Book Report

All right, it’s official; I’ve lost a book. I couldn’t find The Logic of Life anywhere; not in my office, not in my bedroom or anywhere else at home I bothered to look. Nobody saw it at the department office, and I definitely never took it to class. It’s simply gone.

Anyway, one lost book means time for another.

[SPOILER ALERT: Naomi Novik’s Victory of Eagles]

At the end of Empire of Ivory, the Celestial dragon Temeraire and captain Will Laurence were forcely separated for committing the treasonous act of delivering to France the cure to the flu-like epidemic that was threatening to wipe out all of the world’s dragons. Laurence was swiftly tried and condemned for helping the enemy, while Temeraire was sent to the breeding grounds in South Wales.

Finally, in Victory of Eagles, Napoleon Bonaparte landed in England and the British Army was in retreat. Believing that Laurence was dead, Temeraire rallied the retired and unharnessed dragons at the breeding grounds to launch attacks against the invading French forces. Laurence, surviving the initial French invasion, was given a temporary reprieve to reunite with his dragon.

London fell and the British forces under the command of the future first Duke of Wellington fell back to the highlands of Scotland. In order to force Bonaparte into battle, Laurence and Temeraire were assigned, along with a small contingent of dragons, to search and destroy French raiding parties all across England sent out to gather supplies for the occupying French forces. Victory of Eagles climaxed with a massive battle in which the British Army and Aerial Corps, with the arrival of Nelson’s fleet, defeated the French forces and had Bonaparte fleeing on dragonback across the English Channel.

Naomi Novik did a splendid job with this fifth instalment of the Temeraire series. I am hoping that more will come. Have we seen the last of Bonaparte? Will Temeraire ever get to confront Lien? In the meanwhile, I’m wondering how I can get my hands on the UK release hardbound copies of the preceding four Temeraire titles for keep.