bluejayreads's review against another edition
3.75
I am generally not much for historical fiction, war books, or books that are heavy on politics, and this series is all three. But it also has dragons (and is written by the spectacular Naomi Novik), which I think is why I have stuck with it so far. But I really struggled with this one.
At the end of book two, it seemed like everything was pretty much back to normal. So I naturally assumed the whole book was moderately entertaining but irrelevant to the overall series. I was wrong. First of all, the entirety of this book is taken up with the journey back to England and the mission they did along the way. I didn’t read the back cover and didn’t realize that until the book started and Lawrence and Temeraire were still in China. And second, the experience in China seems to have shifted the entire main plot of the series. I’ll come back to this in a moment.
For the most part, this book was enjoyable. There was plenty of action and adventure and occasional shenanigans. It was fun seeing other parts of a world with dragons, including Istanbul, some other military regiments (Austrian and Prussian if I remember correctly), and some feral dragons. However, some of the challenges Temeraire and company faced felt overly contrived, especially in the beginning. And Black Powder War is so far the heaviest on the war and related politics. I’ll be honest, it got kinda dull in the middle.
Even though this book had a lot more about the war, it feels like the whole focus of the series is changing. Seeing how dragons are treated in China versus England really affected Temeraire, and his driving goal is now dragon equality. He spent most of this book trying to get Lawrence on board. It seems likely to me that this goal will become a driving force, if not the main plot, of later books. And I’m not really sure how I feel about this new direction.
Ultimately, I think I’m going to wait until Lawrence and Temeraire get back to England before I make judgements. This book didn’t have much of the relationship between Lawrence and Temeraire that I loved or any of the fun details of the aerial corps, but they did spend a remarkable amount of time trying to avoid getting killed, so it’s forgivable. I may not be much for historical fiction or war books, but I do love this idea. Considering how awesome so many of the concepts are and how much I have adored Naomi Novik’s other works, I’m disappointed to find that though I like this series, I don’t love it. I’m going to take it one book at a time and see how it goes. Maybe future books will surprise me.
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and War
Moderate: Blood, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Gun violence
Minor: Slavery, Racism, and Misogyny
crypticparchment's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: War and Death
apersonfromflorida's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: War and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Confinement, and Death
readandfindout's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.25
Style/writing: 3.5 stars
Themes: 3.5 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Plot: 2 stars
Worldbuilding: 3.5 stars
Themes: 3.5 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Plot: 2 stars
Worldbuilding: 3.5 stars
Graphic: Violence and War
Moderate: Animal death
Minor: Death
deckofdragons's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Minor: Animal death and Death
rini's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Slavery, and Violence
kathytwitch's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Still enjoying the His Majesty's Dragon sequels! This book details an arduous overland journey, with unexpected encounters, both of the human kind and dragon kind. Our dragon hero has further developed his ideas about dragons' rights, which increasingly startles his human companion.
While trials and villains make their appearance often enough to suit, this story does seem to be a bit slower paced than the first book. Perhaps that is because many of the trials are the result of the harsh country that must be traversed. There are surprising appearances of characters thought to be lost, and all in all this was another enjoyable story.
While trials and villains make their appearance often enough to suit, this story does seem to be a bit slower paced than the first book. Perhaps that is because many of the trials are the result of the harsh country that must be traversed. There are surprising appearances of characters thought to be lost, and all in all this was another enjoyable story.
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Death and Sexual content
Spoiler
Although this book more resembles a spy mission, there is still fighting and some battlefield violence. Not all of the crew who left China will arrive home in England. There are some tense moments where it appears that none of them will return home. While there's less opportunity on this cross-continent journey for human lovers to see each other, it is clear from one subtle scene that our hero is a fully mature adult male dragon who longs for his own lover's companionship.
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