Tongues of Serpents: A Novel of Temeraire [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Naomi Novik (Author)

Book Description

Series: Temeraire | Publication Date: July 13, 2010

A dazzling blend of military history, high-flying fantasy, and edge-of-your-seat adventure, Naomi Novik’s Temeraire novels, set in an alternate Napoleonic era in which intelligent dragons have been harnessed as weapons of war, are more than just perennial bestsellers—they are a worldwide phenomenon. Now, in Tongues of Serpents, Naomi Novik is back, along with the dragon Temeraire and his rider and friend, Capt. Will Laurence.

Convicted of treason despite their heroic defense against Napoleon’s invasion of England, Temeraire and Laurence—stripped of rank and standing—have been transported to the prison colony at New South Wales in distant Australia, where, it is hoped, they cannot further corrupt the British Aerial Corps with their dangerous notions of liberty for dragons. Temeraire and Laurence carry with them three dragon eggs intended to help establish a covert in the colony and destined to be handed over to such second-rate, undesirable officers as have been willing to accept so remote an assignment—including one former acquaintance, Captain Rankin, whose cruelty once cost a dragon its life.

Nor is this the greatest difficulty that confronts the exiled dragon and rider: Instead of leaving behind all the political entanglements and corruptions of the war, Laurence and Temeraire have instead sailed into a hornet’s nest of fresh complications. For the colony at New South Wales has been thrown into turmoil after the overthrow of the military governor, one William Bligh—better known as Captain Bligh, late of HMS Bounty. Bligh wastes no time in attempting to enlist Temeraire and Laurence to restore him to office, while the upstart masters of the colony are equally determined that the new arrivals should not upset a balance of power precariously tipped in their favor.
   
Eager to escape this political quagmire, Laurence and Temeraire take on a mission to find a way through the forbidding Blue Mountains and into the interior of Australia. But when one of the dragon eggs is stolen from Temeraire, the surveying expedition becomes a desperate race to recover it in time—a race that leads to a shocking discovery and a dangerous new obstacle in the global war between Britain and Napoleon.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The somber sixth installment (after 2008's Victory of Eagles) of the Napoleonic era adventures of Capt. Will Laurence and Chinese-British dragon Temeraire opens with the pair exiled to New South Wales for saving French dragons from a plague while England and France were at war. The government of the colony is hotly disputed, and both the deposed royal governor and the insurrectionists hope to ally with Laurence and his draconic companions. When a dragon egg is kidnapped, an expedition over the Blue Mountains turns into a frantic hunt for the culprits. Novik fans will be glad to see their old favorite characters growing and changing yet still very much themselves, but the lack of significant interaction with native Australian humans or dragons leaves a certain emptiness at the heart of the story, exacerbated by long stretches of travel through physical and emotional desolation.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The sixth installment of Novik's fantastic series introduces Temeraire and former captain Laurence to New South Wales. Laurence, technically a transported prisoner, is escorting three eggs to form a covert in the colony there. The eggs are destined for such second-rate officers willing to make the long trip to the remote colony, including Captain Rankin, whose cruelty killed his former dragon. On arrival, the ship is met by former governor William Bligh, deposed through mutiny by the New South Wales Corps. Bligh wants the dragons to reinstate him in his post; the mutineers are determined to retain the upper hand. Discipline is lax and quarrels are the order of the day, including those between Temeraire and Iskerria, a snobbish beast. To escape all this, Laurence and Temeraire take a mission to find a way through the Blue Mountains and explore the interior of the continent. But one of the dragon eggs is stolen, and the exploration turns into a desperate rescue mission. Temeraire fans have waited two years for this book but should find themselves richly rewarded. The characters are as riveting as ever, the setting is new but convincing, and the plot, with its first-class balancing of Laurence's and Temeraire's internal and external struggles, shows Novik's continued excellence as a novelist. --Frieda Murray

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (July 13, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345496892
• ISBN-13: 978-0345496898
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 1 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (141 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #109,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a New Yorker who writes about Napoleonic-era England, China, Istanbul, and, oh yes, dragons. My official website is at www.temeraire.org, and my livejournal there is the best way to reach me -- I am sporadic about updating and responding to comments because everything else slides when I am on a roll with writing, but I read everything posted there and always love to hear any and all comments from readers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

133 of 149 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Series unfortunately seems to be in decline, July 13, 2010

By 

T. Simons (Columbia, SC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tongues of Serpents: A Novel of Temeraire (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Unfortunately, this series seems to be in a bit of a decline, at least for me as a reader.

I read fantasy voraciously, and I'm normally a huge fan of fiction (historical and otherwise) set in this era, from Jane Austen to Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels, etc.

