12.02.2007
This might more accurately be called His Majesty's Dragon: A Deconstruction as that is the only book I've read thus far in the series. But I'm a hundred pages into the second book and the advantages and disadvantages of the first remain, so I think it would be a fair assessment to assume that it would continue through the rest of the series.
That said...
As a fan of the Patrick O'Brian Aubrey/Maturin series, I was interested when I heard there was a new series of fantasy novels put forth positing what the Napoleonic Wars might have looked like had there been dragon "Air Corps". Flipping though the books in the store revealed a style much the same and the content is, of course interesting.
The premise is essentially that dragons have existed and the peoples of the world had bred them in different ways, most for combat, some for worship. Between England and France, there were common breeds assigned to the Air Corps that fought regularly above the English Channel. The main character is an Aubrey-like sea captain of a 36-gun frigate who captures a French ship carrying an egg. When the egg hatches, the dragon bonds instantly to this Laurence character and he finds himself transfered from the highly respected British Navy to the less so Air Corps as dragon will rarely accept a new rider after they taken a shine to one person. The Air Corps, Laurence and the reader discovers, is much like the World War II RAF protecting England much as the real life RAF did during the Battle of Britain.
And that's pretty much it.
The first book is a training novel both for the reader and the main character as much of it is spent with Laurence and the dragon named Temeraire learning about each other and aerial combat. There are a few battles but the novel's main interest seems to be enculturating the character into his new reality, one that is initially looked upon with dread as the general public views dragons as little more than beats of burden.
If a less skilled writer were to have handled the topic, the entire first novel would have condescended to the reader and perhaps over explained. Naomi Novik though handles it with grace and the kind of confidence that comes from an author who is sure in what she is doing. Nothing is over explained. In fact, she often left me wanting more explanation about certain topics. As a reader, I was rarely denied as the resolution to any questions I had were usually answered but in later places where it made more sense in the narrative to have both Laurence and the reader understand. It is a skill I wish more genre writers would acquire.
Not that the book is exactly perfect.
Novik's author biography explicitly states that she is a fan of O'Brian's work and there are times when the Navy in her story feels more like an homage to his work than an attempt at a realistic portrayal of the Navy at the time. When O'Brian would describe a ship or ship handling, he wrote with the confidence of a man who was intimately familiar with the subject as if he had recently returned from spending time in the 19th century. Novik frequently gets the larger picture right while neglecting the details. In Throne of Jade for instance, Novik describes a ship thusly:
The keel was fashioned out of steel instead of elm, and thickly covered with white paint against rust; the long white stripe running down her middle gave her an almost rakish appearance.
The keel of a ship is, of course, the center support beam that runs fore and aft along the bottom to provide support to the above framing. It might climb to the bowsprit but would never rise above the waterline on the stern. Additionally, it would be inside the the exterior planking. Therefore, the keel could be painted whichever color they wanted and it wouldn't add a thing to the appearance of the ship. The fact that it was made out of steel in 1805 is not that large of an issue for me, as will be described below.
O'Brian also displayed a mastery in describing the relative force strengths between the English and the French navies. It was a reoccurring theme throughout his books that though the British had no real means of acquiring ships except through capture, were constantly out manned and out gunned, and numerically should have lost nearly every battle they fought, the British succeeded because of something nearly undefinable. Pride, perhaps? And that quality led them to learn how to handle their ships better and fight with a passion few other nations could. But repeatedly throughout the books, O'Brian would emphasize that the French were outstanding gunners and that there were many cunning and respectable French captains.
This even handed description of forces allows the reader to feel the danger of the enemy. It also felt balanced and fair to a neutral reader. Perhaps this stems from O'Brian's having been a British author and historian with an eye towards balance lacking often in American authors.
Novik, by contrast, often seems to be more of an American Anglophile writing about the greatness of the former British Empire. Often she dismisses out of hand the capabilities of the French fleet. Witness:
"So Villeneuve has seventeen ships, to Nelson's twelve?" Sutton said. "I don't don't think much of the blighter for running, then."
...
"I dare say that the fleet could take him with fewer ships still," Laurence said, with spirit.
It would be one thing to have a non-naval officer (Sutton) speak without such knowledge but to have Laurence, very obviously a Jack Aubrey-like character, do so is disconcerting, to say the least. Sailors, at least as described in O'Brian's works are superstitious creatures who would never be caught uttering such things for fear of losing their luck.
It would also seem strange to think that, in a world where a military since the earliest days would have had dragons, there are not more basic fundamental changes to the world. All one needs to do is consider how air power changed the way in which World War II was fought over previous wars. Novik, in the above description of the ship, essentially stated that there were tall ship versions of the modern air craft carrier. This would completely rewrite force projection abilities for before and, probably, change the entire outcomes of wars throughout history.
Unless her argument is that the outcomes would have remained the same even with air power. This would be a doubtful argument to make if one considers the Pacific theater and what history might have been had air power not been available.
Therefore, it doesn't seem to be unreasonable that the keel of a ship would be laid with steel instead of wood at this early date. In fact, in a world with fire breathing dragons, I am more surprised that this seems to be the only new technology invented.
Lastly, the size of the dragons never seems to be made clear. Often, they seem to be intimate creatures, like friends and pets rolled into one. But when they go into battle, they are said to carry two dozen or more men on their backs, and be manned like ship. It is difficult to resolve this conflict as it often feels as though their size changes with the circumstances.
This may merely be my misunderstanding but I have yet to see it cleared up within the pages and it is something I would like to wrap my head around.
Where Novik has clearly spent her time is in the development of the culture of the Air Corps and in developing the breeds and personalities of the dragon characters. All three are very well developed and interesting. Dragons - not my favorite subject by any means - each have their own personality and way about them, making them as believable as any person within the books. When a dragon dies or is mistreated, I wanted to scream and maim the character responsible. And that, to me, is a feat all by its self.
The problems associated with the Navy are most likely the nitpicks of a devoted O'Brian reader because, even with the above mentioned flaws, I still find myself unable to put the books down. Too many nights have already been spent up until 5am because I can't sleep until I've finished the page, the chapter, or the section. The story is compelling, as much so as any other book I've read, inside or outside of the genre. The relationship between Laurence and Temeraire is as close as that of Aubrey and Maturin and it is refreshing to see.