Dear Naomi Novik,

[blamebrampton]

I am still hugely enjoying the Temeraire books, but please, for the love of tiny bunnies, hire an actual editor to proofread your novels! The typos! They burn!

(I was doing well at ignoring them until we reached the Nemean region, which is in Ancient Greece, not New South Wales. It was rightly the Nepean earlier. Betas are for fanfic, Naomi. I'm sure you've earned enough to pay for a good editor by now!)

Must dash, plot twist has just occurred and I only have time for another hundred pages before bed.

Much love,

Brammers

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part 2

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

Arriving in China, they find a culture wholly unexpected. The British have expected to be all at sea (boom boom!) and they are. But what they had not expected is to find a nation in which dragons serve as senior members of society, and work for a living at lower levels, too, all having full legal rights. The streets are broad enough for them to walk down and they own property and are paid for work. For Laurence it is like walking into Loch Laggan for the first time and finding a dragon in charge. For all the Brits, it is the start of a creeping realisation: China is not some quiet large country disinterested in anyone else’s affairs, it is in fact the only nation capable of being a global economic and military superpower, and holds itself in restraint only because Europe and the Americas look a lot of trouble for little gain.

Temeraire meets his mother, and they are delighted by each other. She does not approve of him being a fighting dragon, but does not dismiss his affection for Laurence. They also meet Lien, Yongxing’s dragon companion -- a pure white Celestial, unlucky in colour and for whom Yongxing gave up any hope of the Imperial throne. Shunned for her perceived ill fortune (superstitious Orientals strike again!), she has spent years in research and study, and has a fine mind, well schooled, but not liberal when it comes to the non-Chinese.

She is as against the Europeans as her human friend is, but Temeraire’s mother whose name I am too tired to recall, is more temperate, and most of the royal dragons are interested to learn more about Britain and her interests in the same way I am interested in red pandas. Yongxing continues to try to tempt Temeraire from Laurence, even supplying a spritely young relative of his as a possible alternative.

The British embassy has not fared well in the past, due to pride (some things don’t change in this world!), and the French have gained the upper hand. The senior dragons know that the story they have been told of European politics is necessarily one-sided, and seek to hear more of the other, without committing assistance or interest in either direction.

Spoken to as a valuable source of news, ideas and novelty, Temeraire blossoms. He is fascinated by the freedoms accorded the Chinese dragons and realises they are full citizens. When he asks Laurence how English dragons can suffer to be treated as property, Laurence is forced to admit he cannot give good reason. The parallels with the slave trade are only too obvious. Temeraire expresses his desire to spread freedoms among his kind, Laurence reminds him they are at war, and no one can be free until Napoleon is defeated. But his protests are half-hearted, even to his own ears.

Meanwhile, the Laurence problem is yet to be resolved. Temeraire is part of the Imperial household, but Laurence is ... English. Things improve when he can recite his ancestry back to the Plantagenets, at least he is a little Royal, but this does not stop the attacks on the British contingent, they escalate until there is an all-out assault, which Sun Kai tries to rescue them from. Through valiant efforts, they survive, but Temeraire does not come to help them in their need, he is busy visiting the Chinese dragons, and Laurence has a horrifying realisation: he may be Temeraire’s preferred human, but how can he compete with his actual family?