As Napoleon retreats from Russia, hopes rally that the Emperor can finally be defeated. But he and his crafty adviser Lien have a few more tricks up their sleeve. Can Temeraire (and the other dragons of the world) resist the promise of a world where dragons are treated as equals?
Temeraire
Shipwrecked en route back to China, Will loses not only Temeraire but his memory. Stranded in a land where foreigners are forbidden by law, how can he find a crew he can’t remember – or be the credible ambassador to China his country needs him to be?
Will and Temeraire are roused from their Australian retirement with an offer they can’t refuse: full reinstatement in return for a voyage to Brazil to try and forge a peace between the Portuguese colonies and Napoleon’s imported Tswana shock troops. Can they redeem themselves in the eyes of England?
Will Laurence and Temeraire have been banished to Australia to establish new breeding grounds, convicts in all but name. But the colony is mutinous, its Governor in exile, and the continent hazardous, with no obvious opportunities for redemption…
Captain Will Laurence has been sentenced to death for treason. He will continue to live only so long as Temeraire, banished to the Welsh breeding grounds, continues to cooperate. With British dragondom badly depleted by sickness, Napoleon seizes his chance to invade. Can our boys earn their freedom in defence of King and country?
I was recently burrowing deep down a rabbit hole as I attempted to write a review, and I found myself discussing characters in terms of their Hogwarts houses. I wasn’t meant to be writing about Harry Potter, but (no surprises) it was far too much fun not to. How would you sort your favourite characters from other worlds?
Laurence and Temeraire return home to discover that British dragons are dying of a fatal illness. The Aerial Corps is grounded, leaving the country exposed to Napoleon and Lien. A belated insight dispatches the boys and their ailing friends to Africa in the hope of finding a cure – but nobody has ever returned from an expedition to the interior…
Temeraire and Laurence are becalmed in Macau when new orders arrive, bidding them hasten to Istanbul to collect much-needed eggs. Our boys have a desperate choice: to dare the dangerous overland route or go by sea and risk arriving months too late for the hatching. Will they make it in time?
Revealed as a Chinese Celestial, Temeraire has become an international incident: the Chinese have sent a delegation to bring him home, and the Admiralty are minded to agree in the interests of diplomatic relations. Will our boys be separated?
The second half of the voyage to Beijing is as eventful as the first, with sickness, sea serpents and suspected assassins to contend with. But no matter how hard Yongxing tries, there’s no separating our boys…
It’s a long float to China, which provides ample opportunity for friction. As tempers fray, Yongxing steps up his campaign to win over Temeraire and Will finds himself on the back foot – and he is all too aware that the Prince will have the upper hand once they arrive in China…
I could dress this up ten ways from Sunday, but why bother: Temeraire is the Napoleonic War with added dragons, and if that doesn’t float your boat then I don’t know what to say. I fell head over heels with this historical bromance cum fantasy of manners, because it is glorious. And it has dragons.
It’s been some months since the decisive victory in the Channel, but Captain Laurence and our favourite dragon have a new problem: a Chinese prince, who is insisting the stolen dragon be returned to the Emperor; and an Admiralty who are minded to give him what he wants…
It’s time to go to war: Laurence, Temeraire and the younger dragons are left to patrol the Channel as the British gather their forces to defeat Napoleon at Cadiz. But the French emperor has a trick or two up his sleeve…
Captain Laurence and Temeraire have settled into life at Loch Laggan and got down to the important things: formation flying and picking their crew. But with the pressure from Napoleon increasing daily, are they ready for active service?
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