Ever since I picked up a copy of ‘His Majesty’s Dragon’ (pretty much on a whim, the best way to pick up books sometimes) I’ve been a big fan of Naomi Novik’s ‘Temeraire’ series and get all excited whenever it starts to get close to a new book being published.
However, upon finishing ‘Empire of Ivory’ I was a little concerned that there was the danger of things getting a little stale. I felt the storyline was becoming formulaic and, as such, you could tell what was going to happen next. The cliff-hanger (at the end of ‘Empire of Ivory’) was enough, however, to persuade me to keep on with the tale and I have to say that I’m glad that I did. It’s not without it’s faults but, for me, ‘Victory of Eagles’ was a real departure from what I had come to expect from this series and I’m eagerly awaiting whatever comes next…
At the end of ‘Empire of Ivory’, Captain William Laurence was jailed for treason and Temeraire sent into captivity in the breeding grounds of Wales. However, Napoleon’s long planned invasion of England finally takes place and fate conspires to set the two friends on their way towards a reunion and a chance to take the fight back to the French. Napoleon’s tactics mean that the British army (and the Dragon Corps) must adopt an entirely new approach to warfare if they are to keep the Royal Family out of French clutches and regain control of England…
‘Victory of Eagles’ is a tale of occupation and guerrilla warfare which means that Novik is unable to pursue the usual course of taking Temeraire and Laurence to a ‘country of the day’ and have them introduced to a new breed of dragon. What the reader gets instead is quite a dark tale where desperate times call for desperate measures and everyone has to question their conscience and honour. As such; ‘Victory of Eagles’ becomes a character study of various people (mostly Laurence and Temeraire) through their reactions and deeds which throws up some interesting points… Temeraire uses the outbreak of war to advance his own plans for the equal recognition of dragons in English society. He has some success but his naivety becomes apparent in the cost that Laurence has to bear. This makes for some really touching scenes where Temeraire realises that he has hurt Laurence but doesn’t know how he did it or what he can do to make things right again.
Laurence, on the other hand, must make decisions knowing that he is already damned as a traitor but still wants to do his duty for his country. The book really hammers home the fact that Laurence is vilified by everyone and it is a credit to Novik how she uses this to make Laurence and Temeraire’s friendship stronger than ever.
The supporting cast get their fair share of page time as well with my favourites being Laurence’s former second in command Granby and his dragon Iskierka.
Iskierka really got on my nerves with her constant disregard for orders but this did make for some entertaining passages…
‘Victory of Eagles’ isn’t just about its characters though. There are plenty of exciting plot elements that will keep fans (like me!) entertained ranging from pitched aerial combat to daring covert rescue missions. The climatic battle is worth the admission price as far as I’m concerned with the Chinese dragon Lien showing another use for the awesome power of the Celestial dragon…
That’s not to say everything is all rosy in the garden though. It’s not really spoiling anything to say that Laurence and Temeraire are reunited so I’ll have a bit of a moan about how this happens. In a nutshell I thought this happened far too early on in the book when there was plenty of scope for this to be stretched to incorporate situations that would ramp up the tension and make for an even more exciting read. Instead it felt like everyone knew a reunion was going to happen so it was dealt with as quickly as possible.
I’m not going to spoil the ending for anyone who hasn’t read it but the nature of it has me a little concerned that things are about to go back to the regular formula… I hope not and, to be fair, there’s every chance that this won’t be the case. We’ll have to wait and see…
‘Victory of Eagles’ should be a welcome arrival for fans of the series, it certainly was for me. I’m now settling down to wait for Book Six…
Eight and Three Quarters out of Ten
Click Here for my review of 'Empire of Ivory'.
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