Reading roundup: Crucible of Gold
11. Naomi Novik, Crucible of Gold -- I really liked it! It might actually be my third favorite, after VoE and HMD, and thus my favorite of the books not taking place in England. Major spoilers! It's good to see Laurence back in the service. I do think he needed the interlude in Australia, and I do think he's emerged from it quite changed, but the Aerial Corps is one of the major reasons I love this series, so, yay for more of that, even though Laurence is clearly serving on his own terms now ("I cannot pretend that I am in any real sense an officer of any corps when I am determined never again to submit to orders which my own judgment should find immoral"). (Also, dramatic shaving! Offscreen, but it made me think of Aang, because you know it was dramatic.)
One of the things I noticed about Laurence is that he seems less reluctant to, well, be not quite as civilized as he normally is. Past Laurence was moved to violence (outside the line of duty or self-defense) so very rarely -- dragging Rankin to the dying Levitas was the only occasion I could recall. Thrashing Handes with the branch while they were on the island came as a bit of a shock to me (though it was certainly justified and still sort of in the line of duty), and so did Laurence mentally calling the sailors bastards ("and as for those bastards, they may go hang"). I definitely feel like he's gotten rougher around the edges in this respect, while still being the champion of morality (anti-slavery and so on, even in the case of Handes) and the perfect Victorian prude in a lot of others. (Which was sorely tested in this book by Emily's behaviour and Incan mores (Laurence having to figure out if a girl's chances of marriage have been hurt by her no longer being a virgin) and Granby's confession. Never thought I'd see the day Laurence would ask someone if he could get it up for a woman. Even in the line of duty. XD) But he is still the wonderful Laurence I love despite my general disdain for Starky characters, being so very, very moral and blaming himself for absolutely everything, including the sailor mutiny because he didn't give them enough discipline.
I also noticed some differences in Temeraire, I think. Outside of the constraints of the Corps, and probably through his exposure to more different dragons and dragon-assimilation schemes, he seems to have become more, well, draconic in his outlook. He's always been jealous of his crew and showing off Laurence to best advantage and so on, but exposure to the Incan dragon society dials the people possessiveness way up, and there were several scenes where I could hardly believe Temeraire the humanist (well, dragonist? something...) would be thinking in those terms, like when he was thinking that if Iskierka got herself killed in the trial by combat, Granby could just come back to his own crew. Granted, Temeraire and Iskierka are particularly at loggerheads at this point, but it's such a drastic thought. Also, the dragons starting to compete in whose captain has precedence, not just Iskierka, who is always contentious, but even Kulingile, after the mutiny and close call with Demane, and after Laurence tries to lecture Demane on proper behaviour of a captain. Oh, and Temeraire being jealous of any future children of Laurence, while Iskierka, on the other hand, is happily planning on putting Granby out to stud.
Speaking of Temeraire and Iskierka... huh. I certainly don't ship them, and even their bickering is such that a little of it goes a long way for me. So, from the two of them finally getting together and trying for an egg, I mainly wonder if anything will come of it, or if Lien was not just using a convenient excuse to avoid having to continuously repulse attempts by French dragons to seduce her. I do like Laurence's sudden realization that Lien as breeding consultant is a much more formidable gain for France than Lien as brood cow. But anyway, ok, that's done, and Temeraire and Iskierka did seem less bickery afterwards. Also, I was very amused that Temeraire tried his hand at cooking (for her), and wanted to report his success to Gong Su. (Speaking of dragon foodiness -- ice cream! And Iskierka not getting to have any.)
Speaking of Gong Su! That reveal was the one thing in the book I wasn't spoiled for, and I loved the scene. Laurence being all "What? WHAT?!" and Hammond being all, "No, no, it's not what you think! He's totally not a spy, he's... well, anyway, it's not what you think!" I'm not thrilled that this means the next book will be (probably?) spent in China, or en route to China (although via North America, apparently? which could be interesting). I want to get back to England! Also, speaking of Hammond, Churki adopting him was very amusing, and I generally liked Churki a lot, especially as she's older than most of the rest of the dragons we meet.
