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A review by iam
Empire of Ivory (The Temeraire Series, Book 4) by Naomi Novik
4.0
The fourth book of the series felt like the heaviest one to me, both due to the main plot about the sick dragons, and much of it playing in Africa. It paints an ugly picture of slavery, and while the main characters all violently oppose it, they can't do much. The institutionalization of that and other horrible things was quite disenheartening.
Still, it has it's moments, if some were quite wild and it felt a bit scattered overall: the introduction of new chracters was clumsy and meaningless, with no indication of who would be important and who wouldn't be; there's a few details that don't add up, which characters being mentioned as going missing, and then suddenly they are back without anyone remarking on it.
Much of my enjoyment of this book lays on the backs of the characters. Many of the ones missing from the second and third books reappear, and I was happy to have them again. Equally, there were some delightful developmens and the typical hilarity of Temeraire & Crew's shenanigans and Laurence being thrust in situations that that make him blush horribly - though it was all a bit more subdued that usual.
Content warnings include: slavery, racism, racial slurs, violence and gore, death, willfull spreading of deathly illness, treason, unplanned pregnancy.
Still, it has it's moments, if some were quite wild and it felt a bit scattered overall: the introduction of new chracters was clumsy and meaningless, with no indication of who would be important and who wouldn't be; there's a few details that don't add up, which characters being mentioned as going missing, and then suddenly they are back without anyone remarking on it.
Much of my enjoyment of this book lays on the backs of the characters. Many of the ones missing from the second and third books reappear, and I was happy to have them again. Equally, there were some delightful developmens and the typical hilarity of Temeraire & Crew's shenanigans and Laurence being thrust in situations that that make him blush horribly - though it was all a bit more subdued that usual.
Content warnings include: slavery, racism, racial slurs, violence and gore, death, willfull spreading of deathly illness, treason, unplanned pregnancy.