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Tooth and Claw [Paperback]

Jo Walton (Author)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)

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Book Description

January 6, 2009
Here is a tale of a family dealing with the death of their father, a son who goes to court for his inheritance, a son who agonizes over his father’s deathbed confession, a daughter who falls in love, a daughter who becomes involved in the abolition movement, and a daughter sacrificing herself for her husband.

Here is what sounds for all the world like an enjoyable Victorian novel, perhaps by Anthony Trollope…except that everyone in the story is a dragon, red in tooth and claw.

Here are politics and train stations, churchmen and family retainers, courtship, and country houses…in which, on the death of an elder, family members gather to eat the body of the deceased. In which society’s high and mighty members avail themselves of the privilege of killing and eating the weaker children, which they do with ceremony and relish, growing stronger thereby.

You have never read a novel like Tooth and Claw.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Dragons ritually eat dragons in order to gain strength and power in Walton's enthralling new fantasy (after 2002's The Prize in the Game), set amid a hierarchical society that includes a noble ruling class, an established church, servants and retainers. On the death of the dragon Bon Agornin, his parson son Penn, one of five siblings (two male and three female), declares, "We must now partake of his remains, that we might grow strong with his strength, remembering him always." But Bon's greedy son-in-law, Illustrious Daverak, consumes more than his fair share of the departed dragon, setting off a chain of unexpected and, at times, calamitous events for each sibling. Avan, the younger son, decides to litigate for compensation. One unmarried daughter, on moving in with the married sister and Daverak, discovers a house filled with injustice, while the other unmarried daughter goes off with Penn and falls in love. Full of political intrigue and romance, this provocative read sets the stage for further adventures in a world that, as the author admits in her prefatory note, "owes a lot to Anthony Trollope's Framley Parsonage." FYI: In 2002, Walton received a John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Walton says this book is "the result of wondering what a world would be like if the axioms of the sentimental Victorian novel were inescapable laws of biology." It is also something truly different in the line of the novel. After a father dies, his children must deal with the circumstances of his death. One son, a parson, agonizes over his sire's deathbed confession. Another starts a court case to gain the inheritance. One daughter must choose between her family of origin and her husband. Another falls in love, but her course does not run smoothly thereafter. So what's different about all that? Well, everyone in the story is a dragon, and in their society, children eat their deceased parents, and the stronger eat the weaker, for only by eating the flesh of its kind can a dragon achieve full strength and power. So therein lies the difference, and the distinction of a little masterpiece of originality. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Orb Books; First Edition edition (January 6, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0765319519
  • ISBN-13: 978-0765319517
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #315,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jo Walton's latest novel is AMONG OTHERS. It's a story about a science fiction reader who has fantasy problems.

Links to online reviews:

Gary Wolfe at Locus

http://www.locusmag.com/Reviews/2011/01/gary-k-wolfe-reviews-jo-walton/

Charles de Lint at F&SF

http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/2011/cdl1101.htm

Michelle West at F&SF

http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/2011/cdl1101.htm

Coleen Mondor at Bookslut

http://www.bookslut.com/bookslut_in_training/2011_01_017014.php

Natalie Luhrs at Romantic Times

http://www.rtbookreviews.com/book-review/among-others

Interviews

http://torforge.wordpress.com/2011/01/10/what-happens-after-you-save-the-world/

Her previous novels are:

The King's Peace (Tor 2000)
The King's Name (Tor 2001)
The Prize in the Game (Tor 2002)
Tooth and Claw (Tor 2003, reprinted Orb 2009)
Farthing (Tor 2006)
Ha'Penny (Tor 2007)
Half a Crown (Tor 2008)
Lifelode (NESFA 2009)

The King's Peace and The King's Name are essentially one book in two covers, read them together. The Prize in the Game is a standalone prequel. They're alternate world Arthurian, and Prize is an alternate world version of the Tain.

Tooth and Claw is a standalone fantasy novel about Victorian dragons who eat each other. It won the World Fantasy Award in 2004.

Farthing, Ha'Penny, and Half a Crown are alternate history mysteries, set in a world where WWII only lasted a year and ended in a negotiated peace, the US never joined in.
(Read _Farthing_ first. They're not the kind of books that are all one book with extra cardboard dividers, they're standalone novels, but read _Farthing_ first anyway.) Ha'Penny won the Prometheus Award.

_Lifelode_ is a novel of domestic fantasy. It won the Mythopoeic Award in 2010, and was a Tipreee Honor book.

She won the John W. Campbell Award for best new writer in 2002. She comes from Wales, but lives in Montreal where the food and books are more varied.

Her livejournal, with wordcount, poetry, recipes and occasional actual journalling, is at:

http://papersky.livejournal.com

She also blogs about old books at Tor.com:

http://www.tor.com/Jo%20Walton

 

Customer Reviews

20 Reviews
5 star:
 (13)
4 star:
 (3)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
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1 star:
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Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (20 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I only want you to marry a *certain* sort of dragon..., December 13, 2003
By 
David Roy (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tooth and Claw (Hardcover)
Some fantasy novels are epic, with rich plot lines, multiple characters on a quest to save the world from some hidden magic or powerful being. These books can be a lot of fun and very interesting, though often the plot overshadows the characters. Other fantasy novels are light and fluffy comedies where nothing much happens but they make you laugh your tail off.

