though if Fanshawe had not spoken in so unbecoming a way, Laurence would have liked to keep Carver out of it, as he knew the boy had a poor head for heights, which struck him as a grave impediment for an aviator.īut regular though those intervals were, they were not enough to overwhelm the blah. Laurence is determined-as any gentleman would be-to proceed in all fairness: Like when it’s discovered that the dragon egg they acquired will hatch before reaching land and one of the crew will have to bond with the hatchling, meaning that he'll be forced to leave the respectable Navy to join the disreputable Dragon Aviators. I also enjoyed Laurence’s pragmatic observations, which were quietly humorous and made me snicker at regular intervals.

Which, yes, is amusing, but not particularly clever. It seems to me that if you wish to apply laws to us, it were only reasonable to consult us on them, and from what you have read to me about Parliament, I do not think any dragons are invited to go there.' 'Some of the laws which I have heard make very little sense, and I do not know that I would obey them if it were not to oblige you. For an 'insightful' character to be perceived as insightful (for me, anyway), he needs to be spouting universal truths, timeless wisdoms, or exposing easily overlooked, but once pointed out, clear flaws in a majority mindset. I couldn’t completely enjoy his character, b/c Novik states early on that Chinese dragons are bred for intelligence, and after establishing that fact, uses him to spout insightful and ahead-of-his-time political ideals. Temeraire was probably my favorite part of the book. That's not to say it didn't have its moments. Why on earth would you write a Norrington-like character, when you could write a Will Turner:Įspecially, when the Norrington-type character has a DRAGON? B/c really? What would Norrington do with a dragon?įunnily enough, I now feel qualified to answer that question: not much. What I do know is that b/c I have James Norrington in my head, every time Laurence is on the page-and that's pretty much all the time-all I can think is: He is ostentatiously dull.Īnd while there is significant character growth throughout the book, it is completely in regards to the small-mindedness that comes with his gentleman status, having no impact whatsoever on the dull, dull, dullness of his disposition.Īnd maybe this is irrelevant, and maybe it isn't. Laurence is a Captain in the British Navy.

But UPROOTED isn't being released until May, so this is the first Novik review I've posted.

In fact, the whole reason I finally got on with reading HIS MAJESTY'S DRAGON is b/c I read and absolutely adored Uprooted.

Temeraire novik