[williamjm]

Wiggles;187859 said:

uhm... the dragons are in space? That is pretty damned cool.

Of course, then the question would be how they fly in space...

[Wiggles]

by breathing gas. Duh

[Varunwe]

How can they breath gas when they're in space?!

[Wiggles]

theyre DRAGONS.

[Illuyankas]

Have you written a Pern book, by any chance?

[McLovin]

Wiggles = Anne McCaffrey?

Even I can't wrap my head around that :eek:

[Wiggles]

Illuyankas;188502 said:

Have you written a Pern book, by any chance?

Who hasnt? also: fuck you longhorn.

Are these books any good?

[McLovin]

Wiggles;188517 said:

also: fuck you longhorn.

You're just pissy about the House of Leaves thread :angel:

But you're right: too long off-topic. What about these books guys? I read an excerpt of the first and it seemed interesting, but I haven't heard enough positive buzz to make me want to read them.

[caladanbrood]

Basically, they're quite fun, but nothing earth-shattering.

I mean... there are dragons - that talk. They're enjoyable reads, but don't expect scintillating plot-twists and magnificent charactarisation...

[Varunwe]

Yep, it's a simple story about a man and a dragon that become friends and kick some French butt. But fun and entertaining to read

I liked that there were so many kinds of dragons. And each country has its own species.

[Ratatoskr]

All right, I'll weigh in. I recently finished the first book in the series, and boy, was I bored. It's not like it's badly written or anything (the missus loved it), it's just that nothing ever actually happens. Look, I'm no pimply teenager who thinks the Chucky movies are great art and who derides everything that doesn't have things blown up at every turn as lame, but I want something - ANYthing - to actually happen in my stories. Here, the most exciting plot element right up to the end is that somebody says something negative about the dragon and Laurence doesn't like it. The rest is just cuddling, reading aloud to each other, giving away jewelry, and more cuddling.

This book is like those Disney movies where a cute dog is lost in the wilderness and has to cross the Rockies to be rejoined with his beloved familiy, having dangerous and exciting adventures on the way - minus the part about the doggy getting lost, and the crossing the mountains part, and the dangerous and exciting part.

The blurb compares this to Jane Austen's books, and it is indeed kinda like Pride and Prejudice, or at least how P&P would be if Elizabeth and Darcy became a couple, in an utterly unspectacular and rather bland way, right in the first chapter and spent the rest of the book cuddling and reading to each other.

My Book-A-Minute abstract of Novik's book would go like this:

Laurence:
Look Temeraire, I bought this golden locket for you!
Temeraire:
Why, thank you Laurence, how awfully nice of you! Come here, let's cuddle!
(They do)

One last thing: What I really took exception to was how anaemic, docile and grovelling the dragons in this book were. They were in fact not dragons at all, they were more like oversized, flying, talking dogs. Shameful.

[Tsundoku]

Ratatoskr;191055 said:

One last thing: What I really took exception to was how anaemic, docile and grovelling the dragons in this book were. They were in fact not dragons at all, they were more like oversized, flying, talking dogs. Shameful.

That's sort of explained in the next couple of books, and as to what to do about it ... well, that's spoiler territory.

It could have been much worse: it could have been Eragon.

Cheers,

La Sombra, folks and their strokes

[Ratatoskr]

Sombra;191091 said:

That's sort of explained in the next couple of books

Strike that particular complaint then. I guess I'll pass anyway, as the consensus on Throne of Jade seems to be that it drags a bit more than the first one, and I've not exactly been overwhelmed by His Majesty's Dragon...

Sombra;191091 said:

It could have been much worse: it could have been Eragon.

Haven't read Eragon; don't plan to anytime soon.

[Varunwe]

Quote

The rest is just cuddling, reading aloud to each other, giving away jewelry, and more cuddling.

That was so cute, and the main reason I liked the book.

The blurb on my book also compares it to Eragon. The only thing those two books have in comon is a dragon. His Majesty's Dragon reminded me more of the one Dragonriders of Pern book I've read.

