Monday, January 15, 2018

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Crucible of Gold (Temeraire #7) by Naomi Novik




Crucible of Gold is the 7th book in Naomi Novik's "Napoleonic Wars with Dragons" series, Temeraire.  As I've stated a few times, the Temeraire series is one in which I have a weird love/don't-love (not really love/hate, but same idea) relationship - there are parts of the books I love (Dragon interactions fit this bill) and some really great characters I care about and there are parts which I very much wish weren't there.  Overall, I still clearly enjoy the series, as made pretty clear by the fact that I've now read 7 of the 9 books, but it can be very hit or miss.

Crucible of Gold is thankfully more hit than miss.  It doesn't quite match the series' high points (the first or fifth book), but is just a tier below, as it once again shifts the action by moving our characters to a new area of the globe: in this case, South America.  It also thankfully makes some effort to reduce one of the more awkward/problematic prior plots in the series (that of the Tswana from Empire of Ivory).  And it provides plenty of dragon to dragon interactions that are the series' best feature, which helps quite a bit.

Full Review after the Jump (Spoilers for the prior books are included of course, but this is not exactly a story that hinges on twists, so such spoilers aren't a big deal)

--------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-------------------------------------------------
After six books, Will Laurence has had enough - removed from the Aerial Corps due to his treason, he has finally made the choice to let it all go and to live a life where he and Temeraire try to relax in Australia, where Temeraire has been steadily building his pavilion.  Temeraire is okay with the situation himself, although he regrets being left behind and really regrets the losses Laurence has suffered on his account.

But the world is not content to let them be - and from China comes British diplomat Hammond with a desperate plan:  Britain desperately needs the help of the Portuguese, whose Brazilian colony has been under siege by the African Dragons of the Tswana people, who have allied with Napoleon in order to free the slaves taken from their continent.  As Laurence and Temeraire are one of the few British subjects with experience with the Tswana (see Empire of Ivory), Hammond has orders to reinstate Laurence to his Captaincy if he, along with Granby/Iskierga and Demane/Kulingile, heads to Brazil to help fight back against the Tswana.  As an abolitionist at heart, Laurence is not very eager to help with the plan, but he agrees out of his still-present sense of duty to England.

But what awaits the humans and dragons in South American is far more different and far more dangerous than they could have imagined, as Napoleon's designs are not simply on Brazil - instead he seeks to ally himself with the dragon-rich Incan Empire, which survived contact with the West in this world due to its mighty dragons.  Laurence and Temeraire once again find themselves not only in a conflict of ethics, but one of global diplomatic strategy that threatens to tip the balance of power fatally in Napoleon's direction
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I kind of was happy with the ending of Tongues of Serpents, as a major issue with the series has been for a while that the British are at best Jerks and at worst seem to be the Bad Guys and it always seemed kind of silly for Laurence to be following them.  So it would've been a fine ending for the series for Laurence and Temeraire to settle down in Australia, but Crucible of Gold provides good justification for continuing the series.

Particularly nice about this book is that the series resolves one of my least favorite conflicts - the Tswana.  If you skipped Empire of Ivory somehow, the Tswana were an African Nation with many powerful dragons that captured our heroes and then attacked the British settlements in Africa in order to liberate slaves taken from their people.  While our heroes are anti-slavery, the Tswana were still treated as the antagonists of that book and by some of their English allies, which well...is awkward.  This book, which features the Tswana being ferried to Brazil to free slaves by Napoleon manages to end in a way to resolve this conflict, which is a lot more satisfying.

The Incan Empire is also particularly interesting - in this alternate world, the Incans survived Pizarro thanks to their mighty force of dragons and are a mighty empire in the 1800s.  I was worried we were headed to a repeat of the Tswana, but the book treats them much better as a mighty empire.  Oh and they provide a number of excellent new dragon characters to interact with our protagonists, which is the best part of the series.

The regular cast remains excellent, with Granby of all people getting some interesting development.  Demane and Roland's relationship becomes more open, and Roland's feelings toward going further with Demane become more clear and kind of tragic, but it works really well.  And getting the characters away from Rankin helps a lot.  Even Hammond, who's meant to be sort of a thorn in the protagonists' sides in his single-minded desire to bring England new alliances without a care toward the feelings of those in his way, is kind of hilarious and lovable.

Again, the series still bothers me in some ways.  It makes sense for Laurence to be kind of old fashioned in his approach to non-marital relations and his discomfort with Roland's independence, but it's still incredibly frustrating given he's our main protagonist and the fact that the Aerial Corp tends to have a more 20th century view of such relations which Laurence has still not internalized despite years since the start of the series.  I want the best for Roland and Demane, and Laurence's behavior kind of shafts them.  Again it makes sense, but it annoys me.


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