Temeraire by Naomi Novik, Book 6: Tongues of Serpents

Tongues of Serpents: Book Six of Temeraire
by Naomi Novik

Originally published: 2010
Acquired and read: September 2025

In this volume of the Temeraire series, Captain Laurence—along with Temeraire, of course—has been exiled to Australia following his betrayal of Britain back in book four. Laurence must find some way to navigate no longer being allowed to serve technically, while still also being of use to his country.

I think this is probably one of the lesser installments of the series, but I still enjoyed it immensely. Novik conjures up character, place, and society with skill in equal measure; I love Laurence and Temeraire, of course, and the bits with Captain Bligh are fun but also kind of horrifying. The worst part of Temeraire's world are of course part of ours as well. Like with Throne of Jade and Horn of Ivory, some of the book hinges around discovering that a non-European society makes its own complex and interesting use of dragons. I have to say, an anti-orientalist bent is honestly not what I expected from this series going in! But it very mush is interested in using dragonriding to interrogate the way Britain sees the rest of the world. I think what hold this one back is it's more of a travelogue, without a strong sense of climax, but it was a journey I enjoyed nonetheless.

Every ten months I read an installment of Temeraire. Next up in sequence: Crucible of Gold

Temeraire by Naomi Novik, Book 5: Victory of Eagles

The Temeraire series is nine books long, and is currently being reprinted in three three-book omnibus volumes, which might lead you to think it a trilogy of trilogies (as is true of, for example, The Expanse). This is especially true because the first three books came out in rapid succession in the same year. But while there is at least one embedded trilogy in the series, it's actually books three through five. In book three, Black Powder War, Napoleon had steamrolled through continental Europe and the British dragons were weakened by disease; in book four, Empire of Ivory, Laurence was disgraced and separated from Temeraire; these cliffhangers are largely resolved by the end of book five, Victory of Eagles, which would work as a stopping point, though it also leaves a hook for more adventures.

This seems like a canny move on Novik's part; beginning her plot trilogy with the last book of a trilogy in terms of release sequence mean the people who picked up the first trilogy have to keep on going!

Victory of Eagles: Book Five of Temeraire
by Naomi Novik

Originally published: 2008
Acquired and read: November 2024

Anyway, having found the stuff about searching for the cure in Empire of Ivory a bit dull, I really enjoyed this one. Novik switches up the formula a bit; while the previous books were all told in third-person limited perspective for Laurence, this one makes Temeraire himself a viewpoint character for the first time, which is great. There are lots of intense, grueling sequences of the kind that Novik really excels at (and made Black Powder War such a good read) as the French slowly take Britain, and the British do their best to push back. Laurence's moral forthrightness has some good implications here, and I liked his reunion with Temeraire a lot. There's also some good stuff about what we're willing—and unwilling—to do in the desperation of war. Wellington appears as a minor character here, and he's excellent; Novik cleverly weaves some echoes of real history into her alternative one, especially with Nelson. Of course I love all the stuff about Laurence's stiff moral code, how could I not? Overall, I really enjoyed this one, my favorite since the first book.

I have sometimes been a bit skeptical about Novik's alternative history, to be honest. Why would all of European history basically be the same with dragons up until the 1800s, but begin diverging then? But most non-European countries seem to have quite different histories in this timeline. Obviously, this has to be the case, or you don't get 1) the fun premise of "Napoleonic War with dragons" or 2) any suspense. But her approach pays off here; because Napoleon didn't invade England in our history, it just feels utterly wrong when he is able to do so here, allowing the readers to experience the same alienation and estrangement as the characters. It's just not right that Napoleon should be in England. You feel this just like Laurence does, even if for a different reason.

Every ten months I read an installment of Temeraire. Next up in sequence: Tongues of Serpents

Temeraire by Naomi Novik, Book 4: Empire of Ivory

Empire of Ivory: Book Four of Temeraire
by Naomi Novik

Empire of Ivory begins right after the conclusion of Black Powder War, with Temeraire and his crew making it back to Britain and finding out why Britain's dragons did not come to the aid of Europe as Napoleon's forces overran the continent: a deadly sickness has spread among the dragons, incapacitating most of them.

Originally published: 2007
Acquired and read: January 2024

Without giving too much away, it turns out that Temeraire is immune to the sickness, probably as a result of something that happened to him in Africa on his long sea voyage from Britain to China in Throne of Jade. Thus, reluctantly, Will Laurence, Temeraire, and a group of sick dragons must set out for Cape Town to see if they can recover and reproduce whatever it was that made Temeraire immune.