In general I really liked the Incan arrangement with dragons, and the evolution from partnership to ownership of the humans, with the associated problems, and how it was brought about by the epidemics. I liked how easily and naturally the other dragons, or at least Temeraire, slipped into a similar mindset. There was a sort of odd moment when Churki apparently refers to dragons as beasts (I'm not sure what language they were speaking at that point), which seems odd given the human-dragon relationship in the Incan empire. Also, guinea pigs! ("one fat waddling creature which looked a cross between a lap-dog and a rat, which put its nose out of doors and came towards them with every overture of friendliness.") and llamas. And dragons wearing wing-rings! (and Temeraire wanting to get his rings pierced, too XD)
There were some great moments of character interaction. Lots of fodder for Laurence/Granby, especially in the scene on the ship where Iskierka is being a pain during the storm and Purbeck threatens to shoot her, when Laurence has to drag Granby away, and the scene where the sailors mutiny on the island and Granby tries to drag Laurence out of the fighting ("We'll get into the brush--" "What?" "No, damn your stiff neck; haven't you been an aviator long enough?"), and subsequently is all "why the devil didn't you run for the forest when Roland told you? You and Laurence [...] But at least it's not too late for you to learn better" to Demane, and Granby appealing to Laurence for support during the whole disastrous marriage negotiations and painful small talk with the Sapa Inca. And, of course, the Very Awkward Conversation when Granby comes out as an "invert" (and I did like that, characteristically, Laurence's reaction was "the practice was scarcely unknown to him, coming from the Navy; he had known several fine officers addicted to the crime, their failing common knowledge but quietly ignored") and then Laurence being all "Laurence exerted an effort of will not to look at Granby's face; he would not have known of the liaison, save for Iskierka's indiscretion, and so he would not know of it" when Granby and Little are sitting next to each other.
As I mentioned, I really liked Laurence's reminiscence about his relationship with Riley when he was still in the navy, and Riley had hitched his wagon to Laurence's star (I didn't remember that Laurence had been working his way towards an admiralty post when the egg disrupted everything), and Laurence offering to help during the storm ("Tom, do you let me send Lord Purbeck to sleep, and I will second you; when he is rested he may spell you in turn"), and composing the letter to try and explain how Riley losing a transport on a calm day was not his fault, and "He hoped Riley would be mourned [by Harcourt]; Riley deserved to be mourned." :( And I did like Catherine's reaction, "Laurence, Tom is not dead?" when he asks to speak to her privately, and shedding some tears, at least, with Lily for comfort.
Laurence and Emily interaction was also priceless, from his argument that since a man can be an officer and a gentleman than Emily should be able to be an officer and a gentlewoman, too, and asking her about marriage, and being utterly discomfitted by Emily being all, "Well what about you and mom?". (I miss Jane! But Emily is a worthy successor to her in boggling Laurence's mind and laughing at his "churchiness".) Oh, and Laurence berating the guy who'd made a pass at her in Australia: "And you: your name, sir, and your commander's [...] I trust he will share my opinion of a man who cannot show decent respect either to a woman, or to a fellow officer." And Emily's opinion on the subject of getting knocked up: "Mother has told me all about that [...] and I don't mean to do anything stupid and put myself out of service for a year." Oh, oh! And Temeraire not understanding why he can't serve as Emily's chaperone. And Emily is just wonderful in general, brave and clever (getting Temeraire to contain the rowdy sailors by dropping them in his belly netting, drawing his attention by flashing his talon sheaths during the post-wreck rescue), and asking about Demane when she wakes up after the mutiny not (just) because she wants to know he's all right (though clearly she cares) but because she wants to know if he's told them about the shipwreck they found.
