I want to begin by expressing how much I HATE alternate history books. I despise them with a deep passion unknown to most lovers.
Knowing that, you now know how much I went out on a limb to read these books and how decidedly turned around this aversion became.
I was blown out of the air, so to speak. This series truly is a combination of Jane Austin's formal,clever prose and O'Brian's adventure. Yet wholly unique and fresh.
What hooked me was the hatching of Temeraire. On my first Borders visit to find new reading material, I had left off before this momentous event and thought, how dull. The second time I picked it up and read where I left off, I ventured into the dialogue after the lead dragon's hatching and was instantly hooked.
Within three weeks I read all 4 books, and now I am waiting with extreme impatience for the promised excerpt of book 5 that was supposed to have been sent to me upon signing up on www.temeraire.com.
Ms. Novik is very clever indeed. The plots are well thought out, the dialogue sparkles. The dragons are dear. A stinky mushroom for lunch that was insignificant in book 2 becomes dire by book 4. This shows a very deeply thought out continuity of plot.
The battles are frequent and exciting.
I loved them and I recommend them highly. And I am dieing for at least an excerpt from book 5.
Luckily, Ms. Novik is a fast writer. It seems like she produces one a year, possibly because they have all been under 400 pages, unlike the current trend of 1,000 pages or so. The next is due out July 2008, thank goodness. I much rather like the nice, neatly packaged book under 400 pages if there is a promise of one a year.
If my oppinion mattered I would give this series a 5/5 star rating.
Until then I am at a loss of what next to read that could possibly compare.
