Review - Throne of Jade
Apr. 21st, 2009 08:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wilderthanIt took me a while to read Throne of Jade, despite how much I loved Temeraire (or His Majesty's Dragon, for you non-Brits). But Black Powder War is due back at the library tomorrow, no renewal possible, so I finally raced through Throne of Jade in hopes of finishing both it and Black Powder War in time to return them to the library tomorrow. I think I might even manage it, given an hour or two of quiet to read in the morning, perhaps even in the library itself. When you actually get down to it, the books are amazingly readable and you can eat them up.
My hesitations with Throne of Jade had nothing to do with the writing, and everything to do with me being a wuss. I can't finish watching Supernatural because I'm scared that the boys I love will get hurt too much. It's the same with this. I love Temeraire and Laurence, and from the very first things are happening to them that worried me because I couldn't see how they could be resolved.
Don't let that scare you off, seriously.
For a start, Novik deals with it quite well. Laurence's sureness of Temeraire and yet his jealousy of anything that might take him away, Temeraire's confusion and his need to deal with it... The book also raises issues of civil rights: obviously a big thing in the time the book is set, due to the slave trade, but also with the dragons themselves. I don't think I've read anything like it in fantasy. No such world has been set up, where dragons have such minds of their own. The obvious comparison is Anne McCaffrey's series, but thinking back, I'm pretty sure the dragons never would have even thought about freedom in the way Temeraire does here. The contrasts between the British way of doing things and the Chinese are interesting, and I like that the conclusion isn't that the British way is better, despite the fact that it seemed fine to us in the first book. I love that stuff like that has become problematised! It's also following up on the small hints at how dragons are treated in the first book, with Rankin's treatment of Levitas being frowned upon, and yet him not being rebuked -- and Laurence forbidden to interfere.
In terms of the plot itself, I felt that parts of it were quite slow, while once they got to China, things raced along at a pretty good clip. That's partly, of course, the varying speed that I read bits at, but also a lot more seems to happen in the final section of the novel than in the previous parts. I would have liked it to be a bit longer... Parts of it seemed a little disbelievable, particularly the relatively easy resolution at the end after the whole book was full of resistance. I understood the reasoning, but wasn't quite convinced.
Character-wise, it's mostly Laurence and Temeraire again. But! I was interested in other characters, too, particularly Granby and Riley. It's a little uncomfortable that one does like Riley, and yet he's not opposed to the slave trade. I guess that does sort of throw up the whole issue of slavery again: he appears to be a good guy, but he's not opposed to the slave trade, how can you reconcile that? I don't feel like this book is really a character-book, but it has more than enough there to support the plot and keep my interest (and I am a character kind of girl).
...I used the word problematised in a review. Academia is swallowing me whole: I don't even like the word, but so many of my lecturers use it... Aaah. Anyway. Conclusion: I liked this a lot, it's well worth trying this series. This book doesn't, however, stand alone: you definitely have to start with Temeraire (His Majesty's Dragon).
My hesitations with Throne of Jade had nothing to do with the writing, and everything to do with me being a wuss. I can't finish watching Supernatural because I'm scared that the boys I love will get hurt too much. It's the same with this. I love Temeraire and Laurence, and from the very first things are happening to them that worried me because I couldn't see how they could be resolved.
Don't let that scare you off, seriously.
For a start, Novik deals with it quite well. Laurence's sureness of Temeraire and yet his jealousy of anything that might take him away, Temeraire's confusion and his need to deal with it... The book also raises issues of civil rights: obviously a big thing in the time the book is set, due to the slave trade, but also with the dragons themselves. I don't think I've read anything like it in fantasy. No such world has been set up, where dragons have such minds of their own. The obvious comparison is Anne McCaffrey's series, but thinking back, I'm pretty sure the dragons never would have even thought about freedom in the way Temeraire does here. The contrasts between the British way of doing things and the Chinese are interesting, and I like that the conclusion isn't that the British way is better, despite the fact that it seemed fine to us in the first book. I love that stuff like that has become problematised! It's also following up on the small hints at how dragons are treated in the first book, with Rankin's treatment of Levitas being frowned upon, and yet him not being rebuked -- and Laurence forbidden to interfere.
In terms of the plot itself, I felt that parts of it were quite slow, while once they got to China, things raced along at a pretty good clip. That's partly, of course, the varying speed that I read bits at, but also a lot more seems to happen in the final section of the novel than in the previous parts. I would have liked it to be a bit longer... Parts of it seemed a little disbelievable, particularly the relatively easy resolution at the end after the whole book was full of resistance. I understood the reasoning, but wasn't quite convinced.
Character-wise, it's mostly Laurence and Temeraire again. But! I was interested in other characters, too, particularly Granby and Riley. It's a little uncomfortable that one does like Riley, and yet he's not opposed to the slave trade. I guess that does sort of throw up the whole issue of slavery again: he appears to be a good guy, but he's not opposed to the slave trade, how can you reconcile that? I don't feel like this book is really a character-book, but it has more than enough there to support the plot and keep my interest (and I am a character kind of girl).
...I used the word problematised in a review. Academia is swallowing me whole: I don't even like the word, but so many of my lecturers use it... Aaah. Anyway. Conclusion: I liked this a lot, it's well worth trying this series. This book doesn't, however, stand alone: you definitely have to start with Temeraire (His Majesty's Dragon).
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Date: 2009-04-21 08:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-22 02:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-23 12:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-23 12:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-04-21 09:55 pm (UTC)A bit of character whumping doesn't bother me as long as it has resolution and they are okay in the end.
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Date: 2009-04-21 10:02 pm (UTC)