Thursday, September 7, 2017

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Black Powder War (Temeraire #3) by Naomi Novik


Black Powder War is the third in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series.  This is a book that continues pretty much right where book two - Throne of Jade - left off, starting with Temeraire in China and following his journey back home into two theatres - Turkey and Prussia - where Laurence and Temeraire and the crew attempt to further the British Cause.  Again, the story largely expands the world, and really introduces the disgraced dragon Lien as a new major antagonist for the series. Again, like Throne of Jade, it's an enjoyable story, and some of the new characters are nice additions, but it's really nothing special.

More after the Jump.



-------------------------------Plot Summary------------------------------
After the events of Throne of Jade, the Celestial Dragon Lien, ostracized for her coloration and with her partner dead as a result of the last book, leaves China alongside the French Ambassador.  Meanwhile, Laurence and Temeraire receive orders to find a way to Turkey to collect three valuable dragon eggs for England.  But when they finally get to Turkey and later Prussia, they find that things aren't as planned, and that Lien has joined the French to provide a major strategical advantage in order to get revenge on Temeraire.  It will take all their efforts to obtain and safeguard the new dragon eggs for England, to try and prevent a major victory for Napoleon, and not to die hundreds of miles from home...
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Like the last book, the book is clearly divided into separate parts: Part 1 being the journey from China to the Ottoman Empire (Turkey); Part 2 being the adventure in Turkey; Part 3 being the fight between the Prussian army and the French.  If there's an edge of this book over Throne of Jade, it's that there are two new characters (one human, one dragon) who are definitely interesting additions (I'm not sure they'll be in future books alas).  Also, while the result of the combat is rather predictable, unlike in Throne of Jade, the overall ending isn't quite telegraphed.

Still, this is even LESS of a stand alone book than Throne of Jade, with the ending wrapping up this arc of the story but still leaving the main characters in the middle of the war, with no satisfying resolution.  This is clearly a middle part of the 9 book series, and it shows.  There's nothing wrong with that of course, but it means you can't simply read this book as an endpoint to the series, so if you weren't liking the series after book 2, don't try reading this for completion.

In the end, the series remains fun, but I don't know, it doesn't fully strike my fancy.  In a way it reminds me a lot of MilSF (even though we're dealing with Dragons and the 1700s!), which I'm less interested in these days.  But if you like that type of work, and historical battles, you'll enjoy this book.
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