Empire of Ivory

[avevale_intelligencer]

I have just finished reading this, the fourth book in the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. I've enjoyed the whole series so far, right up to the point where this book didn't quite end. The problem is a familiar one; as you get to know the characters in more depth, the stories get bigger, and you either go the JKR route and end up with huge great house bricks, or you chop the story into bits to keep the books reasonably sized. Which is all very well, but how long are we going to be hanging off this cliff before book five is written, let alone published?

Another slight niggle is that the hardback edition (yes, they're that good) of Empire of Ivory doesn't seem to have been proofread at all. There are far too many superfluous commas (in the narrative, not only in the letters and such where they seem to be in period) and botched corrections ("a the" and such like). I do hope they proof it properly before it goes to paperback. Most unprofessional.

To sum up: books one to three I can recommend whole-heartedly. After that it might be worth waiting till the next one comes out.

Comments

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

Jumped off at the end of book two, meself. I have a real problem with the internal logic of these books. It was all very well in book one, and I could just about cope with book two, but by book three I just didn't care...

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Really? I suppose if I think about it, it's not very likely that the history of the world would be *that* much the same as reality if there had been dragons roaming around since Roman times...but then if I *don't* think about it, I get to enjoy the books. :)

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

I have huge problems with the physics. If the dragons flew by magic I would find it easier, to be honest. I can't cope with the idea of them climbing up onto sailing-ship dragon carriers and not tipping the things over, for starters. Then there's the way their size varies.

It also annoys me when an American uses European history to critique American slave owning society.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Ah, sorry. No, I don't have that problem. I know dragons are physically impossible, like VTOL humanoids as in Superman, so when dragons crop up I just give physics a tenner and send it off to the pictures (which, with the gyppy tummy from the dodgy hot dogs, usually gives me time to finish the book in peace).

[batyatoon]

What I loved about the fourth book was how what looked like a throwaway scene in Book 2 is suddenly revealed to be setup for THIS.

I ... am sort of with you on the cliffhanger, though.

[zanda-myrande.livejournal.com]

Yes. Cliffhangers are fine in television when you know the next episode or the next series is coming and roughly when, or to a lesser extent in films when you know the sequel is either already in the can or definitely going to be. With books there's far less certainty and no guarantee of a time frame. A book should at least finish its own main story.

But yes, I love the actual writing. Otherwise it wouldn't bug me so much that I have to wait for the proper ending... :)