SF/F Review: Tongues of Serpents (Temeraire Book #6) by Naomi Novik - Short Review: 7.5 out of 10 (1/3) https://t.co/ep6D7yAV5Y— garik16 (@garik16) December 25, 2017
Short Review (cont): The Temeraire series shifts to Australia as Laurence and Temeraire are essentially in exile. More Dragon interactions make this enjoyable despite the lack of much of an overriding plot. (2/3)— garik16 (@garik16) December 25, 2017
Tongues of Serpents is the sixth Temeraire novel, taking place after the events of Victory of Eagles. Victory was the high point of the series, featuring fantastic character work (as I've stated repeatedly, the series is best with more dragon interactions and it had plenty) as well as a well paced plot that worked really well. Tongues of Serpents is a weird follow up in that it....doesn't really have much of a plot. What it does have is more new dragons to interact with the main character and an expansion of worldbuilding.
Note: Unlike some other long-running series (like Seanan McGuire's series that I've reviewed on this blog), Tongues of Serpents makes zero attempt to try to be a starting point for new readers in the series. If you haven't read the first five books of this series, you will be well and truly lost - the main antagonist, to the extent there even IS one, in this book is a character who has basically been absent since Book 1. This is an entertaining book if you have knowledge of the prior books in the series, even if it's not the best of the series by a long shot, but it is not a starting point despite being the start of what could be seen as a new arc.
Also, I read this book as an audiobook - the first one of the series that I've read in that format, and the audio-reader is pretty good. So if you like that format, the series isn't a bad choice for the format.
------------------------------------------------Plot Summary----------------------------------------------------
After providing crucial aid to the British in repelling Napoleon from Britain, Captain William Laurence is sent with Temeraire to Australia, where he, as a convicted traitor, can simply be out of the way. Joined by Granby and his impulsive dragon Iskierka (who basically took Granby against his will), Laurence is asked to babysit three Dragon eggs - although these are not expected to be particularly worthy dragons. This task is made more difficult when Captain Rankin, the stuck up captain who abused his courier Dragon and got it killed in the first book, is sent to be the Captain of one of the eggs that hatches. Not only do Temeraire and Laurence feel Rankin is unqualified to captain another dragon, but Rankin's obsession with status and hatred of Laurence do not make anything easy.
In order to get out of the British Colony during a power struggle between the approved British governor and the local Australian settlers, the three Captains take their dragons - including Rankin on the greedy new dragon Caesar - on an exploratory trip to build a road with the help of some convicts, with the possible side goal of figuring out where smuggled goods from China are getting into the colony. But when one of the two remaining eggs is stolen in the night, the party will be forced to attempt to track the thieves through the uncharted Australian wilderness, filled with dangerous creatures. And what they find in the end threatens to change the balance of power in the sea....
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As I mentioned above, Tongues of Serpents really doesn't have an overriding plot. Basically, the main characters and several dragons go on a journey through dangerous lands, and things happen, forcing interactions between the characters. Fortunately, the book introduces several new dragons who are very amusing characters, as dragon-dragon interactions are easily the best part of the series. The book continues to switch between Temeraire and Laurence's points of view (a trend that started in Victory of Eagles) to great effect, showing really well how the two think differently about the same situation.
Again, the dragon interaction is fantastic. I miss many of the new dragons introduced in Victory of Eagles (one of whom writes a letter early on which is hilarious), but the two new dragons are amusing, even if neither is as fully developed as Temeraire or Iskierka. The two most prominent members of Laurence's crew who accompanied him to Australia, Emily Roland and Demane, are also really interesting (moreso than Laurence himself) and I really wish we could've seen more of their interactions (I suspect this will feature in the next book).
That said, the lack of a plot kind of makes this book feel awkwards at times. The book finally seems to realize that the British seem more like the bad guys than the good, which is nice, but it's still an issue where our main characters are until the very end on the side of the jerks. Hopefully the ending will carry over to the remainder of the series. And hopefully we'll get some better antagonists. The series has featured constant antagonists of spoiled titled British commanders, and they're not particularly interesting at this point (Rankin and several others fulfill the role here).
In short, if you've read and enjoyed the series through 5 books, you'll enjoy this one at least a bit, but it's certainly not a book (like Victory of Eagles) that makes a great advertisement for newcomers to the series.
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