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When I joined the Book Club, I ordered all the Harry Dresden books they had, Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (which I bought ahead of time at the used bookstore in paperback form, oh well) and Temeraire by Naomi Novak. The only book I hadn't read already was Novak's book, and OMG.
This is the first book since the Dresden Files that I've *really* been enjoying the characters and story. Holy cow, it's the Complete and Total Buddy book. If the dragon were human, could things get any slashier? Granted, sometimes the plot moves along in a predictable manner, but because the characters are so likable, and the premise is so cool (dragons have existed for millenia on this parallel earth) and the Dragon Air Force of the early 1800s is such a unique creation for the era, I can't stop reading it. I even switched from my little green leather purse to an older brown leather one I bought twelve years ago (!) in order to carry notebooks for writing. I stuffed the big hardcover book into the purse and read the book while I was at my daughter's Very Long Thinking Day Function yesterday.
It helps that I am also a fan of Jane Austen (like Novak) and a little bit of a history buff, although I'm not familiar with the Napoleonic era as much as I should be. There aren't so many stories out there that combine what I love about stories and story telling; this one packs a lot in. I'm not usually a fan of parallel earth stories, mostly because the writers don't think everything through. I'm wondering if Novak thought everything through with the Temeraire story: having air power through out history, and another intelligent, talking species to share the earth, would make some pretty drastic changes in the world view of the peoples of that earth.
As long as Novak stays *away* from the Pern template with her Dragon Air Force I will be a happy camper. I liked *those* books back when I was in Junior High. I can see something of an Ideal Ayla type society developing if she isn't careful. What do I mean? Okay, if you've read the Valley of the Horse Books by Jean Auele then you're aware of the Super Tolerant and Peaceful and Ideal stone age civilization she dreamt up, in which people can travel from one end of the continent to the other via a vast system of tribal hospitality founded ages ago. No one is at war, crime is rare, if it's even recognized as such, and all is hunky dory.
Fortunately, Novak has added a wrench into her AF Corp society via a legacy flyer who mistreats his dragon - and no one can seem to do anything about it in the way wife beaters seem to get away with abuse. It's nice to see there are some snakes in this paradise. - BUT it was pushing it with the concept of "free love" and human breeding with no attachments. That does seem anachronistic considering what *I* know of the era. When the main human character goes up to sleep with another female flyer, it was jarring. Why? Well, granted, he's a guy, BUT, much had been made of his own standards of sexual behavior. It's acknowledged right afterward that he thinks he's something of a hypcrite about it...but it felt more like a rationale band-aid. He may be a forward thinking guy, but I found it hard to believe this character wouldn't, somewhere in the back of his mind, be thinking that the woman he slept with, whether she's a captain higher up the food chain than him or not, is a slut. It's how he was raised - it's his background as a gentleman! But I'll give it a pass because in all honesty, I only know this era through fiction and a few broadstroked history books.
I also wonder (while I'm reading it) if the dragons in the book survived to the present day. You know: there are so many species that humans found during that era (1800s) that are now extinct, and ancient tech (for example) that present day scientists are only now finding out about that I have to wonder about the development of human-flight via technology.
Okay, it's not a very coherent review, but it's morning, and I am currently drinking my test Trader's Joe Mocha Triple Esspresso. It's got three shots of espresso in it, and I'm trying to be careful: I don't want to zing! all day from this stuff.
Edited to correct Naomi Novak's first name...I'm such a dope!
This is the first book since the Dresden Files that I've *really* been enjoying the characters and story. Holy cow, it's the Complete and Total Buddy book. If the dragon were human, could things get any slashier? Granted, sometimes the plot moves along in a predictable manner, but because the characters are so likable, and the premise is so cool (dragons have existed for millenia on this parallel earth) and the Dragon Air Force of the early 1800s is such a unique creation for the era, I can't stop reading it. I even switched from my little green leather purse to an older brown leather one I bought twelve years ago (!) in order to carry notebooks for writing. I stuffed the big hardcover book into the purse and read the book while I was at my daughter's Very Long Thinking Day Function yesterday.
It helps that I am also a fan of Jane Austen (like Novak) and a little bit of a history buff, although I'm not familiar with the Napoleonic era as much as I should be. There aren't so many stories out there that combine what I love about stories and story telling; this one packs a lot in. I'm not usually a fan of parallel earth stories, mostly because the writers don't think everything through. I'm wondering if Novak thought everything through with the Temeraire story: having air power through out history, and another intelligent, talking species to share the earth, would make some pretty drastic changes in the world view of the peoples of that earth.
As long as Novak stays *away* from the Pern template with her Dragon Air Force I will be a happy camper. I liked *those* books back when I was in Junior High. I can see something of an Ideal Ayla type society developing if she isn't careful. What do I mean? Okay, if you've read the Valley of the Horse Books by Jean Auele then you're aware of the Super Tolerant and Peaceful and Ideal stone age civilization she dreamt up, in which people can travel from one end of the continent to the other via a vast system of tribal hospitality founded ages ago. No one is at war, crime is rare, if it's even recognized as such, and all is hunky dory.
Fortunately, Novak has added a wrench into her AF Corp society via a legacy flyer who mistreats his dragon - and no one can seem to do anything about it in the way wife beaters seem to get away with abuse. It's nice to see there are some snakes in this paradise. - BUT it was pushing it with the concept of "free love" and human breeding with no attachments. That does seem anachronistic considering what *I* know of the era. When the main human character goes up to sleep with another female flyer, it was jarring. Why? Well, granted, he's a guy, BUT, much had been made of his own standards of sexual behavior. It's acknowledged right afterward that he thinks he's something of a hypcrite about it...but it felt more like a rationale band-aid. He may be a forward thinking guy, but I found it hard to believe this character wouldn't, somewhere in the back of his mind, be thinking that the woman he slept with, whether she's a captain higher up the food chain than him or not, is a slut. It's how he was raised - it's his background as a gentleman! But I'll give it a pass because in all honesty, I only know this era through fiction and a few broadstroked history books.
I also wonder (while I'm reading it) if the dragons in the book survived to the present day. You know: there are so many species that humans found during that era (1800s) that are now extinct, and ancient tech (for example) that present day scientists are only now finding out about that I have to wonder about the development of human-flight via technology.
Okay, it's not a very coherent review, but it's morning, and I am currently drinking my test Trader's Joe Mocha Triple Esspresso. It's got three shots of espresso in it, and I'm trying to be careful: I don't want to zing! all day from this stuff.
Edited to correct Naomi Novak's first name...I'm such a dope!
