Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik
Summary:
Tragedy has struck His Majesty’s Aerial Corps, whose magnificent fleet of fighting dragons and their human captains valiantly defend England’s shores against the encroaching armies of Napoleon Bonaparte. An epidemic of unknown origin and no known cure is decimating the noble dragons’ ranks–forcing the hopelessly stricken into quarantine. Now only Temeraire and a pack of newly recruited dragons remain uninfected–and stand as the only means of an airborne defense against France’s ever bolder sorties.
My Review:
Naomi Novik steps up the story in EMPIRE OF IVORY – while in previous novels Temeraire and Captain Laurence travel to places such as China; where dragons are treated with respect to Istanbul; where dragons are feared.
Now we view them in South Africa – as ancestors to an ancient tribe. But why are Laurence and Temeraire in Africa? That is exactly what makes this book so incredibly fascinating.
Instead of the typical strategy and war that I’ve come to expect of the Temeraire novels this book deals with an epidemic among the dragons. They are sick and dying and there is one cure that can be given to them, a cure which has its roots in Africa.
Laurence is treated with more harshness than he has been in the past in EMPIRE OF IVORY and the politics of slave-trading come to a fevered high point in this story.
It’s fascinating to me to see how the characters grow in these books and with the ending of the story it seems that Naomi Novik has finally made that step into cliff-hanger territory. I cannot imagine reading this book and having to wait months until the next one was put out.
This was the most fun I’ve had since EMPIRE OF JADE and I am looking forward to picking up VICTORY OF EAGLES.
