Black Powder War

Image credit: Pinterest

Jumping from one war into another, this week I left the pine forests of the Spanish Sierra and the guerilla warfare of the Civil War and traversed the deserts of the Ottoman Empire before coming to the city of Danzig, besieged by Napoleon’s forces. That’s right, in record time I have closed the cover of book 3 in Novik’s Temeraire series.

While the decadence and wonders of China have been pleasing Temeraire, Captain Will Laurence cannot wait to set sail for England. And for once, it seems that luck or the fates are on his side. Before he can prepare his crew for the long sea voyage home, new orders arrive for him and Temeraire: they are to leave China immediately and fly back to England, stopping over in Istanbul to collect three priceless dragon eggs newly purchased from the Ottoman Empire. But the journey is fraught with many perils, not least of which is the wrath of Lien who blames Temeraire for the loss of her princely companion and vows to destroy everything and everyone he holds dear.

While I found myself struggling a little bit with Throne of Jade, this book very quickly restored the love and excitement for this series that I experienced reading the first book. Whereas the conflicts of the previous book were rather more internal than anything else, the dramas of Black Powder War are compellingly external with Novik starting to throw more and more trials at our heroes. Over the course of 300+ pages we see Laurence and Temeraire combat extreme dangers of the desert, feral dragons, political conspiracies, outrageous escapes, and the terrifying advancement of the French Grande Armee. The book is compelling from the very first page; the horizons and boundaries of the world widened to encompass new friends, new foes, and new dragons.

But while it seems that our heroes are being externally battered from all sides, Novik perfectly uses these external dramas to further the character development of Laurence and Temeraire. As Temeraire sees and learns more of the wider world, he begins to have thoughts about the rights of dragonkind and starts to question, lament, and aspire to change the way in which his home country sees and treats dragons. While Laurence tries as gently as possible to mould Temeraire’s opinions so that they do not sound so rebellious, he discovers that there is some truth to his dragon’s observations and in the process of war he learns that a change of mind is sorely needed.

Image credit: NPR

There’s plenty of action, mystery, and drama sprinkled with moments of light-heartedness and comedy that makes Black Powder War a fantastic third instalment in what’s proving to be a truly captivating series.

Author: Naomi Novik, 2006

Published: First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers, 2007. Pictured paperback edition published by HarperVoyager, Great Britain, 2007.

Series: Black Powder War is the third book in Novik’s Temeraire series, following behind Temeraire, and Throne of Jade.