Review - Temeraire Series
My friend, Audriel, nagged me on buying this series of books for her during a Kinokuniya discount event a while ago and, well, she seemed so enthusiastic about the books that I got a bit influenced by her exhuberance and so I bought her the books. I, myself, downloaded them.
Title: Temeraire Series:
His Majesty's Dragon
Throne of Jade
Black Powder War
Empire of Ivory
Victory of EaglesAuthor: Naomi Novikstrong
Year: 2006 - on going
Publisher: Del Ray
Price: IDR 115.000 - IDR 135.000
William Laurence is the third son of Lord Allendale, an earl. As the younger son of the family, he was actually designated to serve in the church, but he strictly wanted to become a part of the Navy -- something that his father disapproved of. While serving in the Navy, his ship comes upon a Frech ship and engages battle with the enemy, resulting the French ship overtaken by Captain Laurence's crew. They soon find out that the ship was actually a cargo for a dragon's egg. Thus in the middle of the vast ocean, the egg hatches and the dragonet attaches itself to Laurence. Once a dragonet chooses a human to harness it, it will not obey anyone except that person, which forces Laurence to forfeit his position in the Navy and join the Aerial Corps.
And starting from that point, Laurence's journey with his dragon, Temeraire, begins. They end up in the oddest places, such as China, South Africa, France, and even Australia throughout the whole series.
The thing is, well, they travel a bit too much. So there's repetitive pattern within each book,and it reaches its toll by the third so that, after that, you might get bored with all that travelling they go through. During the first two books, the characters come into the scene with such great force that they are to reckon with and you remember them quickly, but after the third, their habits and way-of-thinking get irksome and irritating, even the main characters. You'd expect after travelling so far, such an intelligent dragon as Temeraire would be able to see something from another person's point-of-view, but no. He remains very, IMHO, stupid. And irksome. And Laurence. You'd expect a former captain, who was very strict and strong in the first book, to have his feet secure in the ground till the end, but no. He's such a pushover and has no spine. I find these flaws in characterization so unappealing to the point they made me lose interest in the series at all.
That put aside, the description and the narration are wonderful. Detailed information and random facts subtly written into the sentences, perfectly braided with wit and hints of sarcasm. Sometimes the details drag on a bit, but they're most of the time, necessary.
Overall score: 3.5 - 4 out of 5