Throne of Jade
Temeraire – Book 2
Publisher: Random
House Publishing Group as Del Ray (2006)
Author: Naomi
Novik
Genre: Fantasy,
Historical Fiction
Pages: 398
Price: $7.99
When Britain intercepted a French
chip and its precious cargo—an unhatched dragon's egg—Capt. Will
Laurence of HMS Reliant
unexpectedly became master and commander of the noble dragon he named
Temeraire. As new recruits in Britain's Aerial Corps, man and dragon
soon proved their mettle in daring combat against Bonaparte's
invading forces.
Now China has discovered that its
rare gift, intended for Napoleon, has fallen into British hands—and
an angry Chinese delegation vows to reclaim the remarkable beast.
But Laurence refuses to cooperate. Facing the gallows for his
defiance, Laurence has no choice but to accompany Temeraire back to
the Far East—a long voyage fraught with peril, intrigue, and the
untold terrors of the deep. Yet once the pair reaches the court of
the Chinese emperor, even more shocking discoveries and darker
dangers await.
I made
a mid-week trip to the bookstore to purchase books two and three of
Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. I don't generally do that, I have
plenty of spare reading material around the house, but every now and
then a series will grab me hard enough that I have to keep with it
until it has played itself out. It was with that enthusiasm that I
started Throne of Jade.
Mrs.
Novik corrected some of the things that were a little grating about
the first book. There is far less pet name usage from Laurence
towards Temeraire, it's still there, but no where near as prevalent
as in the first book. Will Laurence has loosened up a little bit,
losing some of his stuffiness to the laid back nature of the Aerial
Corps, he's still more proper than those around him, but it's more
tolerable than it was before. The author has retained her ability to
describe to the reader the customs, practices and general setting of
the 19th
Century, now expanded to another nation that is very different from
the England the reader came to know in book one.
Because the book
moves the setting of the series across a vast distance, and because
of the nature of travel at the time, much of the story takes place on
a ship. This was a double edged sword. On one hand we got to see a
side of Laurence that we only briefly encountered in the first book,
a side showing him in his more natural environment aboard a ship. On
the other hand, this requires a good deal of the book to take place
during travel. Requires might be a little too strong a word, as it
seems some changes to the story could have alleviated the ocean-going
monotony.
The
main dilemma in this story is the question of where Temeraire will
end up, and how that will effect the relations between Britain and
China. The course of those relations is set into motion very early
in the book, and resolves itself quite nicely at the end. The space
in between falls into a trap common in fantasy literature; the
dreaded travelogue. What occurs during the long travel sequence
feels like a series of encounters dreamt up by your dungeon master at
your last Dungeons and Dragons
session. Concerns over food, sickness, disagreements between
traveling companions, and sea monster attacks roll by one after the
other, only very occasionally emphasizing a point that couldn't have
been better emphasized elsewhere. The one moment of revelation for
Temeraire during the journey was rendered unnecessary by his first
visit to a Chinese city, the point being made more strongly and in a
better fashion than it was before.
The major fighting
sequences in the book are well told and filled with tension. While
the reader can be fairly sure that Laurence will make it through the
violent encounters safely, the same cannot be said for the rest of
his crew. Mrs. Novik has shown a willingness to shed supporting
characters as needed to lend weight to the battles Laurence and
Temeraire fight. My hope going forward is that some of those side
characters are fleshed out a little more, so they don't feel so much
like red shirts on an away team.
Conclusion:
This is an adequate follow up to His
Majesty's Dragon.
Where the author made progress in some areas, curtailing some of the
characters more annoying characteristics; she also fell into some of
the storytelling styles common in fantasy that she had avoided in the
first book. This seemed to bloat what would otherwise have been a
more concise and streamlined story.
Rating:
7/10
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