Cannonball Read 10

Sticking it to Cancer One Book at a Time

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How he trained his dragon

Temeraire by Naomi Novik

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Captain Will Laurence has spent his life in the Navy, and expects it to continue that way. However, being currently embroiled in the Napoleonic Wars, that life soon comes to an end – but not through death. Instead, having captured a French ship, Captain Laurence’s ship takes its cargo as a prize…a large dragon’s egg, whose inhabitant decides upon hatching that Captain Laurence will do nicely for a handler. In this alternate history, dragons that aren’t paired with handlers tend to go feral, therefore losing whichever country that claims it as their own a very valuable asset in the aerial […]

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6/19/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:42 |

Stay out of the forest…

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

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I haven’t read any Naomi Novik before, but this was recommended on one of those ‘If you liked this, you’ll like…’ on finishing The Bear and the Nightingale, with which it shares a fairytale feel and a young woman coming of age and magic, surrounded by a malignant forest. Uprooted isn’t quite as good as The Bear and The Nightingale, but was good enough for me to note Novik as one to read more from. Agnieska lives in the village of Dvernik where, every ten years, the Dragon from a nearby tower comes and chooses a young girl to take […]

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2/25/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:12 |

Hammond looked like Pandora, the box open and horrors loose upon the world. Laurence was inclined to laugh, but he stifled it out of sympathy.

Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik

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I like fantasy novels more or less, but I find them to be rather hard to review. I think that while on the one hand, I enjoy them and even respect them, I don’t always find myself with much in the way of salient topics to discuss. So for this one, it’s more or less the case. I enjoyed it. I did take my a long time between the first in the series and this one, because I listened to that in audiobook form. And then I found that pretty much all my resources to listen to this one next […]

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2/24/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:51 |

Just Enough to Leave You Wanting More

Golden Age and Other Stories by Naomi Novik

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As it turns out, Naomi Novik also published a short collection of short stories set in the Temeraire world. Most of them are rather short, unfortunately, because I definitely enjoyed the opportunity to see the world from a perspective that wasn’t Temeraire or Laurence’s view.  All the stories involve characters already introduced, and some also have quick appearances from Temeraire.  The three longest stories focus on Jane Roland’s first big mission as captain after taking over from her mother, a woman who truly wasn’t meant to be in the Aerial Corps – definitely enjoyed getting a glimpse of the history […]

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2/18/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:21 |

Napoleon’s Last Gambit

League of Dragons by Naomi Novik

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The concluding volume of the Temeraire series starts where the previous novel ended, with the Russians and their allies in pursuit of Napoleon as he and his armies withdraw back to the safety of France.  While certainly weakened, Napoleon is not done, and still has the ability to wreak havoc, especially by using dragons and politics against his enemies. The whole series has demonstrated the vast differences in the status of dragons in countries, and focused on the inequality of their status in Europe compared to other regions such as Asia and South America.  As a result, appealing to dragons […]

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2/18/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:20 |

From the East to the West

Blood of Tyrants by Naomi Novik

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While the novels are all divided into three parts, in some the breaking points between the parts are much more obvious than others – for example, His Majesty’s Dragon basically divided as the initial time between Laurence and Temeraire, their military training, and their time on active combat duty.  For others, it was less clear and the stories bled over between parts a lot.  This novel almost feels like three novellas united in one book, but in a good way. After the mostly successful mission to Portugal, Laurence is not sure about how his solution will be received and decides […]

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1/31/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:19 |

In a land down under

Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik

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With the French pushed back in the last novel, it is now time for Laurence to face the consequences of his treason.  After Temeraire and Laurence are crucial to the British victory, rather than continued confinement, the government chooses to deport them to the penal colony of New South Wales, or Australia.  After all, Temeraire refuses to go back to the breeding grounds, and the government feels more comfortable sending a rebellious and politically minded dragon to a far away corner of the globe where he won’t be able to influence the rest of dragons and further disrupt the status […]

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1/30/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:17 |

The French are Coming – Wait, What?

Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik

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Laurence’s overarching character traits throughout the series have been his sense of duty, honor and morality (sometimes a bit stuffy and old-fashioned).  As a result, it was shocking but not out of character for him to make the decision he did in Empire of Ivory, and commit treason when the British government chose a course that conflicted with Laurence’s own sense of right and wrong.  Having seen the deadly effects of the dragon virus on the English beasts, and no longer considering dragons merely beasts such as cows or horses, but intelligent and developed beings, Laurence couldn’t stand by as […]

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1/29/2018 | 's CBR10 Review No:16 |


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