As I mentioned above, I was very happy to have Granby finally move from muttering disconsolately about what a horror Iskierka's behaviour is, and bribing her into very occasional compliance by wearing The Coat, to actually standing up to her, and in such a heartfelt (and downright sweet) fashion ("The most splendid thing I am ever like to have [...] is a Kazilik dragon, dear one. All I have ever wanted is to call myself a captain, in His Majesty's Corps"). I hope his serious injury / brush with death and the confrontation does bring her under control. Also, I found it very funny that Iskierka was constantly being hampered by not knowing other languages, and going, "What are you saying about me? What are you saying about Granby?" all the time while Temeraire was conversing in French or Quechua and so on. She was, of course, awesome in her trial by combat thing, which was a very exciting action scene, complete with the captains' worry and Temeraire's jealousy and thinking it was no fair that Iskierka breathed fire when the other dragon didn't know she could, and he could've managed just as well. Of course, Iskierka being martial is no surprise. Two of the most effective dragon scenes for me were amiable Kulingile massacring the sailors who dared lay hands on Demane, and Temeraire using a standing-wave version of Divine Wind to blast their pursuit out of the sky. In other dragon matters, I was very happy to see Lily and Maximus again, and the rest of the wing. I'm bummed at the lack of Perscitia (and, while I'm at it, the lack of Tharkay), but it was good to see at least them. And hee at Maximus being put out by Kulingile's size. Oh, and also, I was amused that the French dragons were impressed by Temeraire, but mostly because he was like Mme Lien. Oh, and that Shen Li, the courier, seems to lack the hoarding impulse the other dragons all have, "but perhaps long stretches in the air [...] had inclined [her] to adopt a philosophy more suited to her lot", per Temeraire. I also thought it was interesting that, as the book pointed out, the three main dragons in the action on the British side were not british at all, Temeraire being Chinese, Iskierka a Turkish breed, and Kulingile a new cross that nobody recognizes at all.
When I was reading everybody's CoG spoilers, I told lunasariel that my major NOOO for the book is not Riley's death (it's sad, for him and for Harcourt and for Laurence, and there was some nice interaction between Laurence and Riley and reminiscence in this book that makes it especially so for the latter), and not Granby losing his hand (he seems to be OK with it, and he finally stood up to Iskierka), but Napoleon divorcing Josephine. They are one of my historical ships! :( Speaking of Napoleon, I did enjoy the brief glimpse we had of him, winging it over the Atlantic to press his suit in person, and reenacting Austerlitz with pieces of potato.
I'm jumping around, so what haven't I mentioned yet? I loved that O'Dea was still around in this book, as poetically pessimistic as ever. He's such a Dolorous Edd like character, and I really like him for it. Poor Ferris! I hope he does get restored to the service, somehow, perhaps after some sort of triumph in China. I did enjoy Laurence scrupulously trying to balance Ferris and Forthing, while everything else was pretty much oblivious and defaulting to Ferris, and Forthing trying to make the best of the make-work Laurence assigned to him as a show of trust (and being useful with the turtle eggs). And, hee, Arthuriana stories and Temeraire being unimpressed with them. I was surprised that Mrs Pemberton, who seemed to be set up for something, did not play a larger role. I suppose she might yet, and she did get them in to see the Sapa Inca (and Emily into a dress for the occasion), but I suppose she's being set up for something more in the next book(s)? Also, I do wonder what's going on with the Sapa Inca, who seemed shrewed and cautious (Laurence figured her to be playing Penelope). I wonder what Napoleon had offered her or threatened her with to sway her to his side, unless there was something more going on with the attack on the British. I never particularly cared about the Tswana -- EoI is one of my less favorite books -- but I did like the alliance of mutually taking advantage they have with the French and are quite happy to abandon, and the "I do not call that a lie [...] which when believed is true" philosophy, and the ineptitude of the Portuguese negotiators in the face of the "ancestors" staying with the freed slaves who choose to remain in Brazil.
Quotes:
"Laurence knew Temeraire valued his lost captaincy all the more for blaming himself for its loss and that of the better part of Laurence's fortune. Though Laurence was unable to value either so high as the honor which he had sacrificed, Temeraire had proven unable to accept his assurances on that score: perhaps for the greater chance which the former had, of ever being restored."
"These were distinguished from the others mainly for their having had less time in their careers to demonstrate a lack of initiative or skill, so he could have some small hope of uncovering some previously hidden talent."
"[Baggy] also blushed every time he looked at Roland, despite the bandage covering half her face -- he had not much attention to give to her face -- and blushed again when he met by accident Laurence's censorious eye."
"If you mean to compromise yourself sufficiently to impose upon me the necessity of requiring Demane to fulfill the obligation which his side of those actions imply on the part of a gentleman," Laurence said grimly, "you may continue in just such a fashion, Mr.--Miss--Roland."
"What obligation?" she said, in sincere confusion, and when he had clarified his meaning an offer of marriage said impatiently, "There's nothing to require: he already has, a dozen times. But it is no good anymore, you must see that, sir."