Unfortunately, though there are lots of good moments of characterization and worldbuilding throughout the book, what results was to my mind the dullest of the Temeraire books thus far. I had a grad school professor who use to talk about the "paradox of tedium": how did you communicate the tediousness of work in your novel without the book itself becoming tedious? But if you didn't make the book itself tedious, then you failed to capture the emotional experience your book was supposedly about. I don't know if that quite applies to Empire of Ivory, but too much of the book is spent in a state of stasis, waiting to see if something works again and again and again, without much to pull the reader along. We do eventually get some more interest and complexity, and the book ends up delving into the role of dragons in (an) African society. There's some good stuff here, though the book doesn't go into as much depth as Throne of Jade did with China, and more tantalizes than spells out. It ends up feeling like a sideshow from the main plot rather than central to it.

That said, the last couple chapters were brilliant. As I am coming to realize is often the case with Novik's work, all the pieces have been carefully put into position to create a climax, and even when the positioning isn't intrinsically interesting, the climax is still highly effective. I may have found Empire of Ivory a weaker book (which isn't to say it's a bad one), but it still left me eagerly anticipating the next installment. How are they going to get out of this one?

Every ten months I read an installment of Temeraire. Next up in sequence: Victory of Eagles

Temeraire by Naomi Novik, Books 1-3: His Majesty's Dragon / Throne of Jade / Black Powder War

Temeraire: In the Service of the King: His Majesty's Dragon / Throne of Jade / Black Powder War
by Naomi Novik

I've been intrigued by the idea of the Temeraire series ever since I first heard of it—the Napoleonic War with dragons!—but never got around to reading it. I think I even checked the first couple out of the library when I was in college but had to return them before I read them. Having subsequently read and enjoyed Naomi Novik's Scholomance books and Spinning Silver, I wanted to read them even more. I was given a Temeraire book for Christmas... somewhat inexplicably, book nine of nine! So looking to fill in the rest of the series first, I discovered there was an omnibus of the first three novels from the late, lamented Science Fiction Book Club with a beautiful painted wraparound dustjacket by Todd Lockwood, and I picked it up.

Published: 2006
Acquired and read: March 2023

Periodically when reading these books, I would turn to my wife and make a remark along the lines of, "These were made for me." I have long been a fan of the Horatio Hornblower television show and novels as well as the Master and Commander film (haven't gotten around to those novels yet). It would be impossible to overstate how absolutely perfect Novik is at capturing the vibe of Napoleonic naval fiction—only, you know, it's got dragons in it. The worldbuilding totally convinces because everything totally convinces. Even before you get to dragons, the series utterly captures that world of duty and obligation and cruelty. Every time some new wrinkle was introduced, I thought to myself, "Yes, if there really were dragons during the Napoleonic Wars, that's exactly how it would be," such as when she explores the rivalry between aviators and sailors in the second book, Throne of Jade. The idea that dragons would require whole crews, not just single riders, is clever and makes for a lot of interesting dynamics.

The first book is strong, mostly serving to set up the world, characters, and situation: Will Laurence is captain of HMS Reliant, but circumstances mean he ends up bonded to a newly hatched dragon, Temeraire, and so he must give up the career he has spent his entire life in and discover an entirely different way of living. We discover the world of dragons and aviators through the eyes of Laurence, and we also experience the developing bond between aviator and dragon. I was genuinely moved by a passage where Laurence and Temeraire are almost tricked into giving each other up Laurence ends up telling Temeraire, "I would rather have you than any ship in the Navy."

It would be easy for a series like this to just be formulaic adventures. I expected it to be nine volumes of fighting Bonaparte, even if I also expected it to be good. But the series impresses in two ways as it develops across the first three books, and I imagine it will continue to go further in both areas. The first is that Novik broadens the canvas: the second novel sees Laureance and Temeraire journey to China on a British dragon transport, so we see what China and bits of the British Empire are like in the world; the third has them travel overland from China to Turkey, and then into continental Europe, expanding the world even more. The other is that many dragonrider fictions* make their dragons sentient... and then just have them happily serve their masters without complaint. The Temeraire books actually explore this, as Temeraire has a growing awareness across these three books of the ways in which he is not free, and in which he and his people are given little in the way of choice. Why should a human make a choice but a dragon be constrained? But at the same time the exigencies of war press heavily upon Captain Laurence. How can dragons make a push for freedom when all of Europe is in peril?

I enjoyed all three books collected here. As I already said, His Majesty's Dragon is a solid series opener. The long journey to China in Throne of Jade was fascinating, and the navigating of Chinese politics pulled together a lot of stuff in a clever way. The overland journey in Black Powder War was tense, and I really enjoyed the novel's second half, as Laurence, Temeraire, and crew are swept up in a series of devastating battles in continental Europe was utterly gripping, compelling reading. I am taking a bit of a break before going onto book four, but I can't wait to find out what happens next.

Every ten months I read an installment of Temeraire. Next up in sequence: Empire of Ivory

* I keep meaning to figure this out: who was it who invented the idea of the dragonrider. Was it Anne McCaffrey in Pern, or did it have some kind of predecessor I'm unaware of?