TEMERAIRE

The Book

Temeraire by Naomi Novik
Book 1 in the Temeraire series
Narrated by Simon Vance
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: ebook & audiobook

About Temeraire:

Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors rise to Britain's defense by taking to the skies . . . not aboard aircraft but atop the mighty backs of fighting dragons.

When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes its precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Capt. Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future –– and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France's own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte's boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into their own baptism of fire.

Source: Info in the "About Temeraire" was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/891592.Temeraire on 27/08/2022.

Buy Link(s):

 

My Thoughts:

I am an old fan of this author and that is the main reason that this book got bought and read. Because I was looking for more of the Uprooted reading goodness! But, I don't know... maybe I was in a reading funk... or something... this book took a whole lot longer to read/listen to, even with the convenience of the audiobook format... The story telling quality just seems to be not on par with Uprooted...

There wasn't much of a plot really. This book being the first book in the series, is mainly an introduction to the world of Temeraire, establish the characters, fights to give it dramatic flair and that is it mainly. However, I bawled my eyes out in the middle of the night of the death of a beloved character that the author killed in chapter 12! I wanted to throttle the life out of Rankin!! And that,... shows us the quality of the story telling quality of this author. The ability to spin moonbeams and rainbows essentially out of nothing...

Now, Simon Vance is an old veteran of a narrator and it shows! And oh, he does autocratic British accent really well!!

Quantitative Evaluation:

Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 4.5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 4.5
Ending = 3.5
World building = 4.5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = (10 hrs and 8 mins listening time)
Plot = 3.5
Narration = 5

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 cherries

Books In The Temeraire Series:

 

Meet The Author

About Naomi Novik:

An avid reader of fantasy literature since age six, when she first made her way through The Lord of the Rings, Naomi Novik is also a history buff with a particular interest in the Napoleonic era and a fondness for the work of Patrick O’Brian and Jane Austen. She studied English literature at Brown University, and did graduate work in computer science at Columbia University before leaving to participate in the design and development of the computer game Neverwinter Nights: Shadow of Undrentide. Over the course of a brief winter sojourn spent working on the game in Edmonton, Canada (accompanied by a truly alarming coat that now lives brooding in the depths of her closet), she realized she preferred writing to programming, and on returning to New York, decided to try her hand at novels.

Naomi lives in New York City with her husband and six computers.

www.naominovik.com | twitter | facebook | instagram | pinterest | tumblr | audible | amazon | goodreads

The Narrator

About Simon Vance:

Simon Vance is a stage, TV, and film actor who has narrated more than 200 audiobooks for which he has won multiple AudioFile Earphone Awards and Audie nominations. He has also been selected as an AudioFile Golden Voice. Formerly a BBC Radio newsreader in London, he now resides in Northern California.

simonvance.com | twitter | facebook | imdb | wikipedia | goodreads

FTC Disclosure:
The ebook and audiobook were bought with private funds.
No money received for this review.