sword_logic | reading: temeraire

temeraire is a series of nine novels, written by naomi novik, spanning the alternate-history length of the napoleonic wars in a world where dragons exist.

nine books in one week! that's close to a record for me, i think. which is to say: these books were incredibly enjoyable as a whole, and clearly really lovingly researched. an extremely fun alternate-history adventurous romp.

short thoughts on each book:

1 through 3: EXTREMELY fun, excellent character moments, really fantastic worldbuilding, overall incredibly entertaining
4 and 5: heavy. so incredibly heavy. 4 in particular was really difficult because it dealt with reflections of current events. 5 was difficult as well, as a reminder that these books are about a war, not just about happy dragon fun times.
6 and 7: 20,000 leagues over (and via) the sea, except fewer chapters devoted to the density and salinity of sea water, or classification of fish into taxonomies of edibility
8: "fuck it, i'm writing fanfiction of my own series" - the author, probably
9: every time you think you're reaching the resolution you check how far you've read and libby says "46% done"

i would say, if you're looking to read only part of the series (nine books is a lot), give 1 through 5 a shot; the first three are pretty much a complete story, but 4 and 5 also have a really strong, compelling plot that spans the two entries in the series. 6 and 7 were, admittedly, kind of a slog for me; the story turned from a more overarching portrait of the complications of war to a very, very personal story about The Squad and 6 in particular felt kind of Get The MacGuffin-y to me. 8 was... weird? it was definitely weird. the author went all-in on a Gold Standard Fic Trope and it sure was something. 9 had some interesting moments and definitely wasn't a disappointing ending or anything, but there were some threads i personally would have liked to see more of (and of others, less).

that being said: boy oh boy, what a cool and interesting world. i never really felt like the dragons were ever used as a ~metaphor~ for [insert minority group], but rather that they had their own incredibly distinct set of circumstances that dictated their relationships with humans and with each other. and the dragons' cultures differed across the world, too, which i feel is uncommon; each area (and in some cases, each country) had vastly different human-dragon relations, which were a near-constant source of narrative tension. it was really well done. if you're ever itching for alternate history or dragons, or just a good old adventuring romp, keep this series in mind.

right off the bat, i just wanna say, i feel like the entire japan thing could have been ENTIRELY avoided, lol. tensions between japan and china could have been demonstrated in a much more, shall we say, economical way than a bizarre non-sequitur. and on that note, i felt like one of the aforementioned threads i felt to be unresolved was the east india company; they were brought up so often (esp. in regards to tharkay) but i felt like there was no resolution on the smugglers in australia, or the rising tensions regarding opium trade. kind of felt like the EIC were a convenient plot device that was used every so often? it was weird.

(however. however. in book 8's defense, i cannot say i'm not a sucker for "person A coincidentally gets slammed in the head, thus reversing amnesia, just in time to see person B grievously wounded." that was delicious.)

i always feel like i can only think of negatives when i sit down to write my thoughts, but i did really enjoy this series. i'd re-read eragon (through brisingr, i lost interest by inheritance) just before starting this, and so i had eragon and saphira's relationship on my mind to compare to laurence and temeraire, and honestly, both were really cool, really interesting interpretations of, like, Companion Creature bonds. i'll admit that i got choked up a few times when reading eragon at the moments where eragon and saphira reunited, or had a particularly deep moment reinforcing their bond; for them, it was very much a "two parts of a whole" thing and i really enjoyed that. temeraire was, i feel, a mouthpiece for all of the things laurence felt in his heart but couldn't express, and his distance from human society and obligations was an incredible foil for laurence's sense of loyalty and patriotism throughout the series. temeraire was the "yes, but why?" to laurence, and while there were a handful of moments where it got slightly annoying (really, temeraire wouldn't have learned/picked up on X or Y yet?), overall it was really well done.

there were a few moments (well, i say moments, i mean the entire latter half of the series) where i felt like the author kind of... had too large of a cast, and people slipped through the cracks in an odd way. demane, for example, fell out of mention extremely quickly after whenever it was he got sent to spain under adm. roland, and adm. roland herself kind of floated in and out of the story as well; granby was a constant, but not moreso than iskierka, and tharkay's presence was, like, nonexistent during the whole australia segment even though he was arguably one of the more important characters at that point? harcourt also seemed to drop off the face of the planet after riley's death in favor of lily, and i lost track of all the prussians and russians entirely.

honestly, tl;dr of the above is just that i wanted more tharkay. he was such an interesting character - he was the only person introduced that had motives and a history that weren't (almost) immediately obvious; he kept very close to himself and i wish dearly that we'd have show-not-tell'd more of him opening up to laurence &co, especially after he walked across a continent to bring dragons back for laurence, you know, small gestures like that. my nonexistent kingdom for more conversations between tharkay and the rest, but that's not to say that what we got wasn't good: that one conversation he had with laurence about the guerrilla war he was waging in the countryside was truly incredible, and really, what a read on laurence's character on tharkay's part. i love to see a character cut down to the quick like that.

ANYWAYS. this did fuel enough Feelings in me to wring out at least one fic, so i'll be picking away at that. it's been a while since last i wrote something, so like, na zdrowie, i guess. (also: i literally sat bolt upright in bed at 1am when i got to iskierka's name. that unlocked some primal childhood memories when i realized just what the song had been.)