Finally, there are those fantasy novels that really defy description. Tooth and Claw, by Jo Walton. As the dust jacket says, this is a novel that is based on the Victorian novels of Anthony Trollope. Walton takes the Victorian setting, and gives it huge twist: all of the characters are dragons. Yes, that's right. Fire-breathing (though not all of them do) lizards that can fly (though not all of them can). And, most importantly, proper fire-breathing dragons who have formed a society based on class structure, money (especially gold and treasure) and arranged marriage. Walton takes this concept and writes an intriguing story of family honour and love. It's a real treat to read.

The plot description doesn't sound very interesting. I think that's because this sort of plot usually does nothing for me. It does sound rather dull, doesn't it? I would not have read this book if I hadn't both received this as a review copy and been a big fan of Jo Walton. However, I'm glad I did, because I think it transcends the genre and becomes a nifty little (256 pages) novel in its own right. When I say "transcends the genre," I'm speaking as somebody who has not read any Victorian fiction, so Walton may be way off in her homage. However, Walton is good enough that I trust she hit it pretty good.

The conceit that dragons are living in a Victorian-style society is simply a wonderful concept that Walton does a lot with. She adds the proper-sounding customs and traditions (dowries, arranged marriages, family honour and the like), and then mixes that with touches of her own (the eating of the dead to make the rest of the family stronger, the binding of servants' wings so that they can't fly away and the ritual binding of the wings for religious figures) that simply add to the fantasy element but still blends favourably with the Victorian style. Every once in a while, you forget that you're reading a book about dragons, and then Walton will mention something about wings, flying, or the size of the dragons and you'll remember that she's talking about beasts that can reach up to 40 feet long.

Walton tells the tale with the gentleness and humour that, I imagine, most Victorian novels have. Her prose is again wonderful, making the genre conventions her own and putting her own spin on them. At times, the narrator of the piece intercedes to speak directly to the reader (something else that may be a genre technique, though I don't know), bringing a humour aside or clarifying a point that the reader may have missed. I thought this would be distracting, but it doesn't turn out to be. I would call the whole style of the book "pleasant." There are a couple of deaths, but only one through violence and even that is not vividly described. Thus, it is not a page-turner, and you have to lose yourself in the writing or already be a fan of this type of story in order to make it through. If this style bores you and you find you're not entranced by Walton's evocative writing, then even 256 pages will seem too long.

I haven't said anything about the characters yet, and that's mostly because there isn't a whole lot to say. They fit what I imagine are the genre character roles they are supposed to fit: women who are either looking for their place in society or who have already married and found their place, men who are either conceited in their status or just trying to make their way in the world as well as find a suitable woman to marry and have a clutch of dragonets with, servants who try not to be noticed (or, in the case of Daverak's servants, eaten), and local religious figures who are either soft and noble (Penn) or pushy and arrogant (Blessed Frelt). Walton does a great job with all of these characters, making us care about them and letting them stretch the bonds of their Victorian roles without losing the basics of them.

There is nothing deep or meaningful about Tooth and Claw, and nothing earth-shattering in its presentation. Instead, we get a delightful story that reminds us of old times, washing over us with a feeling of nostalgia and a quieter time. If you're a fan of Victorian novels, you'll probably like this one despite the fact it's about dragons. However, I don't think the reverse is true. I don't feel myself drawn to any other stories like this, and it's Walton's ability to bring me into the fold that makes this book a standout.

David Roy

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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Sick of fantasy? Rekindle the love..., April 25, 2005
Scheming clergymen. Heartfelt do-gooders. Social-climbing petty nobility. And they're all scaly, semi-bipedal, twenty-plus-foot-long dragons.

I ordinarily despise fantasy tropes such as dragons, the Good/Wee/Seelie folk and the like. I'm not even sure what led me to pick up this book in the first place--maybe the fact that Ms. Walton won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, maybe the Jane Yolen blurb on the back. But good heavens, I'm certainly glad I did.

Walton's spot-on narrative style captures the things I love best about comedies of manners, whether penned by Jane Austen or Lois McMaster Bujold. Without once becoming mired in exposition, she deftly portrays a society at once wholly alien and wholly familiar. The customs may be different, the players reptilian, but the drives and conflicts and personalities ring wonderfully true. The plot is deliciously complex, every strand woven skilfully into a lip-smackingly satisfying denouement.

Thank you, Ms. Walton, for this incredibly enjoyable read! And thank you for not ending on a cliffhanger and signaling the beginning of an interminable series... though I would, very much, like to read some more about the dragons of Agornin and their friends and foes someday. Please?

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended, March 13, 2005
By 
Seth_Saoirse (Jacksonville,FL) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tooth and Claw (Hardcover)
I hadn't planned on reading this book, I was actually looking for something by Elizabeth Moon, and due to the fact that my local bookstore employees have a terrible time properly alphabetizing the books they sell, I came across Tooth and Claw. I am delighted I did, another reviewer has mentioned the fact that on the surface the story seems rather dull, but Ms Walton has done a wonderful job blending the Victorian novel with fantastical elements, primarily dragons. Dragons who are as conceited, egotistical cruel, kind, loving, caring beings, who just happen to eat their dead and the weak.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
noble assembly, two dragonets, speaking room, bound wings, sleeping cave, young dragon
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Illustrious Daverak, Exalt Benandi, Bon Agornin, Blessed Frelt, Blest Telstie, Eminent Telstie, Planning Office, Blessed One, Exalted Benandi, Blessed Telstie, Respected Agornin, Benandi Place, Daverak House, Aunt Sel, Dignified Londaver, Majestic Tomalin, Exalted Sher Benandi, Blessed Agornin, Haner Agornin, August Fidrak, Respected Telstie, Avan Agornin, Exalt Rimalin, Blessed Penn, Exalted Rimalin
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