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What Members Thought
When I began the first, I dinged against the familiar notion of bonding with an emerging dragon—in this case by the captain of an English frigate during Napoleon's war. I read on—and within maybe ten pages of Temeraire's emergence from the egg, I was caught. First, by Temeraire himself, who is anything but a cutesy dragon, or a horror-story savage one. Temeraire is romantic in the sense of the romantic age, rather than the Romance of pretty people with powers and dog-like devoted dragons whose l
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I feel like I should have liked this. But I didn't. It's all worldbuilding, for one, and the plot is almost inessential as a result. And so I didn't care about the story at all.
Also, the worldbuilding isn't my cup of tea. The idea of dragons in Napoleonic Europe is fascinating, but Temeraire is a classic example of an overly progressive, ahead-of-his-time character. The idea that any intelligent being new to an era could immediately identify its problems and inconsistencies is something that an ...more
Also, the worldbuilding isn't my cup of tea. The idea of dragons in Napoleonic Europe is fascinating, but Temeraire is a classic example of an overly progressive, ahead-of-his-time character. The idea that any intelligent being new to an era could immediately identify its problems and inconsistencies is something that an ...more
I’ve heard this described as a Patrick O’Brian/Jane Austen cross-over with dragons, and it really is. Very well done. The library system here does not have the second book, and I am angry. Seriously, not pleased at all. (March 2008)
I knew I would love this book just from the description. The Napoleonic Wars but with dragons! How could you go wrong? Sadly, the characters were bland, the plot was bland, and the action scenes were bland. Even the romance, which had zero build-up and zero chemistry, was bland. I realize the most important relationship is between Laurence and Temeraire, but ugh, the way Laurence called him "my dear" all the time really grated on my nerves and the description of what happened to Temeraire when L
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This book was wonderful and strange. I'm not used to reading something in the Regency era that isn't from a female perspective, but it was strange in a good way, a stretching your imagination way. I thought British naval life was written with great accuracy, and the addition of dragons as an aerial corps seemed almost a natural extension. It was so incredibly refreshing and fantastic to see dragons taken out of the stereotypical sword and sorcerer novel (not that those are bad, I am all for esca
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If Horatio Hornblower had a dragon, it would probably be something like this book.
May 04, 2008
Hirondelle (not getting notifications)
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liked it
Shelves:
young-adult-and-middle-grade,
fantasy
Oct 13, 2010
Kristin
marked it as to-read
May 10, 2011
Maneesha
marked it as to-read
Oct 12, 2011
AMythicalBeast
marked it as to-read
Jul 14, 2013
Saahiti
marked it as to-read
Dec 10, 2013
Celebrilomiel
marked it as probably-will-never-find-time-for
Shelves:
0-library,
to-read-in-2025
May 11, 2014
Ali
marked it as to-read
Dec 07, 2014
Rachel
marked it as to-read
