His Majesty's Dragon
by Naomi Novik
This was a re-read, because I finally found the second and third book in the series discounted at Powell's; I can only assume that the fire alarm they had right before we got there threw off whatever jerk has been snatching up every used copy the moment before I walk down the aisle for the last two years, and I managed to get there first. But since it has been two years since I read this one, I wanted to see how much I remembered. Actually, I remembered a lot of it, but I was incredibly pleased to find that I loved reading the book, anyway; that's good writing.
I still like the characters enormously, both Laurence's staid Britishness and Temeraire's open honesty. It was fun to read about Temeraire shocking Laurence with his intelligence and his guileless and pragmatic view of things; it was great to have the fine upstanding English gentleman shocked when his dragon says, "Oh, they're going to town to visit whores. Now I understand." I also liked Temeraire's unapologetic indifference to king and country; his only loyalty is to those he personally knows and loves, and this book shows both the positives and negatives of that kind of relationship. It makes for an excellent and interesting read. Plus, there are dragons -- lots and lots of dragons. How could you not like that?
I read a lot. I like writing reviews. These are all the books I read, with my thoughts about them. Many of these are posted on Amazon; if you like these, go there and vote for them, okay? I'm trying to climb the book reviewer ladder.
No comments:
Post a Comment