Tongues of Serpents!
Jul. 15th, 2010 01:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
holliNew Temeraire! So exciting.
So, for starters: plot. I have to admit, I was not super-into the looooong crossing of Australia; that part of the book dragged a little for me, but the payoff was so good that I don't really mind. Also: bunyips. I continue to be fascinated by the various non-dragon (but clearly related) species that appear in these books-- and I'm intrigued by how their sentience is still left up in the air. They are intelligent to a degree, definitely-- the sea serpents can be trained, the bunyips have a clear understanding of how to lay traps-- but until someone figures out if they can speak, the question of whether they're *people* is still up in the air.
The question of whether *dragons* are people, meanwhile, has been good and answered for several books now. Around Empire of Ivory I said that the series was the story of one white British dude, learning that non-British non-white non-dudes are people too, but I don't think that's the case anymore. I think that lesson is officially learned-- but only by Laurence. Now it's time for the rest of England to get it.
It seems like "change or die" is a theme that's been increasingly prominent since at least Black Powder War. We saw the Prussians refuse to be something other than what they were, and that meant their defeat; we saw the Turks stagnating. But then we see Napoleon embrace rapid tactical changes, new strategies, the welcoming of dragons as equal partners in his world-conquering enterprise. We see China begin to look beyond its own borders; we see the Tswana take action to redress the wrongs done to their people. The Iroquois have thirty-two hatchlings this year, and most of their coastal shipping goes by dragon. (Incidentally, I just love Jacob Chukwah to pieces; he and his first mate are totally delightful. His clear glee at making all the aviators jealous was really kind of satisfying.)
And what is Britain doing? Clinging hard to the way things were. Insisting that old way of doing things is the best way, that much-mutinied-against captains must still be obeyed, that a threat to British shipping must be quashed because it is in Britain's best interest to quash it. Never mind that other countries have their own best interests. Never mind that, back in England, maybe Perscitia and her friends could do a better job of shipping freight than the human carters who want their jobs protected and the old order preserved. There are glimmers of change in Jane, in Laurence's mother, in the new freedoms for dragons won during the invasion. But Britain still has yet to make the choice: change or die. They think "stay the same" is still a valid option. Laurence has figured out that it isn't.
Okay, all of that said: stuff I liked! All the hatchlings were wonderful, although I think I'm going to have to reserve judgment on Kulingile until he gets more of a personality than "moar food plz." Casear is wonderfully slimy, and Tharunka is an absolute darling. I am intrigued by Shen Li, who is trying not to think so much. I've been wondering for a while if Chinese dragons practice Buddhism or Confucianism (at least some of them must, right?) and Shen Li sounds like she's trying to meditate, if Temeraire would just leave her alone.
I am really really DESPERATELY curious about the Americas right now. At the beginning of Tongues of Serpents (and hey, I get the name now! Hi Tharunka!) one of the convicts mentions that smallpox has ravaged the local Aborigines, and given the trade networks we see, that means it must have made its way throughout the continent. I read Charles Mann's 1491 a few months ago, which I highly recommend-- it's a great look at what the Americas may have been like before Columbus, and posits much higher population levels, and a much more heavily managed landscape, than most of us were taught in school. The book also goes into how vulnerable native populations were to European disease, and how the high death rates seriously damaged the cohesiveness of native cultures. So I'm curious about how, in the Temeraire 'verse, Native Americans seem to have weathered those epidemics a lot better than they did historically. Either the death rates were lower, or the presence of dragons somehow helped them resist European incursion anyway. Interesting! I am Very Excited to see how that turns out.
So, for starters: plot. I have to admit, I was not super-into the looooong crossing of Australia; that part of the book dragged a little for me, but the payoff was so good that I don't really mind. Also: bunyips. I continue to be fascinated by the various non-dragon (but clearly related) species that appear in these books-- and I'm intrigued by how their sentience is still left up in the air. They are intelligent to a degree, definitely-- the sea serpents can be trained, the bunyips have a clear understanding of how to lay traps-- but until someone figures out if they can speak, the question of whether they're *people* is still up in the air.
The question of whether *dragons* are people, meanwhile, has been good and answered for several books now. Around Empire of Ivory I said that the series was the story of one white British dude, learning that non-British non-white non-dudes are people too, but I don't think that's the case anymore. I think that lesson is officially learned-- but only by Laurence. Now it's time for the rest of England to get it.
It seems like "change or die" is a theme that's been increasingly prominent since at least Black Powder War. We saw the Prussians refuse to be something other than what they were, and that meant their defeat; we saw the Turks stagnating. But then we see Napoleon embrace rapid tactical changes, new strategies, the welcoming of dragons as equal partners in his world-conquering enterprise. We see China begin to look beyond its own borders; we see the Tswana take action to redress the wrongs done to their people. The Iroquois have thirty-two hatchlings this year, and most of their coastal shipping goes by dragon. (Incidentally, I just love Jacob Chukwah to pieces; he and his first mate are totally delightful. His clear glee at making all the aviators jealous was really kind of satisfying.)
And what is Britain doing? Clinging hard to the way things were. Insisting that old way of doing things is the best way, that much-mutinied-against captains must still be obeyed, that a threat to British shipping must be quashed because it is in Britain's best interest to quash it. Never mind that other countries have their own best interests. Never mind that, back in England, maybe Perscitia and her friends could do a better job of shipping freight than the human carters who want their jobs protected and the old order preserved. There are glimmers of change in Jane, in Laurence's mother, in the new freedoms for dragons won during the invasion. But Britain still has yet to make the choice: change or die. They think "stay the same" is still a valid option. Laurence has figured out that it isn't.
Okay, all of that said: stuff I liked! All the hatchlings were wonderful, although I think I'm going to have to reserve judgment on Kulingile until he gets more of a personality than "moar food plz." Casear is wonderfully slimy, and Tharunka is an absolute darling. I am intrigued by Shen Li, who is trying not to think so much. I've been wondering for a while if Chinese dragons practice Buddhism or Confucianism (at least some of them must, right?) and Shen Li sounds like she's trying to meditate, if Temeraire would just leave her alone.
I am really really DESPERATELY curious about the Americas right now. At the beginning of Tongues of Serpents (and hey, I get the name now! Hi Tharunka!) one of the convicts mentions that smallpox has ravaged the local Aborigines, and given the trade networks we see, that means it must have made its way throughout the continent. I read Charles Mann's 1491 a few months ago, which I highly recommend-- it's a great look at what the Americas may have been like before Columbus, and posits much higher population levels, and a much more heavily managed landscape, than most of us were taught in school. The book also goes into how vulnerable native populations were to European disease, and how the high death rates seriously damaged the cohesiveness of native cultures. So I'm curious about how, in the Temeraire 'verse, Native Americans seem to have weathered those epidemics a lot better than they did historically. Either the death rates were lower, or the presence of dragons somehow helped them resist European incursion anyway. Interesting! I am Very Excited to see how that turns out.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-16 03:10 am (UTC)Either the death rates were lower, or the presence of dragons somehow helped them resist European incursion anyway. Interesting!
The dragon plague was brought from the New World to the old. I wonder if any diseases have jumped between humans and dragons? If all the dragon-keeping nations have their own strains of zoonotic disease, they might have better generalized disease resistance than non-dragon-keepers-- and if nothing else, supporting dragons among humans pretty much means keeping livestock, which pretty much guarantees you'll have animal-borne germs.
no subject
Date: 2010-07-16 03:26 am (UTC)also, llamas.