Not the finest entry in the sequence, being slow to gather momentum and somewhat patchy, but overall a satisfying conclusion...
Ninth, and last, of the Temeraire historical fantasy series (Blood of Tyrants, 2013, etc.), reimagining the Napoleonic Wars in a world where humans coexist with intelligent dragons.
Napoleon’s invasion of Russia has been foiled. Following his adventures in the Far East, Capt. William Laurence and his dragon partner, Temeraire, assist the Russian forces to harry the retreating French—but Napoleon escapes to Paris, where he plots a counterstroke. While raising new human armies, he promulgates a remarkable political document granting any dragons that will fight for him—including the ferals who owe allegiance to no government—autonomous territories and humane treatment. This offer proves a powerful enticement, especially to dragons from Russia (historically treated with great cruelty) and Britain (where attitudes range from callous indifference to outright hostility). Even worse, from Laurence’s viewpoint, Napoleon has stolen the egg of Temeraire (whose weapon is the Divine Wind, a rock-shattering roar) and Iskierka, his fire-breathing mate, knowing that the egg is enormously precious to them and that they will go to any lengths to recover it. So it should be a simple matter to lure Laurence and the dragons into a trap. One of the great pleasures of this long, sometimes uneven, but always fascinating series is the way Novik meticulously and patiently accumulates details of the various types of dragon, each having its particular aspect, talents, and behaviors, and the spectrum of attitudes humans hold toward them. Though employing a modern vocabulary, the early-19th-century writing style precisely captures the rhythms, manners, and sensibilities of the period. The action prose is vivid and immediate, especially when adopting a dragon’s perspective. You feel that, given the existence of dragons, the alternate history the author envisions might well have come to pass.
Not the finest entry in the sequence, being slow to gather momentum and somewhat patchy, but overall a satisfying conclusion to a remarkable series.Pub Date: June 14, 2016
ISBN: 978-0345522924
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue—murdered, it's rumored—Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders—formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill—mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-553-37445-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
A tightly wound caseworker is pushed out of his comfort zone when he’s sent to observe a remote orphanage for magical children.
Linus Baker loves rules, which makes him perfectly suited for his job as a midlevel bureaucrat working for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, where he investigates orphanages for children who can do things like make objects float, who have tails or feathers, and even those who are young witches. Linus clings to the notion that his job is about saving children from cruel or dangerous homes, but really he’s a cog in a government machine that treats magical children as second-class citizens. When Extremely Upper Management sends for Linus, he learns that his next assignment is a mission to an island orphanage for especially dangerous kids. He is to stay on the island for a month and write reports for Extremely Upper Management, which warns him to be especially meticulous in his observations. When he reaches the island, he meets extraordinary kids like Talia the gnome, Theodore the wyvern, and Chauncey, an amorphous blob whose parentage is unknown. The proprietor of the orphanage is a strange but charming man named Arthur, who makes it clear to Linus that he will do anything in his power to give his charges a loving home on the island. As Linus spends more time with Arthur and the kids, he starts to question a world that would shun them for being different, and he even develops romantic feelings for Arthur. Lambda Literary Award–winning author Klune (The Art of Breathing, 2019, etc.) has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness, and Klune aptly handles his evolving feelings and morals. The prose is a touch wooden in places, but fans of quirky fantasy will eat it up.
A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.Pub Date: March 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-21728-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2019
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