So, anyway! This book was shiny, and made me want to hug assorted people (mostly Laurence and Granby), and made me want to read the next one.
Also: gorgeous book trailer, as seen on lunasariel's journal:
And some fan art I found, not spoilery for CoG.
Sketches
The sketches at the bottom seem to be pretty true to canon for Harcourt and baby, except for the name.
One of the things I noticed about Laurence is that he seems less reluctant to, well, be not quite as civilized as he normally is. Past Laurence was moved to violence (outside the line of duty or self-defense) so very rarely -- dragging Rankin to the dying Levitas was the only occasion I could recall. Thrashing Handes with the branch while they were on the island came as a bit of a shock to me (though it was certainly justified and still sort of in the line of duty), and so did Laurence mentally calling the sailors bastards ("and as for those bastards, they may go hang"). I definitely feel like he's gotten rougher around the edges in this respect, while still being the champion of morality (anti-slavery and so on, even in the case of Handes) and the perfect Victorian prude in a lot of others. (Which was sorely tested in this book by Emily's behaviour and Incan mores (Laurence having to figure out if a girl's chances of marriage have been hurt by her no longer being a virgin) and Granby's confession. Never thought I'd see the day Laurence would ask someone if he could get it up for a woman. Even in the line of duty. XD) But he is still the wonderful Laurence I love despite my general disdain for Starky characters, being so very, very moral and blaming himself for absolutely everything, including the sailor mutiny because he didn't give them enough discipline.
I also noticed some differences in Temeraire, I think. Outside of the constraints of the Corps, and probably through his exposure to more different dragons and dragon-assimilation schemes, he seems to have become more, well, draconic in his outlook. He's always been jealous of his crew and showing off Laurence to best advantage and so on, but exposure to the Incan dragon society dials the people possessiveness way up, and there were several scenes where I could hardly believe Temeraire the humanist (well, dragonist? something...) would be thinking in those terms, like when he was thinking that if Iskierka got herself killed in the trial by combat, Granby could just come back to his own crew. Granted, Temeraire and Iskierka are particularly at loggerheads at this point, but it's such a drastic thought. Also, the dragons starting to compete in whose captain has precedence, not just Iskierka, who is always contentious, but even Kulingile, after the mutiny and close call with Demane, and after Laurence tries to lecture Demane on proper behaviour of a captain. Oh, and Temeraire being jealous of any future children of Laurence, while Iskierka, on the other hand, is happily planning on putting Granby out to stud.
Speaking of Temeraire and Iskierka... huh. I certainly don't ship them, and even their bickering is such that a little of it goes a long way for me. So, from the two of them finally getting together and trying for an egg, I mainly wonder if anything will come of it, or if Lien was not just using a convenient excuse to avoid having to continuously repulse attempts by French dragons to seduce her. I do like Laurence's sudden realization that Lien as breeding consultant is a much more formidable gain for France than Lien as brood cow. But anyway, ok, that's done, and Temeraire and Iskierka did seem less bickery afterwards. Also, I was very amused that Temeraire tried his hand at cooking (for her), and wanted to report his success to Gong Su. (Speaking of dragon foodiness -- ice cream! And Iskierka not getting to have any.)
Speaking of Gong Su! That reveal was the one thing in the book I wasn't spoiled for, and I loved the scene. Laurence being all "What? WHAT?!" and Hammond being all, "No, no, it's not what you think! He's totally not a spy, he's... well, anyway, it's not what you think!" I'm not thrilled that this means the next book will be (probably?) spent in China, or en route to China (although via North America, apparently? which could be interesting). I want to get back to England! Also, speaking of Hammond, Churki adopting him was very amusing, and I generally liked Churki a lot, especially as she's older than most of the rest of the dragons we meet.
