Paperback, 352 pages
English language
Published July 12, 2022 by Del Rey.
For Britain, conditions are grim: Napoleon's resurgent forces have breached the Channel and successfully invaded English soil. Napoleon's prime objective is the occupation of London. Unfortunately, the dragon Temeraire has been removed from military service--and his captain, Will Laurence, has been condemned to death for treason.
Separated by their own government and threatened at every turn by Napoleon's forces, Laurence and Temeraire must struggle to find each other amid the turmoil of war. If only they can be reunited, master and dragon might rally Britain's scattered resistance forces and take the fight to the enemy as never before, for king and country--and for their own liberty.
So many consequences. Mathematics of loss and grief and pain and duty.
The ending is a brief reprieve. I might need a beat before the next.
Victory of Eagles is the Temeraire novel that many have been waiting for: it's packed from start to finish with Napoleonic warfare augmented with flying dragons. Its blood-soaked pages are filled with plenty of combat culminating in a truly epic last act. Woven throughout is Temeraire and Lawrence's intriguing relationship, but also the advancement of our understanding of dragon culture and society. This is alternate-history worldbuilding at its finest.
On the downside, it's a depressing novel compared to the buddy adventures in the preceding stories. Lawrence's narration is filtered through the culture of an Age of Sail Captain, with its strange notions of social rules and honour. Since he is depressed, so too are many of the pages of Victory of Eagles. To balance this, Temeraire is given a direct POV, and those pages really elevate this novel beyond another Hornblower-clone. The dragon is clever and naive, but not …
Victory of Eagles is the Temeraire novel that many have been waiting for: it's packed from start to finish with Napoleonic warfare augmented with flying dragons. Its blood-soaked pages are filled with plenty of combat culminating in a truly epic last act. Woven throughout is Temeraire and Lawrence's intriguing relationship, but also the advancement of our understanding of dragon culture and society. This is alternate-history worldbuilding at its finest.
On the downside, it's a depressing novel compared to the buddy adventures in the preceding stories. Lawrence's narration is filtered through the culture of an Age of Sail Captain, with its strange notions of social rules and honour. Since he is depressed, so too are many of the pages of Victory of Eagles. To balance this, Temeraire is given a direct POV, and those pages really elevate this novel beyond another Hornblower-clone. The dragon is clever and naive, but not childish. It's a joy to read.
Highly Recommended.
