Journal Entry 1 by sarradee from Dallas, Texas USA on Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Galley proofs received from DelRay to review for Armchair Interviews

My review follows:

Black Powder War is the final novel in the dragon Temeraire trilogy by Naomi Novik. A captivating blend
of fantasy and alternative military history, this book begins where Throne of Jade – the second in the
trilogy ends.

Temeraire is a Chinese Celestial dragon; one of the rarest and most prized of all dragon breeds. He and his
companion Captain Laurence and their crew have fought aerial battles against Napoleon’s armies in
England and foiled a plot to overthrow the Emperor in China. Now their adventures are pointing them
towards home, where Temeraire has plans to better the lives of his fellow dragons by educating them and
their humans.

Feeling alone and alienated in a foreign land it was with much relief that Captain Laurence received orders
to report to Istanbul posthaste to collect three dragon eggs for delivery to England. Temeraire and crew are
excited to be moving again, even though it means a long and arduous overland journey.

Braving sandstorms, raids by hostile natives, avalanches and feral dragon attacks the beleaguered group
make it nearly to their destination before discovering that Temeraire’s nemesis the albino Celestial Lien is
exiling herself to France in the interests of revenge. To make matters worse, on arrival at Istanbul not only
is the group denied the promised eggs, they are virtually imprisoned.

After great effort, Temeraire and crew recover the eggs and manage to escape Istanbul, only to find
themselves embroiled in the conflict between Prussia and France. Although suffering much hardship and
grievous loss, their fortunes are on an upswing when help arrives from an unexpected direction. Temeraire
and crew are finally heading home.

Novik has a great sense of timing, she knows just when to insert some humor so as not to make the story
too heavy. Temeraire’s reaction to the hatching of tiny fire-breathing Iskierka is priceless. This reviewer
hopes that Novik has future plans to revisit the dragons of the Aerial Corps.


I loved this trilogy. I think the author is an amazing new talent, and I hope she continues putting out new material, even if not in this series. My husband has claimed these books, so they're going in my PC for now. If he falls completely in love with them after reading, we'll buy production copies and I'll pass along the ARC's.