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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
I'm thinking I really need to start reading this series in order, lol.
This fourth book of the Temeraire series may actually be the best so far: it juggles a large cast, boldly shines a light on ethical middens of the nineteenth century British Empire, and is a romp the whole way through. At times I was compelled to do the upside-down dog-paddle of glee.
Creo que lo más destacable de la serie "Temeraire", aparte de cómo la autora acomoda a sus criaturas dentro de la historia intentando deformarla lo menos posible y que todo resulte más o menos creíble, es el hecho de que esta es la segunda gran civilización más allá de la europea que nos encontramos y, para desmayo de Laurence, son mucho más avanzados en cuestiones como la esclavitud y el trato con respecto a sus dragones. Las circunstancias sociales y culturales son distintas pero, incluso desde la perspectiva de nuestro noble inglés, se nos presentan sin hacer burla o menosprecio. Más bien con un buen grado de maravilla y de pesar porque en su tierra natal no se hayan alcanzado y adoptado ideas semejantes.
El final, con su dilema y la resolución que hacen de él Temeraire y Laurence, creo que se merece al menos la mitad de las estrellas de la reseña. Sin entrar en spoilers, son una muestra muy clara de lo mucho que ha cambiado Laurence, cuyo honor y sentido de la justicia se imponen por primera vez al cumplimiento ciego del deber.
El final, con su dilema y la resolución que hacen de él Temeraire y Laurence, creo que se merece al menos la mitad de las estrellas de la reseña. Sin entrar en spoilers, son una muestra muy clara de lo mucho que ha cambiado Laurence, cuyo honor y sentido de la justicia se imponen por primera vez al cumplimiento ciego del deber.
Empire of Ivory tackles a lot of serious issues without ending up with a heavy tone. First and foremost is slavery and racism, as most of this book takes place in Africa at a time when Britain hadn't yet abolished slavery. Thus, there is considerable social tension between the abolitionists and those with financial interests in the slave trade. I liked the inclusion of a number of African characters, some of whom were freed slaves. Also, I like that the dragons are natural allies to the abolitionist movement because of course the same people who dehumanize black people would treat dragons as livestock.
The sexual norms of the female captains in the Corps are just another way in which those captains challenge the gender norms of the time. I love that Novik puts Laurence in a position where he's forced to reconsider all the deeply held beliefs he was raised to regarding propriety and women's status in society.
Without getting too spoilery, at the end of the novel Temeraire and Laurence make a morally, ethically good decision that comes at a deep personal cost to them. I thought that was a wonderful plot point and I am excited to read how they have to reckon with it in the next book.
All in all, this was a great book and lots of fun. It was a bit slow at first, but ultimately excellent.
The sexual norms of the female captains in the Corps are just another way in which those captains challenge the gender norms of the time. I love that Novik puts Laurence in a position where he's forced to reconsider all the deeply held beliefs he was raised to regarding propriety and women's status in society.
Without getting too spoilery, at the end of the novel Temeraire and Laurence make a morally, ethically good decision that comes at a deep personal cost to them. I thought that was a wonderful plot point and I am excited to read how they have to reckon with it in the next book.
All in all, this was a great book and lots of fun. It was a bit slow at first, but ultimately excellent.
Dragons and the Napoleonic wars. What could possibly be better? Well, I suppose there really isn’t too much of the Napoleonic wars in this book. Laurence and Temeraire are back from their trip to China, but they had returned to a plague. The dragons of Britain are ill; some are dead and more are dying. So off they head to maybe track down a cure. And of course they get embroiled in plenty of adventures along the way.
Full review: http://www.susanhatedliterature.net/2008/06/02/empire-of-ivory/
Full review: http://www.susanhatedliterature.net/2008/06/02/empire-of-ivory/
with every book I love these characters more and more. Laurence! My actual real life husband! I always want to love the rascally anti-hero gray morals type of character, but honestly I'm just a big sucker for the Laurences of the world, the heroes who are unfailingly noble and just and brave. Because that's who I want to be! I want to be good and able to make the tough-but-right decisions in life, you know?
Anyways, this was a really fun one, mostly because there was less war stuff and more adventure stuff. Seriously I do not give a crap about Napoleon and Britain v France, though I understand the parts I DO care about can only happen because of the war as a catalyst.