In general I really liked the Incan arrangement with dragons, and the evolution from partnership to ownership of the humans, with the associated problems, and how it was brought about by the epidemics. I liked how easily and naturally the other dragons, or at least Temeraire, slipped into a similar mindset. There was a sort of odd moment when Churki apparently refers to dragons as beasts (I'm not sure what language they were speaking at that point), which seems odd given the human-dragon relationship in the Incan empire. Also, guinea pigs! ("one fat waddling creature which looked a cross between a lap-dog and a rat, which put its nose out of doors and came towards them with every overture of friendliness.") and llamas. And dragons wearing wing-rings! (and Temeraire wanting to get his rings pierced, too XD)
There were some great moments of character interaction. Lots of fodder for Laurence/Granby, especially in the scene on the ship where Iskierka is being a pain during the storm and Purbeck threatens to shoot her, when Laurence has to drag Granby away, and the scene where the sailors mutiny on the island and Granby tries to drag Laurence out of the fighting ("We'll get into the brush--" "What?" "No, damn your stiff neck; haven't you been an aviator long enough?"), and subsequently is all "why the devil didn't you run for the forest when Roland told you? You and Laurence [...] But at least it's not too late for you to learn better" to Demane, and Granby appealing to Laurence for support during the whole disastrous marriage negotiations and painful small talk with the Sapa Inca. And, of course, the Very Awkward Conversation when Granby comes out as an "invert" (and I did like that, characteristically, Laurence's reaction was "the practice was scarcely unknown to him, coming from the Navy; he had known several fine officers addicted to the crime, their failing common knowledge but quietly ignored") and then Laurence being all "Laurence exerted an effort of will not to look at Granby's face; he would not have known of the liaison, save for Iskierka's indiscretion, and so he would not know of it" when Granby and Little are sitting next to each other.
As I mentioned, I really liked Laurence's reminiscence about his relationship with Riley when he was still in the navy, and Riley had hitched his wagon to Laurence's star (I didn't remember that Laurence had been working his way towards an admiralty post when the egg disrupted everything), and Laurence offering to help during the storm ("Tom, do you let me send Lord Purbeck to sleep, and I will second you; when he is rested he may spell you in turn"), and composing the letter to try and explain how Riley losing a transport on a calm day was not his fault, and "He hoped Riley would be mourned [by Harcourt]; Riley deserved to be mourned." :( And I did like Catherine's reaction, "Laurence, Tom is not dead?" when he asks to speak to her privately, and shedding some tears, at least, with Lily for comfort.
Laurence and Emily interaction was also priceless, from his argument that since a man can be an officer and a gentleman than Emily should be able to be an officer and a gentlewoman, too, and asking her about marriage, and being utterly discomfitted by Emily being all, "Well what about you and mom?". (I miss Jane! But Emily is a worthy successor to her in boggling Laurence's mind and laughing at his "churchiness".) Oh, and Laurence berating the guy who'd made a pass at her in Australia: "And you: your name, sir, and your commander's [...] I trust he will share my opinion of a man who cannot show decent respect either to a woman, or to a fellow officer." And Emily's opinion on the subject of getting knocked up: "Mother has told me all about that [...] and I don't mean to do anything stupid and put myself out of service for a year." Oh, oh! And Temeraire not understanding why he can't serve as Emily's chaperone. And Emily is just wonderful in general, brave and clever (getting Temeraire to contain the rowdy sailors by dropping them in his belly netting, drawing his attention by flashing his talon sheaths during the post-wreck rescue), and asking about Demane when she wakes up after the mutiny not (just) because she wants to know he's all right (though clearly she cares) but because she wants to know if he's told them about the shipwreck they found.
As I mentioned above, I was very happy to have Granby finally move from muttering disconsolately about what a horror Iskierka's behaviour is, and bribing her into very occasional compliance by wearing The Coat, to actually standing up to her, and in such a heartfelt (and downright sweet) fashion ("The most splendid thing I am ever like to have [...] is a Kazilik dragon, dear one. All I have ever wanted is to call myself a captain, in His Majesty's Corps"). I hope his serious injury / brush with death and the confrontation does bring her under control. Also, I found it very funny that Iskierka was constantly being hampered by not knowing other languages, and going, "What are you saying about me? What are you saying about Granby?" all the time while Temeraire was conversing in French or Quechua and so on. She was, of course, awesome in her trial by combat thing, which was a very exciting action scene, complete with the captains' worry and Temeraire's jealousy and thinking it was no fair that Iskierka breathed fire when the other dragon didn't know she could, and he could've managed just as well. Of course, Iskierka being martial is no surprise. Two of the most effective dragon scenes for me were amiable Kulingile massacring the sailors who dared lay hands on Demane, and Temeraire using a standing-wave version of Divine Wind to blast their pursuit out of the sky. In other dragon matters, I was very happy to see Lily and Maximus again, and the rest of the wing. I'm bummed at the lack of Perscitia (and, while I'm at it, the lack of Tharkay), but it was good to see at least them. And hee at Maximus being put out by Kulingile's size. Oh, and also, I was amused that the French dragons were impressed by Temeraire, but mostly because he was like Mme Lien. Oh, and that Shen Li, the courier, seems to lack the hoarding impulse the other dragons all have, "but perhaps long stretches in the air [...] had inclined [her] to adopt a philosophy more suited to her lot", per Temeraire. I also thought it was interesting that, as the book pointed out, the three main dragons in the action on the British side were not british at all, Temeraire being Chinese, Iskierka a Turkish breed, and Kulingile a new cross that nobody recognizes at all.
