Here's the new cover art for Naomi Novik's latest Temeraire installment, Crucible of Gold. For more info about this title: Canada, USA, Europe.
Here's the blurb:
Naomi Novik’s beloved series returns, with Capt. Will Laurence and his fighting dragon Temeraire once again taking to the air against the broadsides of Napoleon’s forces and the friendly—and sometimes not-so-friendly—fire of British soldiers and politicians who continue to suspect them of divided loyalties, if not outright treason.
For Laurence and Temeraire, put out to pasture in Australia, it seems their part in the war has come to an end just when they are needed most. Newly allied with the powerful African empire of the Tswana, the French have occupied Spain and brought revolution and bloodshed to Brazil, threatening Britain’s last desperate hope to defeat Napoleon.
So the British government dispatches Arthur Hammond from China to enlist Laurence and Temeraire to negotiate a peace with the angry Tswana, who have besieged the Portuguese royal family in Rio—and as bait, Hammond bears an offer to reinstate Laurence to his former rank and seniority as a captain in the Aerial Corps. Temeraire is delighted by this sudden reversal of fortune, but Laurence is by no means sanguine, knowing from experience that personal honor and duty to one’s country do not always run on parallel tracks.
Laurence and Temeraire—joined by the egotistical fire-breather Iskierka and the still-growing Kulingile, who has already surpassed Temeraire in size—embark for Brazil, only to meet with a string of unmitigated disasters that leave the dragons and their human friends forced to make an unexpected landing in the hostile territory of the Inca empire, where they face new unanticipated dangers.
Now with the success of the mission balanced on a razor’s edge, and failure looking more likely by the minute, the unexpected arrival of an old enemy will tip the scales toward ruin. Yet even in the midst of disaster, opportunity may lurk—for one bold enough to grasp it.
One can only hope that it will be more like the first few volumes of the series, as the last two were a bit lackluster. . .
5 commentaires:
While I agree that the last book was not up to the standards of the previous volumes, I would have to disagree about Victory of Eagles.
I stopped after Victory of Eagles. I thought it was dragging pretty mightily at that point, and the reviews of the last book were pretty dismal. If I hear good things about this upcoming novel, I might immerse myself back into this series. It started off so well too. I had high hopes for Ms. Novik there at first.
I flipped through the first chapters of the last book at the book store, and was extremely unimpressed. It read like an early draft. Totally lacked either polish or flow, and the dialog struck me as something closer to overwrought fanfic based on the series than a book in its own right.
Victory of Eagles was a disappointment, but that skim left me with very little faith in Novik's ability to adequately finish off the series.
I think she was pregnant during the writing of the last book. I'm hoping that had something to do with the drop in quality and that she'll hopefully be back on her game in the next one. At least the plot description of this one seems to have more to do with the over all story line of the other books than Tongues of Serpents did.
Less world-building, more plot please.
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