Naomi Novik really just goes around killing so many minor characters (and SUPER minor, like unnamed minor) and I hate it because hello? you literally just get ONE life (as far as I know) and it makes me sad that these people are just dying for a cause without a second of grieving spent on them. I don't know how to explain it very well and call me a bleeding heart or whatever, but it weighs on me even though I know these are not real people! But it reminds me of real life!
Temeraire was lovely as always and he is a close 2nd behind only Shardas (from [b:Dragon Slippers|2887647|Dragon Slippers (Dragon Slippers, #1)|Jessica Day George|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1404937105l/2887647._SY75_.jpg|655608]) for Shayla's Favorite Dragon. I didn't mind that my love Granby wasn't around so much because I got to know Ferris who is my new love. What can I say? I love the brave type.
My only complaint for this book is that the slavery stuff was sketch and I am high-key side-eying Naomi. That one scene where Laurence frees the 200 slaves reminded me too much of that scene in Hidden Figures (you know the one, if you've seen the movie) that was only in there so that the white people in the audience could feel less guilty and less uncomfortable. And of course as usual with these books I would die for some black female representation (Mrs. Erasmus was your usual Strong Black Woman type, no further personality. then again, I suppose no one in the series is given much of a personality besides Temeraire. But I digress.) but whatever, gotta pick your battles. At least the women we ARE given are very cool. Kinda wish this were High Fantasy and not so set in reality so that women were more present actually.
Super excited to continue and see where this goes after that great ending!
Anyways, this was a really fun one, mostly because there was less war stuff and more adventure stuff. Seriously I do not give a crap about Napoleon and Britain v France, though I understand the parts I DO care about can only happen because of the war as a catalyst.
Naomi Novik really just goes around killing so many minor characters (and SUPER minor, like unnamed minor) and I hate it because hello? you literally just get ONE life (as far as I know) and it makes me sad that these people are just dying for a cause without a second of grieving spent on them. I don't know how to explain it very well and call me a bleeding heart or whatever, but it weighs on me even though I know these are not real people! But it reminds me of real life!
Temeraire was lovely as always and he is a close 2nd behind only Shardas (from [b:Dragon Slippers|2887647|Dragon Slippers (Dragon Slippers, #1)|Jessica Day George|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1404937105l/2887647._SY75_.jpg|655608]) for Shayla's Favorite Dragon. I didn't mind that my love Granby wasn't around so much because I got to know Ferris who is my new love. What can I say? I love the brave type.
My only complaint for this book is that the slavery stuff was sketch and I am high-key side-eying Naomi. That one scene where
Super excited to continue and see where this goes after that great ending!
Wow! This one was much darker than the others in the series, and I found myself nearly weeping a couple of times because I was so moved.
I never expected to DNF the Temeraire series. When I first picked up His Majesty’s Dragon in December I fell in love with a historical fantasy centred around the bond between man and dragon. However, as I’ve continued on in this series I’ve just become less and less invested in the story Naomi Novik was telling.
Empire of Ivory takes place immediately after the end of Black Powder War. We learn that all of the dragons in Britain have fallen deeply ill and are on the brink of death. Laurence and Temeraire go on a journey to find the cure for this horrible disease and save their friends.
What ultimately compelled me to put this book and series down completely is the way Naomi Novik addressed race. This book and every book in the Temeraire book since Throne of Jade has had an incredibly uncomfortable relationship with race and colonialism. As a black southern African it was unbelievably frustrating to experience a narrative that demands you confront slavery and colonialism from the perspective of white people. I stopped reading this book when our crew was in Cape Town because of how central the Afrikaner and British colonists were in the narrative. This section brought into stark relief how sidelined people of colour were in this story. Novik provides a handful of token POCs like the missionary Erasmus and unnamed ‘natives’ yet they were secondary to the white colonizers in the story.
The way Novik framed Laurence and his abolitionist cohorts frustrating because of the lack of time and attention given to black people in the narrative. We spend a lot of time focused on the struggles of being an abolitionist with little acknowledgement of the struggles of being a slave. This framing of Laurence as some sort of anti-racist white saviour, while the only back characters in the novel got barely any time to exist outside of the white perspective, was insulting.
