Of Swords and Parasols

Empire of Ivory is the fourth book in Naomi Novik's Temeraire series.  Featuring an alternate history set during the Napoleonic Wars, the series makes a single nod to fantasy-what if dragons really did exist and worked in society with humans-and approaches the series as historical fiction with that addition.  The series focuses on Will Lawrence, a naval captain who(with his entire crew, of course) finds a dragon egg.  When the egg hatches, the dragon-named Temeraire by Lawrence-latches on to him, and Lawrence is later forced to leave the navy and join the dragon corps, as Temeraire refuses to accept another captain.

The dragons here are not portrayed exclusively as savage beasts, nor are they portrayed as eternally wise and superior to humans.  Like humans, their intellect, manners and tempers come in all varieties, from the wild, savage dragons who have had little exposure to anything but the uncultivated wilds to the Chinese Imperials, who aretreated and expect to be treated like gods.  Like the humans they work with, the personalities of the dragons are largely formed by how they are raised, they are neither inherently savage beasts, nor  inherently wise and worldly.  In fact, most of the dragons we meet are childlike in a way, having been raised by humans.  They are very possessive of their teams of humans, and especially of their captains, who they seem to view both as parents and as treasured pets.  

Despite their treasured status, however, the dragons are largely viewed by humans as weapons and extremely valuable possessions.  In the first few books, this aspect is approached almost like the subject of women's sufferage, with Temeraire- clever on his own and well educated by Lawrence- taking on the role of the educated bluestocking trying to persuade the rest of his kind to be more independent and think more for themselves, choosing their own lives instead of letting the humans dictate their lives.  In Empire of Ivory, where Temeraire and Lawrence travel to Africa and are forced to encounter slavery and racism, it takes a darker turn, drawing parallels between the relationship between humans and dragons and master and slave.

I was a bit disgruntled reading a lot of the book, to be honest.  In terms of characterization, plotting, and execution, it was technically as good as the first three books, but it didn't grab me the way they did.  I ripped through each of the first threein as close to one sitting as I possibly could, but kept letting myself get distracted in EoI.  Each of the first three books focused on the dragons in a certain part of the world, and this was no different, but in the other three, it was immediately obvious how these encounters and explorations were vital to the larger plot.  In EoI, however, it almost feels like the plot is just an excuse at seeing more dragons.  It's not until near the end that you realize that yes, it is important, extremely important, and that Lawrence and Temeraire's earlier adventures were even more vital than they originally seemed.  The last leg also takes the series in a direction I wasn't expecting, or at least, not this soon.

When I read vol 1 of Yurara, I liked it, but was a bit disconcerted by how shojo-like it was.  That may sound odd as, like Chika Shiomi's other books, it is shojo, her books tend to be shojo more because they're about girls who kick butt than for the usual shojo hearts and flowers and romance.  Canon destroys the idea of the romantic vampire, portraying even the "heroic" and apparently eventual love interest as a near monster, and Night of the Beasts is  like a romantic fable gone horrible dark and wrong in the best way possible.  Yurara, about a teeny, clumsy girl who sees ghosts who meets two boys-cold and slightly sadistic but secretly nice Yato, and open goofbal with a darkside Mei- who are exorcists, respectively using water and fireas mediums, was just so tame and mainstream in comparison.

But I'm over that now, and while I don't love it quite as much as Night of the Beasts, I do love it.  It's more of the normal shojo high school adventures and romantic triangle than the other two, but not so much so that it annoys me, and it works well.  While either Aria or canon could squash Yurara(normal Yurara or Guardian Spirit Yurara) like a bug, I do like her, and I find Mei, with his outer goofball and inner dark angster very engaging.  I'm still most interested, however, in the oh-so-serious and repressed Yato.  Who, sadly, seems destined to be on the losing end ofthe romantic triangle, and hasn't got as much attention as Mei yet.

I admit, though, that I wish there wasn't so much emphasis on "spurred by love/desire ghosts."  In this volume, there's the girl whose boyfriend dumped her while she was dying for another girl, the pervert ghost who hit on any female ghost he could find and tried to keep them, and, of course, the ghost of Mei's dead love, who was herself possessed by another ghost to try to kill him(yes it sounds a bit convoulted, but it makes perfect sense in the book.)  Balancing it out, though, we have the ghost of Mei's mother, who won't move on because she knows her husband and three sons are the world's biggest skirtchasers, and is convinced  that the moment she's gone, they'll be bringing girls home.

On an unrelated note, I'm a bit disgruntled with the new Novik book.  In terms of quality, plot and execution, it's just as good as the first three books, but for some reason, it isn't grabbing me the way they did.  I tore through each of the first three books in as close to one sitting as I possibly could, but with this book, I put it down after reading the first part to read Yurara.  But I'm picking it back up now.