Temeraire: Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik
September 30th 2006 08:07
Naomi Novik's Temeraire: Throne of Jade
I am usually a dragnostic and the only dragon novel I read before was Christopher Paolini’s Eragon, the most boring marketing trick in history ever (it almost made me an enemy of free markets). So, you should forgive me if I started reading Naomi Novik’s Temeraire:Throne of Jade with a heart full of scepticism. Aussies are getting better at fantasies and for what its worth, Peter Jackson has optioned these novels. So, in the end I decided to give it a try.
Britain is at war with Napoleonic France, only this time fighting with dragons in their midst. Dragons here are used very much like twentieth-century aircraft and the novel is full of richly detailed air sorties of the kind which will put any second world war novel or movie to shame.
Neutral power China has sent Napolean a dragon egg of a rare breed as a present. The ship was captured by British and when the egg hatched, the dragon called Temeraire was pressed into service. Laurence, a naval officer, was made the officer in the first novel. Here, they are inseparable.
The novel starts with a Chinese delegation coming to London to demand the dragon back. Apparently, in their country dragons are treated like aristocrats and not made mules of war. But, Temeraire and Laurence are so closely bonded that the Chinese prince orders Laurence to China as well. After various adventures on board, we come to know that there is a plot to kill Laurence.
The novel pits sea faring adventures like the novels of Patrick O’Brien with the dragon lore of Anne McCaffrey. It is a dazzling combination, one which works so well because Novik’s imagination is so detailed and picaresque. She just does not imagine how a huge dragon would look like but also the navigational problems of shipping a huge dragon over rough seas, the dynamics of dragon flights and the mechanics of dragon armadas in minute detail. When Temeraire has a cold, the dragon surgeon (yes, there is one) uses a ladder to step down its toothy throat to examine the condition. Its details like that that make this novel irresistible.
Novik uses a Hemingway-like style that is hard to follow in a fictional world and the plot development is a bit weak too. Despite these drawbacks, I urge you to read this superbly entertaining novel without any delay. As for me, I am reading the first novel in the series as soon as I can lay my hands on it.
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Comment by Chantal
Chantal www.dropofpop.com