I've never read any Jane Austen, so I can't compare. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (worst book I've read this year, and very different from His Majesty's Dragon) was also compared to Jane Austen. Are there really many similarities between those two books and Jane Austen's, or is it just the time period?

[Varunwe]

Finished Black Powder War this weekend. It started of boring with the journey to Istanbul, but it got interesting once they met the ferals. I loved the Prussian war. No smart traps or magical items thrown in volcanoes winning the battle there.

Iskierka was great :lachen70:

I'm looking forward to Empire of Ivory

[Glass]

I'm wrapping up His Majesty's Dragon this weekend. I love her writing style and dialogue, but nothing has happened in this book so far. Temeraire hatched, and is growing, and that's it. That's 200 pages worth of reading.

So yes, nothing earth shattering. But I have to say I really enjoy Naomi's writing style and tone and how quickly the book moves. I can see how Peter Jackson and company would acquire the rights to them -- could be great on the big screen if they possibly combine the first two books or something.

I'll definitely read the next one.

[Varunwe]

I'm hoping Peter Jackson will make a movie of these books. It would be nice to have a good dragon movie in the theaters (I haven't seen Eragon, and will onyl if it's on tv so it doesn't cost me any money).

[Werthead]

From the blog:

Quote

Temeraire is an epic fantasy/alternate history crossbreed novel by Naomi Novik, first published in 2006. Confusingly, it is also the first novel of the Temeraire series, an open-ended series which now encompasses five volumes with several more on the way. In the USA, possibly more sensibly, it is called His Majesty's Dragon.

The Napoleonic Wars are raging across Europe, but this is not the history we are familiar with. Dragons exist in this world and most nations have harnessed them to be used as weapons of war. Captain Will Laurence of the Royal Navy wins a great coup for Britain when he captures a French vessel transporting a rare Chinese dragon egg to Napoleon. The egg hatches and the newborn dragon immediately bonds with Will, to his consternation. Once a dragon has chosen its rider, the bond cannot be severed and Will has to give up his career in the navy to train as a dragon-rider.

The rest of the novel follows Will as he learns the basics of serving in Britain's aerial corps and bonds with the young Temeraire, who rapidly grows to maturity, before taking part in a series of engagements with Napoleon's forces culminating in the Battle of Trafalgar and a French aerial assault on the British coast.

Temeraire is a fun read. It's light but enjoyable. Novik paints her characters with a light touch, and after numerous recent dark and gritty fantasies it's something of a relief to read something that is enjoyable and amusing without being drenched in blood every five pages. Conversely, this makes the book something of a popcorn read: a somewhat disposable product. There's some fairly broad characterisation going on there and some of the background doesn't make sense (it's still unclear to me why aviators are considered the scum of the earth compared to soldiers and naval crew), not to mention some fairly wince-inducing, Eddings-esque dialogue between the aviators and their dragons. However, that tends to get forgotten when the muskets start blazing and French and British warships are pounding away at one another with giant lizards battling one another far above, which is all splendidly exciting and well-realised. Given Novik's background in computer programming, it's appropriate to describe the Temeraire concept as an obvious 'killer app', and it's no surprise it was rapidly snapped up for a movie adaption by Peter Jackson (it would be interesting if Smaug in the upcoming Hobbit movie adaption turns out to be a prototype for the dragons in the Temeraire move to follow).

Temeraire ( *** ) may be fluff, but it's fun and easy to read, and I really need to get around to reading the sequels, but as I said with so many other, meatier books around it's easy to forget about this series. The novel is published by Voyager in the UK and by Del Rey in the USA (under the title His Majesty's Dragon). The sequels are Throne of Jade, Black Powder War, Empire of Ivory and Victory of Eagles, with more volumes forthcoming.

[Use Of Weapons]

Her dragons are at least original, which is more than can be said for many authors. I think she captures the period extremely well, which is probably why she's drawn the Austen comparisons (and likewise for Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which I thought was excellent). I agree the pace is slow, but if you allow yourself to get used to it, it makes the sudden changes when there is an action scene all the more exciting. I also thought she used the dragons very well militarily, showing their shortcomings as air support as well as their advantages. They're lightweight historical fantasy, and should be read as such, IMO.