reading wednesday

[sea_changed]

Reading Wednesday: Temeraire edition.

Empire of Ivory, by Naomi Novik. Oh god, I loved it. I meandered my way through the first three books in the series last year, enjoying them immensely but never really obsessed, but this one truly killed me; I think it's my favorite so far besides the first. Novik does such an excellent job balancing the history and the fantasy/adventure and the characters and relationships she's created, and that balance is, I think, the true appeal of these books: she juggles a lot, and keeps every ball in the air. This is the book, though, that felt to me like it wasn't just balancing these elements but breaking them open, and exploring and challenging each of her elements through the others.

I'm so pleased they went to Africa, and while at times it inched towards being the sort of "into Africa" adventure story of a Kipling flavor, I think it ended up mostly dodging that: the Erasmuses helped with that, though I wish we'd gotten more of them, as did Demane and Sipho. I loved the differing mythology and traditions around dragons in Africa versus elsewhere, and everything about Kefentse and his heartbroken attachment to Mrs. Erasmus was utterly heartrending and I think the part of the book that is sticking with me the most. Speaking of which: Mrs. Erasmus, oh god. I loved her inordinately; that last image we get of her is incredible and wonderful. And we get more Demane and Sipho! When I saw that Sipho was the author of the extra material at the end I yelled.

And then, of course: the whole ending section, which could've felt rushed and tacked-on and absolutely didn't. I love the point in series, book or TV, when they break open their own mythology, when they go bigger and deeper and question the very premises on which they're built, and so this ending was everything to me. The mythology of this series is, of course, the British Empire; and while the series certainly makes a point before this to expand the world and challenge the idea of Britain as the center of it, this is the point where Britain becomes intolerable, when treason against it is the only humane option. I thought it was done wonderfully: Laurance's anguish and yet devotion to Temeraire and to his own conscious was excellent.

Victory of Eagles, by Naomi Novik. I'm so pleased we finally get Temeraire's point of view; right off the bat, that was a lovely addition to this book. I did like it, though I loved it less than Empire of Ivory, overall: it felt like it backtracked somewhat on the thematic progression of Ivory, though plot-wise it dealt with that fallout well.

My favorite parts were Temeraire's POV of the breeding grounds, both his organizing of the dragons there and his anguish over Laurence's assumed death, and later Laurance's battle with his conscious over his orders to go after the raiding parties. His struggle in general with his actions and what they mean and the fallout from them was very compelling, and the bit with George III was excellently done. It was a solid and enjoyable book, but after Ivory I wanted something slightly more; that said, there was much about it I loved.

Comments

[sorchasilver]

Ooh, I should get back to reading this series. I read the first few books ages ago and loved them, but for some reason I stopped in the middle of the series and never picked it up again. I keep meaning to get back to it, and this post is making me want to even more.

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I also paused, after reading book 3, for no particular reason but that I had other things to read; I'm so glad I got back to it, though. They really are delightful books, and I'm glad if I can encourage more people to read/return to them.

[fosfomifira]

I’ve always meant to read Temeraire, but I’m kind of wary of reading any napoelonic era stuff written from an English POV. I’m tired of stories of French being incompetent, mostly because they’d been so bad at everything the napoleonic wars would have been much shorter. The more competent the antagonist the more interesting the protagonist gets to be, after all

[sea_changed]

Napoleon himself actually shows up in these, as is portrayed as fairly complex; the very British-centric outlook of the main character is also regularly challenged, both by outside cultures (Chinese, Prussian, African) and by the actions of his own government. That said, there has to be in that case something to challenge, and all the main characters are themselves British, or on the British side, so ymmv. But I've found the series does a good job of calling back to traditional Age of Sail narratives while also doing due diligence about complicating and challenging those narratives.