League of Dragons by Naomi Novik | 2016 | Del Rey | Hardback $28
The deadly campaign in Russia has cost both Napoleon and those allied against him. Napoleon has been denied his victory… but at a terrible price. Lawrence and the dragon Temeraire pursue the fleeing French army back west, but are demoralized when Napoleon makes it back to Paris unscathed. Worse, they soon learn that the French have stolen Termeraire and Iskierka’s egg. Now, it is do or die, as our heroes not only need to save Temeraire’s offspring but also to stop Napoleon for good!
I’m so glad I started reading this series just when I did. I think I might have gone crazy having to wait too long for the last book. Turns out, I only had to wait a week — and since I preordered it, League of Dragons showed up at my door on release day! When I got the delivery notification I was too distracted to get much work done for the rest of the day.
This review does not include any spoilers, but it does assume some knowledge of the previous books in the series and, like, basic world history.
This was a pretty satisfying conclusion to the series. The adventures of the dragon Temeraire and his human William Laurence have all been leading up to this point — the climax of an AU Napoleonic War that has turned out to be more global than even WWI. By this point, the pair have traveled to five continents and encountered dragons and humans from a huge range of other breeds and cultures.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m a huge sucker for world building, and seeing how the author imagined all these different human-dragon relationships was by far my favorite thing about this series. If she ever wants to write one of those encyclopedia-like companion books with more info about dragons across cultures, I would be all over that in a heartbeat.
Alas, all stories and wars must come to an end, even for Napoleon. I was surprised but delighted by the way that Napoleon was finally “disposed of” (and the behind-the-curtain architect of this suddenly became one of my favorite characters)… although, you have to wonder if he will end up having his Waterloo in this AU, too. I think it likely. Which brings me to one of the things that I liked about this book — most of the foundational threads are tied up and it does really feel like an ending, but there are still enough questions about the future to keep a reader’s imagination going for some time. The only thing I can’t imagine is that Temeraire and Laurence will manage to stay out of trouble for very long!
However, I do think that the book wasn’t long enough and the chapters jumped around more than I would have liked. I can appreciate the fade-to-black scene change method, but when every chapter ands and begins that way it can be a bit much. Honestly, I would rather have had an extra hundred pages if it would have allowed for smoother transitions. I would have actually liked to read the scenes that were skipped over! Oh, well.
The 5-star rating is for the series as a whole. Some books were better than others. Some characters were interesting, some were pointless, some were irritating, and a few even grew on me as the series went on. The plot was perfectly paced for the most part, though there were some too-slow and too-quick spots. But overall, I gobbled up these books like a humpback whale gobbles up krill, and even after finishing the series I’m still enjoying daydreaming about the world that Novik built.
Links:
- Naomi Novik’s official website
- Author interview with NPR
- Highlights from the author’s Reddit AMA at Tor
- The Temeraire series re-read at Tor
Publication information: Novik, Naomi. League of Dragons. New York: Del Rey Books, 2016. Print.
Source: Purchased for home library.
Disclaimer: I am not compensated, monetarily or otherwise, for reviews of books or other products.
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