Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik
Empire of Ivory is the fourth book in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. Featuring an alternate history set during the Napoleonic Wars, the series makes a single nod to fantasy-what if dragons really did exist and worked in society with humans-and approaches the series as historical fiction with that addition. The series focuses on Will Lawrence, a naval captain who(with his entire crew, of course) finds a dragon egg. When the egg hatches, the dragon-named Temeraire by Lawrence-latches on to him, and Lawrence is later forced to leave the navy and join the dragon corps, as Temeraire refuses to accept another captain.
The dragons here are not portrayed exclusively as savage beasts, nor are they portrayed as eternally wise and superior to humans. Like humans, their intellect, manners and tempers come in all varieties, from the wild, savage dragons who have had little exposure to anything but the uncultivated wilds to the Chinese Imperials, who aretreated and expect to be treated like gods. Like the humans they work with, the personalities of the dragons are largely formed by how they are raised, they are neither inherently savage beasts, nor inherently wise and worldly. In fact, most of the dragons we meet are childlike in a way, having been raised by humans. They are very possessive of their teams of humans, and especially of their captains, who they seem to view both as parents and as treasured pets.
Despite their treasured status, however, the dragons are largely viewed by humans as weapons and extremely valuable possessions. In the first few books, this aspect is approached almost like the subject of women's sufferage, with Temeraire- clever on his own and well educated by Lawrence- taking on the role of the educated bluestocking trying to persuade the rest of his kind to be more independent and think more for themselves, choosing their own lives instead of letting the humans dictate their lives. In Empire of Ivory, where Temeraire and Lawrence travel to Africa and are forced to encounter slavery and racism, it takes a darker turn, drawing parallels between the relationship between humans and dragons and master and slave.
I was a bit disgruntled reading a lot of the book, to be honest. In terms of characterization, plotting, and execution, it was technically as good as the first three books, but it didn't grab me the way they did. I ripped through each of the first threein as close to one sitting as I possibly could, but kept letting myself get distracted in EoI. Each of the first three books focused on the dragons in a certain part of the world, and this was no different, but in the other three, it was immediately obvious how these encounters and explorations were vital to the larger plot. In EoI, however, it almost feels like the plot is just an excuse at seeing more dragons. It's not until near the end that you realize that yes, it is important, extremely important, and that Lawrence and Temeraire's earlier adventures were even more vital than they originally seemed. The last leg also takes the series in a direction I wasn't expecting, or at least, not this soon.