skygiants

Let's see how long into 2009 I am catching up for 2008! (Probably not long, actually. I just like being melodramatic.)

So: I finally read Naomi Novik's Victory of Eagles, only like half a year after the rest of the internet! I continue to find the series awesome, and . . . whatever else I could say not under a cut would probably spoil one of the books or other. SO!

I really like the way she handled Lawrence and Temeraire's separation - it wasn't too drawn out, but it gave Temeraire, especially, a chance to develop as a character apart from Lawrence and then reunited them before all the pining got too frustrating. And for all that I am usually not a big devourer of angst, I really loved Lawrence's doubts, and that moment where he says he wishes he hadn't done it. Because ow. And I liked how he had to reconsider his old rival, and the serious ethical questions that get raised in any wartime situation.

Continuing to rack up awesome points: Jane. The lady is badass! I loved everything about her until the very end, when, for all her professionalism, I am not sure that I bought her being willing to send Emily off to Australia where it would take many many months to send her back from if something happened to Jane and her dragon needed a new person. Emily has an inheritance to step into!

I loved the new dragons and I wish we'd gotten to see even more of them and their individual personalities, especially the snarky inventor dragon; they faded out a bit towards the end and were overwhelmed by Lawrence's Angst. Which, as I said above, I liked, but it does not have to be All Angst All the Time.

To conclude, I have no idea where she's going to go next and I think that's a good thing! WTF, Australia.