When I was reading everybody's CoG spoilers, I told lunasariel that my major NOOO for the book is not Riley's death (it's sad, for him and for Harcourt and for Laurence, and there was some nice interaction between Laurence and Riley and reminiscence in this book that makes it especially so for the latter), and not Granby losing his hand (he seems to be OK with it, and he finally stood up to Iskierka), but Napoleon divorcing Josephine. They are one of my historical ships! :( Speaking of Napoleon, I did enjoy the brief glimpse we had of him, winging it over the Atlantic to press his suit in person, and reenacting Austerlitz with pieces of potato.
I'm jumping around, so what haven't I mentioned yet? I loved that O'Dea was still around in this book, as poetically pessimistic as ever. He's such a Dolorous Edd like character, and I really like him for it. Poor Ferris! I hope he does get restored to the service, somehow, perhaps after some sort of triumph in China. I did enjoy Laurence scrupulously trying to balance Ferris and Forthing, while everything else was pretty much oblivious and defaulting to Ferris, and Forthing trying to make the best of the make-work Laurence assigned to him as a show of trust (and being useful with the turtle eggs). And, hee, Arthuriana stories and Temeraire being unimpressed with them. I was surprised that Mrs Pemberton, who seemed to be set up for something, did not play a larger role. I suppose she might yet, and she did get them in to see the Sapa Inca (and Emily into a dress for the occasion), but I suppose she's being set up for something more in the next book(s)? Also, I do wonder what's going on with the Sapa Inca, who seemed shrewed and cautious (Laurence figured her to be playing Penelope). I wonder what Napoleon had offered her or threatened her with to sway her to his side, unless there was something more going on with the attack on the British. I never particularly cared about the Tswana -- EoI is one of my less favorite books -- but I did like the alliance of mutually taking advantage they have with the French and are quite happy to abandon, and the "I do not call that a lie [...] which when believed is true" philosophy, and the ineptitude of the Portuguese negotiators in the face of the "ancestors" staying with the freed slaves who choose to remain in Brazil.
Quotes:
"Laurence knew Temeraire valued his lost captaincy all the more for blaming himself for its loss and that of the better part of Laurence's fortune. Though Laurence was unable to value either so high as the honor which he had sacrificed, Temeraire had proven unable to accept his assurances on that score: perhaps for the greater chance which the former had, of ever being restored."
"These were distinguished from the others mainly for their having had less time in their careers to demonstrate a lack of initiative or skill, so he could have some small hope of uncovering some previously hidden talent."
"[Baggy] also blushed every time he looked at Roland, despite the bandage covering half her face -- he had not much attention to give to her face -- and blushed again when he met by accident Laurence's censorious eye."
"If you mean to compromise yourself sufficiently to impose upon me the necessity of requiring Demane to fulfill the obligation which his side of those actions imply on the part of a gentleman," Laurence said grimly, "you may continue in just such a fashion, Mr.--Miss--Roland."
"What obligation?" she said, in sincere confusion, and when he had clarified his meaning an offer of marriage said impatiently, "There's nothing to require: he already has, a dozen times. But it is no good anymore, you must see that, sir."
So, anyway! This book was shiny, and made me want to hug assorted people (mostly Laurence and Granby), and made me want to read the next one.
Also: gorgeous book trailer, as seen on lunasariel's journal:
Click to viewAnd some fan art I found, not spoilery for CoG.
Sketches
The sketches at the bottom seem to be pretty true to canon for Harcourt and baby, except for the name.