In the end, I DNF’d this book a little less than halfway through the story so don’t know if Novik did the work to humanize the Xhosa and Khoi communities to become more than just ‘natives’ in the background or give the handful of back characters a significant role in the story. I understand that a depiction of the relationship between white colonizers and black people isn’t supporting it. However, in the year of our lord 2020, there is no place in my life for stories about slavery and colonialism written by and about white people.
I will say that outside of the questionable racial politics of this series I genuinely have become uninvested in these books. The plots of these novels have only become less and less interesting to me and I’ve come to realize I don’t care about the Napoleonic Wars as much as I would need to continue on in this series. What I loved about His Majesty’s Dragon was the deep bond between Laurence and Temeraire and its just not enough to justify reading five more books in this series.
So I’m not going to continue on with the Temeraire series and this whole experience has only bolstered my desire to read from authors from marginalized communities telling the histories of their people. If anyone has any historical fantasy from the perspective of black people I would love to hear them.
Empire of Ivory takes place immediately after the end of Black Powder War. We learn that all of the dragons in Britain have fallen deeply ill and are on the brink of death. Laurence and Temeraire go on a journey to find the cure for this horrible disease and save their friends.
What ultimately compelled me to put this book and series down completely is the way Naomi Novik addressed race. This book and every book in the Temeraire book since Throne of Jade has had an incredibly uncomfortable relationship with race and colonialism. As a black southern African it was unbelievably frustrating to experience a narrative that demands you confront slavery and colonialism from the perspective of white people. I stopped reading this book when our crew was in Cape Town because of how central the Afrikaner and British colonists were in the narrative. This section brought into stark relief how sidelined people of colour were in this story. Novik provides a handful of token POCs like the missionary Erasmus and unnamed ‘natives’ yet they were secondary to the white colonizers in the story.
The way Novik framed Laurence and his abolitionist cohorts frustrating because of the lack of time and attention given to black people in the narrative. We spend a lot of time focused on the struggles of being an abolitionist with little acknowledgement of the struggles of being a slave. This framing of Laurence as some sort of anti-racist white saviour, while the only back characters in the novel got barely any time to exist outside of the white perspective, was insulting.
In the end, I DNF’d this book a little less than halfway through the story so don’t know if Novik did the work to humanize the Xhosa and Khoi communities to become more than just ‘natives’ in the background or give the handful of back characters a significant role in the story. I understand that a depiction of the relationship between white colonizers and black people isn’t supporting it. However, in the year of our lord 2020, there is no place in my life for stories about slavery and colonialism written by and about white people.
I will say that outside of the questionable racial politics of this series I genuinely have become uninvested in these books. The plots of these novels have only become less and less interesting to me and I’ve come to realize I don’t care about the Napoleonic Wars as much as I would need to continue on in this series. What I loved about His Majesty’s Dragon was the deep bond between Laurence and Temeraire and its just not enough to justify reading five more books in this series.
So I’m not going to continue on with the Temeraire series and this whole experience has only bolstered my desire to read from authors from marginalized communities telling the histories of their people. If anyone has any historical fantasy from the perspective of black people I would love to hear them.
Wow, each book gets better and better! I really liked the presentation of how dragons fit into African tribal societies. Just like Throne of Jade, we get to see how different cultures see dragons, and how they fit into society, compared to Britain. In China, the dragons were to be honored. In Africa, they are beloved reincarnations of family members.
But now I'm worried for Laurence and Temeraire. :( What will happen in Victory of Eagles??
But now I'm worried for Laurence and Temeraire. :( What will happen in Victory of Eagles??
Book 4 of Temeraire finds our hero and his dragon … our dragon and his captain? quickly back to England only to discover the worst kind of tragedy has befallen the entire dragon corp and Napoleon taking full advantage of their weakness. Temeraire and Lawrence are sent to Africa on a no fail mission, and after many trials and tribulations, are able to return home victorious. Only there they will face the greatest challenge to date … a moral one.
There is just something about this series that remains delightful. Each book seems to start too slow and end too quickly. I am forever enamored with the heart-warming bromance.
There is just something about this series that remains delightful. Each book seems to start too slow and end too quickly. I am forever enamored with the heart-warming bromance.