Victory of Eagles
Temeraire – Book 5
Publisher: Random
House Publishing Group as Del Ray (2008)
Author: Naomi
Novik
Genre: Fantasy,
Historical Fiction
Pages: 374
Price: $7.99
For Britain, conditions are grim: Napoleon’s resurgent forces
have breached the Channel and successfully invaded English soil.
Napoleon’s prime objective is the occupation of London.
Unfortunately, the dragon Temeraire has been removed from military
service–and his captain, Will Laurence, has been condemned to death
for treason. Separated by their own government and threatened at
every turn by Napoleon’s forces, Laurence and Temeraire must
struggle to find each other amid the turmoil of war. If only they can
be reunited, master and dragon might rally Britain’s scattered
resistance forces and take the fight to the enemy as never before–for
king and country, and for their own liberty.
Due to the events in the previous book,
a good portion of the first half of this book consists of two stories
running parallel. Temeraire and Laurence are not in the same place
so the narrative must follow each of them. I felt that this breathed
a bit of a new spark into the series, as until this point we've
always been presented the war, the principal figures, the values of
the times from one view point. Previously Temeraire's views have
been expressed through dialogue with Laurence, now the reader is
presented with some of his internal dialogue and actual mode of
thinking, which was a nice change of pace.
Another good sized portion of this book
goes into detail concerning the trouble of moving armies of men, and
feeding those men and the dragons with them. While logistics
probably isn't for everyone, I found it refreshing that Ms. Novik
didn't ignore these issues as many fantasy authors do. Armies
numbering in the tens to hundreds of thousands are common in fantasy
literature, but seldom is the reader presented with the very real
problems that those types of numbers would encounter. In Victory
of Eagles the reader is also
returned to what made the series so gripping in the first place, the
battle sequences. Midway through the book I was worried that we were
going to be subjected to another retreat without real battle being
joined, but I was pleasantly surprised. After the retreat Laurence
and Temeraire are unleashed by their superiors on small bands of
Napolean's men. Laurence's orders are contrary to everything he
believes in as a gentleman, but he carries them out due to his belief
that his honor has already been permanently soiled.
Temeraire secures
for his fellows some of the rights and privileges he has sought since
he and Laurence returned from China, but that victory seems to have a
high price. Despite all of their work towards securing victory for
the British Laurence's standing with the government is still that of
a traitor, and between that and Temereaire's rabble-rouser tendencies
they are deemed too dangerous to keep in England. So the ending is a
bit of a downer, as the heroes are to be sent away again, this time
for what the authorities are sure to hope is for good.
Conclusion:
Victory of Eagles
reacquires some of the things that made this first book in the series
so good; grand battles fought with muskets, cannons and dragons!
Despite all the victories Laurence and Temeraire win their fate is
exile, and unsatisfying to the reader. They've both worked hard to
win things for themselves, and now neither will enjoy the fruits of
that labor.
Rating:
8/10
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