Temeraire

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#1

I’ve just read two incredibly awesome books, which are the first in a series.
The author is Naomi Novik, and these books are her debut. She was raised on Polish fairy tales, Baba Yaga and Tolkien.

The books are set in one of those wonderful ‘what if?’ worlds where 80% is historically accurate. It’s the Napoleonic wars, but there are airforces of dragons.

These books are very highly recommended by me. I lent Porl the first, and he won’t stop clamouring to see when I’ve finished the second (just now, but he’s at work).

In addition to all this greatness, Peter Jackson is going to make movies of all the Temeraire (the dragon protagonist) books that Naomi Novik writes. There’s a neat interview of Peter Jackson talking about the books at aintitcool.com/node/30014 .

Has anyone beat me to the Temeraire following?

#2

I read a book review here, but I’ve never seen the books.

#3

As of page 200, I heartily recommend the first book.

The writer establishes the scene, the setting, and the character of the point-of-view guy, Laurence effectively on the first page; there are lots of little details that shows she’s been thinking about how dragons would fit in, on a large and small scale (having a growing dragon on a ship and having to shift the weights around to accommodate, for example); the affection and loyalty between Temeraire and Laurence is both strong and believably developed; there is a balance between tense action scenes and interpersonal relations that should keep most readers at least trotting along with it.

Also, unlike most dragon-with-a-bonded-rider stories, Captain Laurence is a highly competent thirty-year-old ship captain when he starts the story. His heroism and thoughtfulness are believable, also his discomfort at being thrown into another branch of the service with highly different customs. ([wail]They’re all so scruffy![/wail]).

The only caveat - there hasn’t been much in the way of blood on the floor fighting, if you like to read about that sort of thing.

I am enjoying this book hugely.

#4

I got hooked and read all three. Throughly enjoyed and was pleased to hear that Jackson maybe doing the movies. I think my favorite out of all three is the second book. Also glad to hear that Novik will be writing more. I first hear that it was only going to be a trilogy, but due to the success Novik has been asked to write more.

I love the relationship between Tem and Laurence. I also like how Novik highlights the cultural differences in how dragons are treated.