The first novel in this series, His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Book 1), I really enjoyed and respected -- it managed to mix fantasy elements with the historical setting in a way seemed believable and real. The most difficult thing to do in historical fiction, and especially in cross-genre historical fiction/fantasy, is to make the novel "come to life" *in the historical setting* ( a trick that only a rare few other authors have managed), to make the book read like an authentic period account.

The problem, as this series has continued, is that the character's actions have lost their ground -- I no longer feel like I'm reading a story with characters who were alive in the 18th and 19th centuries. I feel like I'm reading a story that has a bunch of modern characters in fancy dress. The moral decisions the characters make are based on modern values and modern frameworks, not period ones; the political concerns that appear to drive these later novels ( "what if dragons had meant there wasn't any imperialism or colonialism?")are concerns that almost continually force the reminder that the books are written by a modern author.

This latest volume continues that trend. The human characters just don't seem to act in a way that comes across as a realistic representation of british officers from that era -- they come across instead (the lead human character especially) as a modern individual in a period uniform. By this point in the series -- transported to Australia and finding themselves at odds with even those there as well -- he's coming very close to rejecting the worldview and value-system of his entire society, in a way that just isn't realistically believable, at least to this reader.

If that lack of period voice doesn't bother you, though, you might find this book entertaining enough. Be prepared for a plot that's a fair bit "girlier" (for lack of a better term) than the earlier novels -- the dragons seem to spend a much greater amount of time worrying about what they and their handlers are wearing, for example, than actually getting into battles of any kind, and most of the drama and tension in the novel involves a lost dragon egg. But if the above concerns aren't a problem for you, and you liked the last few books, you might find it worth reading this one as well, just to continue the story.

EDIT: After thinking about this for a while -- I really did *want* to like this book -- I think a large part of my dissatisfaction might be due to this series having made a subtle genre shift, from "historical fiction" to "alternate history" (if that distinction makes sense). The first few books were set in, and bound by, and "real" within the context of, a specific historical era (Regency/Napoleonic). By this point in the series, however, things have veered so far away from that setting -- not just in terms of historical events, but also in terms of the primary character's own mental landscapes -- that, for me at least, that sense of "reality" and believability has been lost. This may be my own personal flaw as a reader, and it may seem a silly criticism to level against a book with, you know, Dragons in, but whatever the cause, this series just isn't as enjoyable for me as it was initially. If you're more a fan of alternate history than I am, you might like this.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Lackluster installment for the Temeraire series, July 31, 2010

By 

Eric W. - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Tongues of Serpents: A Novel of Temeraire (Hardcover)

I'll spare you the summary of the book in this review and just get down to brass tacks. I'm a fan of the series (some books a little more than others) and love its premise, but was highly disappointed in this installment. This was especially upsetting coming off of the excitement and trial of Victory of Eagles. Tongue of Serpents had virtually no action, with an extremely dry, drawn-out, and boring (approximately 200 pages) chase across the Australian outback. For the first time in the series, I started skimming whole pages just to get to something interesting. Even the characters lacked substance and interest (including the new dragons).

There seemed to be sparks of plot development that could have been followed to make the story more engaging (e.g., the possible Letter of Marque and privateering for Laurence and Temeraire; engaging with Jia Zhen for opening greater trade in the port of Larrakia with China; developing some kind of relationship with the sea serpents; or even allowing Laurence to work some of his aggression out on Rankin). Unfortunately, this book seemed to be a calculated attempt to extend the series and set conditions for further installments. While a shrewd marketing plan, after waiting more than a year and a half for this book, I felt cheated as a fan. I'm also getting a little tired of how meek Laurence has become after being such a force to be reckoned with in earlier books.

If you're a fan of the series, you'll probably want to suffer through the book just so you feel complete for the next installment. But I urge you to wait for it to come out in paperback or at least get it from your local library to save the wholly unjustified $25 hardcover price.

I expect the next book to be better and truly hope that Laurence and Temeraire start displaying and engaging in acts of a little more action and excitement. I just wish I didn't have to wait another year and half for something that should have been present in this book.

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Tongue of Serpents, July 27, 2010

By 

D. Robey (Enosburg Falls, Vermont United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Tongues of Serpents: A Novel of Temeraire (Hardcover)

I am a HUGE fan of this series, but am SO disappointed in this novel. It was actually boring. I was ready for the characters to interact with foreign dragons and native people. There was little of both. The story seemed to just plod along and at the end, I wondered where the rest of the book was. The characters in this book are great, but I found most of the story boring. There didn't seem to be a lot of meat to the book. I still hold out hopes for the next book, but now the long wait starts again.....