Susan Hated Literature

Author: Robin McKinley
ISBN: 0708881645 DDC: 813.54
See also LibraryThing ; Other reviews

She could not remember a time when she had not known the story; she had grown up knowing it.

Aerin is the only child of the king of Damar, yet she has never really been accepted there. The story of her mother, witchwoman who enspelled her father, has left her untrusted. Especially by the sol, the aristocracy. But slowly she finds a role and a place for herself. And in the end she is the one who becomes^[1] both inspiration and legend.

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Author: Naomi Novik
Book 4 in the Temeraire series.
ISBN: 9780007256747 DDC:
See also: LibraryThing ; Other reviews ; Novik’s LJ

“Send up another, damn you, send them all up, at once if you have to,” Laurence said savagely to poor Calloway, who did not deserve to be sworn at: the gunner was firing off the flares so quickly his hands were scorched black, skin cracking and peeling to bright red where some power had spilled onto his fingers; he was not stopping to wipe them clean before setting each flare to the match.

Dragons and the Napoleonic wars. What could possibly be better? Well, I suppose there really isn’t too much of the Napoleonic wars in this book. Laurence and Temeraire are back from their trip to China, but they had returned to a plague. The dragons of Britain are ill; some are dead and more are dying. So off they head to maybe track down a cure. And of course they get embroiled in plenty of adventures along the way.

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Author: Jim C. Hines
ISBN: 0756404002 DDC: 813.6
Group read with FantasyFavorites
Book 1 in the Jig series.
See also: LibraryThing ; Jim C Hines’ Sff site ; Backcountry Musings ; Barbarienne’s Den

Jig hated muck duty.
He didn’t mind the actual work. He liked the metallic smell of the distillation room, where week-old blood and toadstool residue dried in their trays.

Jig is a goblin; a smaller than average, weaker than average goblin. This means he gets picked on a lot. He gets a bit of a raw deal most of the time. But that is the norm for most goblins, their fate is to live underground in their tunnels, fodder for any adventurous type that might come looking for treasure, or maybe to die at the hands of the neighbouring hobgoblins. An early death is a fairly usual end; the best to be hoped for is a quick one.

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Book 3 in the Temeraire
Author: Naomi Novik
ISBN: 0345481305
DDC: 813.6
See also: LibraryThing ; Wikipedia entry ; aarti chapati

The hot wind blowing into Macao was sluggish and unrefreshing, only stirring up the rotting salt smell of the harbor, the fish-corpses and great knots of black-red seaweed, the effluvia of human and dragon wastes.

I can’t say very much about the plot of this book without giving away plot details from Book 2. I enjoyed this more than the second, maybe because I read it straight after and so was more in the mindset of the books, or maybe because I liked the story better, or maybe simply because it is a better book. Whatever the reason, if you liked the previous two books in this series you’ll want to read on.

We get yet more adventures from Temerarie and William, but we also get to see more of the world that Novik has created. Plus feral dragons and Temeraire’s desire to get home and help free British dragons from their almost-slavery.

I think my favourite character of this book is the new dragon Iskierka, although she isn’t a major character Show Spoilers ▼

she is pretty forceful. If the series continues in this manner, light adventure, then I’ll continue to read along.

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Book 2 in the Temeraire series
Author: Naomi Novik
ISBN: 0345481291
DDC: 813.6
See also: LibraryThing ; Naomi Novik’s LJ ; Sandstorm Reviews

The day was unseasonably warm for November, but in some misguided deference to the Chinese embassy, the fire in the Admiralty boardroom has been heaped excessively high, and Laurence was standing directly before it.

In the first book of this series Novik introduced the slightly alternate Napoleonic world she had created; one with dragons used as instruments of war. In this book the action moves to China. Temeraire is a Chinese dragon, not only that, but a Celestial, the breed of dragon reserved for the Imperial family, and the Chinese are not too happy that William Laurence is his captain. And from a diplomatic point of view the English government want to keep China happy, even that means sending Temeraire off to China. And because a dragon won’t easily be parted from his captain, that means that Laurence must go too.

I didn’t really enjoy this book as much as the first one, they spent far too long at sea on the transport, and although some of it was entertaining, I felt that it wasn’t as engaging as the first book. Nevertheless it is still very enjoyable and well worth the read.

Novik does a good job in expanding her ‘verse, the Chinese have a very different outlook on dragons, and this begins to impact on the relationship between Laurence and Temeraire, with Laurence wondering if perhaps the dragon would be better off staying in China.

I may not have liked it as much as the first, but I’d still recommend it.

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Author: Naomi Novik
ISBN: 0007219113
DDC: 813.6
Book #1 of the Temeraire series, aka His Majesty’s Dragon.
See also: Naomi Novik’s site; Library Thing

The deck of the French ship was slippery with blood, heaving in the choppy sea; a stroke might as easily bring down the man making it as the intended target.

William Laurence is Captain of the Reliant, an English ship, fighting the French forces of Napoleon. A few weeks out of the post of Madeira he captures a French frigate, but within the hold lies a far greater prize than the vessel herself, for there is a dragon egg. But before he can celebrate his good luck Laurence learns that the egg is near hatching. And the prize money for a feral dragon will be much reduced from that of an egg. It would also be a loss to the British war effort as they are in sore need of every dragon they can fly, so Captain Laurence decides that one of his officers must attempt to harness the beast. However, the officer chosen by lottery does not succeed, and instead Laurence himself finds the dragon talking to him. This could mean the end of life as he knows it, for all know the aviators, those who fly the dragons are not well thought of. They live apart from the rest of society, and their habits are not those of gentlemen, nor indeed to they have the time to spend with family and friends, for they are constantly needed to control their dragons. But despite this fact, he knows his duty and so accepts his new life as the dragon Temeraire captain.

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Author: Christoper Paolini
ISBN: 0552552097
DDC:813.6

Eragon is the story of a boy and his dragon, and his quest to save the world. In a way, I suppose, it is a usual fantasy story. It has the magic, the unimportant village child who turns out to be special, the older wise guide who also turns out to be more than he appeared. There is also the journey part, the being hounded by evil. The strict definition of good and evil.

Lets just say it hits a lot of cliches.

Despite that it is still an entertaining story. There are a lot of cliches, and influences from other books can be seen. But this is a YA book, it isn’t meant to be anything fantasticaly original or subversive.

Overall it is a pleasant enough read, nothing that special, but nothing terrible either. I’ll probably continue on with the series.

| Alagesia.com | The Film | SF Review |

6/10, dragon, fantasy, YA

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