This is book two of Naomi Novik’s “Temeraire” series, and a return to the Napoleonic Wars and the Dragon Corps. This novel deals less with the military aspects of the world, and more with the diplomatic fallout of the first book.
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\nChina had intended the egg as a personal gift for Napoleon, and had extracted certain promises from him as to how the dragon would be treated and used. The British capture of Temeraire’s egg, his partnering with a common soldier, and his subsequent enrollment in the military are all highly offensive to the Chinese. The British government doesn’t want to irritate China – it has been trying, with only very limited success, to establish trade and diplomatic relations – so they’re perfectly willing to return Temeraire in exchange for trade concessions.<\/p>\n
The thing is, Temeraire likes Captain Laurence. He enjoys fighting. He doesn’t want<\/i> to go, and he finds it offensive that anyone would even think of trying to take the Captain away from him. Eventually, Laurence is able to work out a compromise: He and Temeraire will accompany a diplomatic mission to China so that they can show him what life is like for dragons there.<\/p>\n
And that’s just the first chapter.<\/p>\n
Just as an aside, it’s interesting to see how the dragon \/ human attachment is developing. In the beginning, Captain Laurence assumes it’s sort of animalistic, like a duckling impressing on the first thing it sees out of the shell. Over time, it is revealed to be an extension of the dragon’s greedy nature – the same thing which causes them to covet treasure and makes them angry when someone steals from them is extended to people. Laurence is his<\/b> captain, the riflemen who ride in harnesses on his back and the crew on the ground are his<\/b> crew. I’m looking forward to seeing how the author deals with the whole issue of ‘ownership’ of people and dragons through the rest of the series.<\/p>\n
Pages: 432 in paperback<\/p>\n
Total page count: 2595<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is book two of Naomi Novik’s “Temeraire” series, and a return to the Napoleonic Wars and the Dragon Corps. This novel deals less with the military aspects of the world, and more with the diplomatic fallout of the first … Continue reading