The SF Site: Featured Reviews Archive

The reviews are sorted alphabetically by authors' last name -- one or more pages for each letter (plus one for Mc). All but some recent reviews are listed here. Links to those reviews appear on the Recent Feature Review Page.

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Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik
reviewed by Rich Horton
Temeraire and Laurence have been transported to Australia. Laurence remains loyal to England, with misgivings, and Temeraire of course is utterly loyal to Laurence. Australia has recently undergone a sort of revolution, with the local landowners deposing the cruel and incompetent Governor Bligh (of the Bounty, yes). But this cannot stand, and Bligh angles for restoration to his seat.

Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik
reviewed by Michael M Jones
After a near-epic journey halfway across the world to China and back, surviving adventures, treachery, and battles galore, Captain Will Laurence and his dragon companion Temeraire thought they could settle back into something resembling a normal life. Normal, that is, for life in the middle of the Napoleonic Wars. Unfortunately, they've returned to a nightmare: the dragons of England's Aerial Corps lay sick and dying from a mysterious disease.

Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik
reviewed by Sherwood Smith
Laurence and his dragon team are returning to England after a spot of hot fighting. They have been away a long time, and expect (and deserve) a hero's welcome, but instead they hardly are noticed. People are inexplicably tense, and the dragon fields seem empty and untended. The truth soon comes out, despite efforts to hide it for obvious military reasons: a devastating illness is killing off the dragons one by one.

Throne of Jade and Black Powder War by Naomi Novik
reviewed by Alma A. Hromic
Despite the length (400 pages apiece) somehow both these books feel a lot shorter and "lighter" than they ought to. His Majesty's Dragon, Book 1 of the Temeraire series, was a thoroughly wonderful book. The next two books in the series (one hesitates to call it a trilogy, seeing as the author has indicated that the series will continue) feel like... they should really have been one book.

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
reviewed by Rich Horton
The novel opens with Captain Laurence, of the British Navy, capturing a French ship. On the captured ship they find a dragon's egg. Dragons are very valuable creatures, it turns out, and are used as a sort of Air Force by both sides. Dragons are intelligent, and are able to talk from the time they hatch, but they will typically bond with just one person, usually one of the first people they see upon hatching. This egg is about to hatch, and it is necessary for one of Laurence's officers to agree to bond with the dragon which is a problem.

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
reviewed by Michael M Jones
As the Napoleonic Wars rage on, the captain of the British ship, HMS Reliant, one Will Laurence accidentally gets swept up in events far greater than his own everyday experiences could ever have anticipated. The capture of a French frigate yields up a truly extraordinary prize: an unhatched dragon egg of unknown origins. When the egg hatches en route to a friendly port, the dragon within chooses to bond with Will, creating an unlikely partnership and the beginnings of a legendary friendship.

Temeraire / His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
reviewed by Alma A. Hromic
Alma couldn't seem to begin this review without gushing -- she tried it a half-dozen different ways, and it always came down to this: "Naomi Novik is one of those authors whose books, on the strength of Temeraire, I will be buying on sight from now on as soon as I see a new one in the shops. It really is that good."

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