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Aug. 23rd, 2013 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
raincitygirlI finished Blood of Tyrants, Naomi Novik’s new Temeraire book, on Wednesday night. I liked it. The past few books were very uneven, but now that the end is in sight (Blood of Tyrants is the penultimate book in the series), they’re sharpening up again. I suppose having only two books left in which to cover 1812 to Waterloo concentrates the mind wonderfully. At least I presume Waterloo will be the climax of the series. Anyway, the important thing is that once I got to the last page, I was immediately furious that the final book wasn’t coming out immediately. Spoilers below the cut, in no particular order:
- I loved that we got to see Kilungile go from his usual gentle giant persona to “kill, maim, destroy” when Sipho was in danger and Demane was freaking out. I forget how huge and dangerous he is because his personality (dragonality?) isn’t the slightest bit aggressive normally.
- The amnesia plot device was a little hokey, but I can live with it.
- Emily’s conversation with Temeraire and Mrs. Pemberton after Demane left for the Peninsula was hilarious. She doesn’t so much regret not accepting Demane’s marriage proposal as regret the missed opportunity to “have”him. Poor Mrs. Pemberton, trying so hard to be a good chaperone, and totally flummoxed by Emily. My sentimental soul hopes Emily and Demane do end up together in the final book, even though they’ll both still be pretty young for getting married.
- Whatever happened to Churki? We didn’t see her after China, even though Hammond was in Russia and she was sticking pretty close to him in Japan and China.
- I liked that Arkady abandoned Tharkay to his fate and tried to run away. Well, I didn’t *like* it, but it was a good reminder that Arkady is a feral, Tharkay didn’t raise him from the shell, and not all dragons are going to go down fighting to defend their handler. Arkady’s been established as pretty much just out for Arkady in previous books, and his actions in China were the logical culmination of that character.
- So Temeraire is not especially fertile (didn’t cross-breed with any of the dragons in the Welsh breeding grounds, didn’t succeed in giving Mei an egg even though she’s an Imperial), and yet he managed to successfully crossbreed with Iskierka, a Turkish Kasilik. Just one of those things, I guess. I hope the egg hatches before the end of the final book. And I hope the Crown Prince is able to succeed to the throne even without a Celestial of his own. I thought the palace intrigue stuff was well done. I thought it was overdone in Throne of Jade, but there was enough other plot going on in this book that it wasn’t all court intrigue and nothing but.
- It feels like the whole Brazil plot line has just been abandoned. Yes, the Tswana dragons were dependent on the French dragon transports to ship them from Africa to Brazil, but the West Indies and the southern United States also have slaves, not just Brazil. Wouldn’t some of the Tswana have travelled overland from South America and be currently wreaking havoc in the West Indies and the USA? Not all the Tswana’s humans would’ve been shipped to Brazil.
- The Russian dragon stuff was horrifying. Both the brutal methods the Russian humans used to subdue their dragons, and the grisly revenge the Russian dragons took when the French freed them. The higher-ups had it coming, but of course, it wasn’t the generals who bore the brunt of their revenge. I wouldn’t have minded seeing some of them eaten, instead of wounded soldiers and peasants who are themselves oppressed.
- It feels like we’re overdue for some carnage and death among people and dragons we actually know. I kept expecting one of the British dragons and at least part of its crew to be killed. Not that I want this to happen in the slightest, but it seems improbable that they should all keep surviving book after book with only minor injuries. Well, major injuries with the loss of Granby’s arm in South America, but that was the last book, not this one.
- I loved that we got to see Kilungile go from his usual gentle giant persona to “kill, maim, destroy” when Sipho was in danger and Demane was freaking out. I forget how huge and dangerous he is because his personality (dragonality?) isn’t the slightest bit aggressive normally.
- The amnesia plot device was a little hokey, but I can live with it.
- Emily’s conversation with Temeraire and Mrs. Pemberton after Demane left for the Peninsula was hilarious. She doesn’t so much regret not accepting Demane’s marriage proposal as regret the missed opportunity to “have”him. Poor Mrs. Pemberton, trying so hard to be a good chaperone, and totally flummoxed by Emily. My sentimental soul hopes Emily and Demane do end up together in the final book, even though they’ll both still be pretty young for getting married.
- Whatever happened to Churki? We didn’t see her after China, even though Hammond was in Russia and she was sticking pretty close to him in Japan and China.
- I liked that Arkady abandoned Tharkay to his fate and tried to run away. Well, I didn’t *like* it, but it was a good reminder that Arkady is a feral, Tharkay didn’t raise him from the shell, and not all dragons are going to go down fighting to defend their handler. Arkady’s been established as pretty much just out for Arkady in previous books, and his actions in China were the logical culmination of that character.
- So Temeraire is not especially fertile (didn’t cross-breed with any of the dragons in the Welsh breeding grounds, didn’t succeed in giving Mei an egg even though she’s an Imperial), and yet he managed to successfully crossbreed with Iskierka, a Turkish Kasilik. Just one of those things, I guess. I hope the egg hatches before the end of the final book. And I hope the Crown Prince is able to succeed to the throne even without a Celestial of his own. I thought the palace intrigue stuff was well done. I thought it was overdone in Throne of Jade, but there was enough other plot going on in this book that it wasn’t all court intrigue and nothing but.
- It feels like the whole Brazil plot line has just been abandoned. Yes, the Tswana dragons were dependent on the French dragon transports to ship them from Africa to Brazil, but the West Indies and the southern United States also have slaves, not just Brazil. Wouldn’t some of the Tswana have travelled overland from South America and be currently wreaking havoc in the West Indies and the USA? Not all the Tswana’s humans would’ve been shipped to Brazil.
- The Russian dragon stuff was horrifying. Both the brutal methods the Russian humans used to subdue their dragons, and the grisly revenge the Russian dragons took when the French freed them. The higher-ups had it coming, but of course, it wasn’t the generals who bore the brunt of their revenge. I wouldn’t have minded seeing some of them eaten, instead of wounded soldiers and peasants who are themselves oppressed.
- It feels like we’re overdue for some carnage and death among people and dragons we actually know. I kept expecting one of the British dragons and at least part of its crew to be killed. Not that I want this to happen in the slightest, but it seems improbable that they should all keep surviving book after book with only minor injuries. Well, major injuries with the loss of Granby’s arm in South America, but that was the last book, not this one.
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Date: 2013-08-23 07:16 pm (UTC)That said, corny as it was, I quite liked the amnesia storyline, in that you get to see just how dramatically Laurence has changed over the series (and how unlikeable he was initially...) and the influence that Temeraire has had. It dragged on a bit long, though...
I'm convinced that Iskierka's egg isn't actually Temeraire's. It would be far too convenient!
Still liked it better than the last few, but I'm hoping for a truly amazing finale.
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Date: 2013-08-23 10:52 pm (UTC)It honestly hadn’t occurred to me that Iskierka’s egg might not have been sired by Temeraire, but you’re quite right. Iskierka is feather-brained enough (at least at anything that doesn’t involve fighting or treasure) not to realize that if she wants an egg from Temeraire, she shouldn’t be fooling around with Maximus or Kilungile on the side.
I wouldn’t say that the Laurence of the first book was unlikeable (I’ve just re-read it). Totally clueless about dragons, yeah, but willing to learn. He did have a tendency towards self-righteousness in the first few books which he’s lost since he committed treason.
I too am hoping for a barnstorming finale of a last novel.