That's inconvenient ...
Jul. 19th, 2010 12:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blamebramptonI have spent the evening trying to write fic, or some of my novel, or even reviews of the Alan Bradley and Naomi Novik novels I have been loving lately, and I have tragically failed at all of the above. Which leads me to conclude I may have run out of brain.
I'm sure I've just put it down somewhere close. Might go and look in the laundry ...
I'm sure I've just put it down somewhere close. Might go and look in the laundry ...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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Date: 2010-07-18 02:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-18 03:18 pm (UTC)It's tremendously clever as she postulates a world in which two sentient species live side by side. England is not the great power it was through the Napoleonic era, being rather a smaller seagoing nation protected by Nelson's brilliance and the valiant dragon corps. The British Empire seems not to exist as history knew it, rather the nation of shopkeepers has outposts and trading routes, and the East India Company.
Abolition arguments rage, and Wilberforce is the great man he was in reality. But Napoleon is stronger: his dragons making the difference in the war despite Nelson's genius.
Into this comes Will Laurence, a Naval Captain who captures a French ship in the first book. On board they find a dragon egg, close to hatching. Weeks from shore, the men draw lots to see who will try to take the beast into harness once it is born: England is desperate for more dragons, despite the fact that their captains and the aviator corps in general are seen as being socially beyond the pale.
When born, the dragon will not even consider the sailor who has been chosen for him, but instead makes his way straight to Laurence. Despite the fact it will mean the ruin of many of his hopes, Laurence does his duty and becomes the dragonlet's captain, naming the beast Temeraire.
On his return to Britain he is thrown into the Aviators Corps, and suddenly realises that there is a whole part of the war that has been hidden. Women serve alongside men, the dragons themselves are people -- and come in every type from thick to brilliant. And the social disdain heaped upon aviators is nothing in its ignorance compared to the idea that a dragon could in any way be considered a dumb beast.
Temeraire emerges as a brilliant character, quite the bolshevik, agitating for rights for dragonkind, but most of all guarding his Laurence. Will goes from being an unwilling aviator to the fiercest advocate for dragonkind; using his courage and intelligence to assist them even to his own ruin.
The politics were enough to make me love the series, but at the same time the characterisations are all so good and compelling, and the storytelling so captivating. Novik's writing is filled with lovely little touches -- in the book I just finished a dog is terrified of Temeraire the first time he is brought close, and tries to leap off as the dragon takes flight. Then, after a few minutes, he is yelping happily with his face in the air and loving the flight as much as any car ride. Perfect!
I'm about to tackle book five, but I thoroughly recommend the first four!
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Date: 2010-07-18 03:33 pm (UTC)OK, that's how one sells books! Excuse me, which way to the bolshevik dragons, plz? :)
You make Novak's books sound great. *pensive*
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Date: 2010-07-18 03:45 pm (UTC)And Temeraire is not even the most fun of all the dragons ... but I will leave that for you to discover.
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Date: 2010-07-19 05:02 pm (UTC)Is it me or Napoleonic Wars-AUs are becoming increasingly popular these days? I really enjoyed Susanna Clarke, and now it appears that Naomi Novik is also immensely fascinating. But poor Buonaparte! All those wizards and dragons must be seriously damaging his mental health...
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Date: 2010-07-19 04:36 am (UTC)SOLD. Completely sold. Where do I get these books... oh, wait, yes, they're in the fantasy bookshelf in my own store.
I am going to start reading this as soon as I finish Stephen Gately's Tree of Seasons.
Thank you, Brammers.
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Date: 2010-07-18 03:36 pm (UTC)I am somehow thinking of your novel as Dumbledore! The Musical, but with vampires. :)
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Date: 2010-07-18 03:47 pm (UTC)And yes, the work situation is largely to blame for the brain situation. The horror cannot be described!
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Date: 2010-07-18 04:15 pm (UTC)Dumbledracula, a slightly demented cabaret owner - who just happens to be a vampire - decides to stage a blockbuster musical biography. Of himself.
This cannot be accomplished without the involvement of a clumsy village idiot girl with a long & funny-sounding nameTM and a shy orphan tenor
with messy black hair and green eyeswith a ruthless mum called Lady Jo de Bourgh who wants him to slay dragons and evil overlords while all he wants to do is siiiiiiing!Oh, the horror.
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Date: 2010-07-19 03:26 pm (UTC)*panic* But-but-but! H/D is sacred! You cannot fling the Holy Grail of fanfic across the room like a styrofoam cup, even for subtextual romantic dragons!
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