Good day everyone. I hope you are all doing well, ja? Gut. Well, I have good news for everyone and I thought I would share with you guys, that I have found a new book series to read.
Yea! Right? Well, I thought I would give a critique of the first two books, His Majesty's Dragon and Throne of Jade. The books are written by Naomi Novik. She was apparently a computer programmer for video games, but decided writing was her passion.
So anyway. The whole book series takes place during the Napoleanic Wars. What makes this a fantasy books is that there is an airforce of dragons. Dragons also fight in the wars. Pretty awesome huh? The story follows Captain William Laurence a man of 30 years is what I'm guessing, that captures a French ship and as a result finds a dragon egg. The egg hatches and reveals a black dragon. Later it is discovered that he is a Chinese Imperial, an extremely rare breed of dragons. Laurence names the dragon Temeraire and procceed to the dragon training ground. Later though it is discovered that Temeraire is actually a Chinese Celestial, even rarer than an Imperial. In the second book they travel all the way to China because the Chinese want Temeraire back because only emperors of countries may own celestials.
This is a good book series, I will admit. Novik's gives grand description and detail in her books, something I need to grasp and work on. However, the story naturally is in the eyes of Laurence rather than Temeraire. That of course makes me unhappy but it never the less happens. We do not get to see what Temeraire is doing or what he is thinking and often that leads to a weaker character. Like in the second book, apparently he was courting a female and while that was happening, Laurance was having to fight off a Chinese gang of thugs that wanted to kill him. We do not know this until after Laurence has finished fighting and has recovered. (I also think later in the book, Temeraire and the female dragon, well, I think they well, love happened, which is something I would have loved to read. ) But my point is clearly stated that I think in general her characterization is weak. Not extremely weak, but weak in general.
Another thing I will point out in the second book is that the back cover said they would discover something shocking and dark. When I actually got to that point, I was still completely confused. I still did not know if the prince was really trying to have Laurence killed or not and I still could not figure out what was so shocking and I was completely lost at why Temeraire was shipped to Napolean and...you guys haven't got a clue at what I am talking about do you? Read the books and see if you guys can tell me what the shocking secret was. Then you will be able to understand my confusion.
So in some aspects, it's a really good book series, and in others it isn't that great. Her diction is very extensive yet lacks good characterization and dialogue. But it's still a good book. I hope you guys decide to buy the book.
Another note, Peter Jackson, director of Lord of the Rings, has decided to turn the series into a movie! Wow! If the characterization is weak in the books, I'm sure he'll fix it because I know he made the characters have more depth in Lord of the Rings compared to the books.
So I hope you guys will go and buy this book series. I reccommend it. That's all for today. Until next time.
Starvix Draxon
