the inexplicably present (though extremely welcome) Tharkay having to launch a rescue mission, one does wonder why she's not just given her marching orders. Granby's helpless devotion to her regardless is amusing, but not explanation enough as to why everybody else tolerates her. Being Britain's lone fire-breather can't be that great a draw, given that Britain got along fine for years before they found her. Still, I think she's great. She's a pirate dragon, though, so she can't help but be awesome. Surely the only thing cooler is a pirate dinosaur?!
Sheesh, do I ramble. Unexpectedly angered by the treatment of the Navy in this book. Britain's Navy is the greatest in the world (yes, I know it currently consists of one small boy in a dinghy, but it's a very, very good dinghy, okay?!). In centuries gone by, the Navy allowed Britain to conquer the world, which admittedly was a gittish thing to do, but that doesn't stop it being a remarkable achievement. And yes, Nelson was a right sod, but then in the eighteenth century, by modern standards, pretty much everybody was. So it would be unfair to point too many fingers. To have the fleet wiped out by a dragon just seems to cheapen all that, somehow. I can't quite put my finger on why. It's an alternative history, and some things have to be different. The army gets treated okay, though. The government isn't mocked half as much as they deserve. So why do that to the Navy? Nelson was supposed to go out like a hero, not swamped by a dragon's roar. But then I do come from a Naval family, so maybe that explains the reaction. I don't know. Oh, but almost instant forgiveness - she's switched to staying "sapient" instead of "sentient"! See, I knew she was too smart not to have noticed that eventually. :) And then suddenly it's the end of the book, and Laurence and Temeraire are being transported to Australia, with Tharkay (again inexplicably, but I like him so what the hey) going with them. I guess he likes the company. So it seems it's goodbye to Maximus and Lily, to Roland and Berkley, to Edith and Catherine and even the newly discovered Majestatis and Perscitia. And the little band of pirate dragons recruited by Iskierka. Damn. Still, it could have been worse. There was I, goggling at the pages, thinking that we weren't even going to get a goodbye from Granby and the firestorm, when suddenly there they are, flying in to join the expedition. Hurrah! :D Which I guess makes Granby either a deserter or one very embarrassed kidnap victim. At any rate, they're coming too (or at least, I hope they don't turn back), so book six is now looking very, very good indeed. I would like to read it now, please. Right now, as soon as I've finished typing. Sadly it's apparently not due with the publishers for another six months. *pout* Actually it's doubly exciting, as the first five books have been set pretty much smack bang in the middle of my history degree. Now, however, they're sailing straight out of it. I know almost nothing about Australian history (barring the bad bits, that everybody knows). And I'm not going to read up on it in advance, either. Probably. It'll be nice to have no historical expectations whatsoever.
I hope somebody's warned Iskierka that there are very few opportunities for piracy in the seas around Australia, though. Poor thing - she might just have to resort to gold mining.