His Majesty’s Dragon
Naomi Novik

I waited a bit too long to write this review to have a completely detailed memory of this book, but maybe I’ll reread it and fill out this brief sketch later. The thing that stands out most about this book is, of course, the style. It’s written with the dialect and rhythms of the period (beginning of the 19th century, the Napoleonic Wars), which is a bit off-putting (unless you read a lot of classical work, I suppose) until you get used to the flow. It’s very convincing, which helps – I can’t remember any anachronistic moments that jarred me out of the time period.

Also, style does not equal values, which helps… the writing of this period tends to veer toward extremes, Self v. Other — Frankenstein, written in 1818, is an excellent example. The Self is presented as invariably possessing the entire gamut of positive qualities, and the Other the entire negative spectrum. Another example that springs to mind, this one nonfiction, is the writings of the Lewis and Clark expeditions (also early 1800’s)… the contrast between their description of Native Americans who fall into the “noble savage”, semi-Self category, is radically different from the description of those who are just savages, totally Other. Both judgments are made entirely on the basis of their alliance or enmity with Lewis himself, of course. So the somewhat more nuanced values in Novik’s book are a relief to see.

I also noticed an interesting flip of a common historical-fantasy trend… usually the main characters are the mavericks, the ones breaking through a formal, rigid structure. However, Laurence’s Navy training means that he is the formal one, in contrast with the sloppy attitudes of the rest of the aviators. It took me aback at first, since I also side with the maverick role, but as it starts to have positive effects among the aviators, I fell in line with the idea.

Temeraire himself is hard to comment on as he’s still a baby and his character isn’t fully developed. His dependency and alliance to Laurence is reassuring, but I really want to see what he’s like with a strong will of his own. Even more fiercely protective of Laurence, I would imagine. I would also like someone in this series to develop a wicked sense of humor… right now it’s kind of devoid of that touch, and I kind of want it be Temeraire; he’s intelligent enough.

I have the next book, but after reading the excerpt am still bracing myself to read it… sounds like it’s going to be an unpleasant time for a bit.