Reviews

League of Dragons by Naomi Novik

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There are two things that this series does very well; characters & setting. The two voices of this series, Laurence & Tememaire, are interesting, likable, believable, and (most importantly, imo) dynamic. The characters that we see at the end of book 9 are very much changed from the ones at the start of book 1, and good character arcs like that make up for a lot of in a story.

The setting is truly fascinating. The way Novik incorporates dragons into her world is brilliantly clever, and as believable as it is fantastical. The way dragons are involved in warfare, politics, culture, daily life; all of this is thoroughly thought out and introduced to the reader in small, natural snippets. Novik does a wonderful job of just sucking you straight into her world.

Oh, and there’s an entire squad of badass female aviators that fly acid-spitting dragons and command armies. What’s not to love?

This series is not without its weak points; there were a couple of books in the middle that felt like a slog to get through, and more than a couple of plot arcs that I stopped in the middle of, thinking “why should I care about what is happening here?”. Novik also has a tendency to introduce a lot of plot elements but then not return to them. At the end of the last book, I was left a bit unsatisfied because I never got answers to a lot of the arcs that sputtered out halfway through.

What happens with Emily and Demane? How does Ferris make his way again? What’s up with the dynamic between Iskierka and Temeraire? How does Laurence repair his relationship with his family, after his treason and now that his father is gone? What happens with Ming, and the Tswana? What about Japan and France? How do things go with Laurence and Jane? The list goes on. It felt like the author had introduced so many threads that she just threw up her hands and said “There, Napoleon’s defeated. The end.”

I also feel like Novik didn’t give a lot of the character relationships the attention they deserved. A smaller cast of characters, with more time devoted to them, might have been better. The main voice, Laurence, is a very reserved character, so of course he wouldn’t go off soliloquizing about his feelings every third page… but I would have loved to see more of his relationships with the other characters. I know that Laurence sees Emily as almost a daughter, but we don’t get a lot of scenes or dialogue showing Laurence and Emily interacting in that way. I know that Granby and Laurence are dear friends, but we don’t get a ton of time to see them just interacting, without the threat of some fantastical danger immediately forcing into action.

She also has a habit of introducing crazy new powers right at the climax of book, which takes away some of the tension that she has so carefully cultivated and leaves the reader feeling unsatisfied. I don’t want Temeraire to pull a brand new ability out of thin air that makes dozens of Incan dragons immediately fall down dead; I want him to use the abilities that I know about in some new and clever way, or use a power that has been subtly hinted at for a couple hundred pages and that Temeraire only figures out how to use properly in the nick of time.

All that said, I read all nine of these books, and I enjoyed them. They have some weak points, but they also score a couple of home runs when the bases are loaded. I wish they had had a smaller cast of characters, with more time devoted to each character, and some sections that were more slow-paced so that we could see those character relationships. But, I only wish that *because* I liked the characters so much, because Novik made them interesting and likeable and got me to care about them. That’s no mean feat, and for that alone I would easily recommend this series to any friend looking for their next fantasy read.

Also: there are dragons. How cool is that?

electrumempousa's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This was such a disappointing end for me. After absolutely devouring the rest of them, this book took me weeks to finish. So many major scenes missing i started to think my ebook was missing parts. A really anticlimactic ending to something so epic. I also felt like some of the background characters, who so had my love in the early books, really faded away in this book. Temeraire and Laurence stole my heart from the beginning and I’m glad they get to live out their lives together but… this could have been MUCH better.

ch3shirekitt3n's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

A fitting ending to the series.
But why must Ning be so annoying? Was Iskierka not enough?

dedkake's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

stacey_unchecked's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny informative lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

The final (to date) installment of the Temeraire series was wonderful! Great battles won, a new hatchling that will be the death of all of them and an ending suiting the tone of the series. I can't say enough good things about Naomi's writing. You'll fall in love with all the characters but especially Temeraire himself. Read these!