Comments on: Temeraire, dear old Temeraire

By: PersonFromPorlock

PersonFromPorlock — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 23:17:40 +0000

Other nit-pick: Novik has people on the deck of a ship watching a naval battle sixty miles away. That’s some freeboard (2000 feet)!

By: PersonFromPorlock

PersonFromPorlock — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 23:08:56 +0000

Nick:

Are you factoring in the (unspecified) size of the internal gasbags that are mentioned in several of the novels?

I’ve read the first four books in the series and to tell the truth I have no recollection of ‘internal gasbags’ at all.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:05:31 +0000

In other words – I don’t care if it’s all lovely touchy-feely and “has some rather interesting things to say about sentience and ‘human’ rights that have a bearing on feminism today”, it’s badly-written tosh. By all means put dragons in your books AND offer interesting sidelights on the problems of discrimination, but for feck’s sake try to WRITE WELL FIRST.

And p.s. it is probably just me, but this blog takes a pretty highfalutin tone at times, especially when it starts talkin’ eeeconommicks. Not sure whether I’m glad or sad to see posters taking an interest in third-rate fantasy fiction.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:59:24 +0000

“pretty decent alternative history”…

with DRAGONS…..

written by someone who thinks cannonballs move recklessly [as opposed to what? Cautiously?]

By: PL

PL — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:49:18 +0000

Maria: Nice response.

I enjoyed the books myself—got 3 as a present, bought the 4th (although it is still waiting to be read), and they are perfectly decent. The series suffers (as so many F/SF series do) with some insufficiently-thought out bits introduced early on causing plotting problems in later books, but the characters are likable, the plots engaging, the alternate history not completely silly, and a certain amount of deeper themes if you care to pursue them.

By: Maria

Maria — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:27:47 +0000

You can read it that way, Dave, just as you can read Philip Pullman’s trilogy as purely a children’s tale of adventure.

Novik has some rather interesting things to say about sentience and ‘human’ rights that have a bearing on feminism today.

Or you can just tag along and enjoy the wild dragon-ride and a pretty decent alternative history. Either way is fine.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:39:03 +0000

Are any of you factoring in the fact that this is tripe, clearly written, if I may judge from the sample chapter online, for younger teenagers of an impressionable and largely unquestioning disposition? A world that is just like ours, right down to the chronology of the Napoleonic Wars, but with dragons! Whoo!!

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:11:33 +0000

personfromporlock:

Are you factoring in the (unspecified) size of the internal gasbags that are mentioned in several of the novels?

By: PersonFromPorlock

PersonFromPorlock — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:47:40 +0000

Vastly entertaining series; my main problem is that the dragons’ airspeed and rate of wingbeating just doesn’t add up to something that moves enough air to stay aloft without outright magic. But since Temeraire’s talents are still being discovered, this is easily fixed.

By: roac

roac — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:20:17 +0000

Somebody is going to have to do a selling job to get me to look at these. (Comparable to what it took to get me to consider the possibility that Aubrey/Maturin was more than just another Hornblower knockoff series.) On its face, this appears to be a knockoff of Forester/O'Brian plus Susanna Clarke plus McCaffrey.

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:01:10 +0000

In celebration of International Talk Like Dr Stephen Maturin Day.

By: Kate Nepveu

Kate Nepveu — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:53:01 +0000

FWIW: The linked piece by Burke is based on the incorrect premise that there were no American colonies (see book 3, chapter 11). (I’d have said so there but I refuse to register to leave comments at any blog.)

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:35:36 +0000

coughbollocks*cough* “The ball came in down through the ship’s bows and crashed recklessly the length of the lower deck, the drumroll of its passage preceding it with castanets of splinters raining against the walls for accompaniment…”

If you think that’s anything like Patrick O’Brian you need to change your reading-habits…

By: Doug

Doug — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:39:11 +0000

Stuart, at the outset it’s more Patrick O’Brian with scaly beasts, but the series is getting more ambitious as an alt-history as it goes along. I think we’re more in the Austerlitz/Jena era than the drive to Moscow. Said beasts were also more likely to eat than be eaten, but otherwise, lack of air support is an issue. You’d think that a couple thousand years of air power would have modified European history more than Novik portrays, but not questioning the basic premise is part of our willing suspension of disbelief.

By: Maria

Maria — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:39:59 +0000

Hi Doug, yes I have (though I’ve not yet read the book in question – think it’s the 4th in the series and I’m only up to the Chinese adventure). Thanks for the link to it. Should have thought of it myself.