Black Powder War by Naomi Novik | book review

【 BLACK POWDER WAR 】

book #3 in the Temeraire series

Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction (Napoleonic Wars)
Audience: Adult
Author: Naomi Novik
Published: May 2006
Publisher: Del Rey
Pages: 365 (paperback)

I’m beginning to think this is going to be one of those series where I can’t help but rate every instalment five stars. I am just LOVING this. Dragons and history are truly a match made in heaven. Plus, this had double the amount of action in it that I was expecting, after the voyage-heavy plot of book two.

Being book three in a series of nine books, I did wonder whether this might plateau the story a little, but I shouldn’t have worried. This dives straight back into the plot following the events of book two, as Laurence and his crew are trying to organise leaving China. But right as they’re making preparations, an urgent summons calls for Laurence and Temeraire to speed away to Turkey to collect three dragons eggs that England has bought from Turkey.

And I really love the opportunities this opened up for exploring new territories. Instead of spending the book back on board a ship and sailing laboriously back to England, we get an over-land adventure full of new cultures, which is always exciting to see how dragons are treated in new countries, and we get a whole lot more war action that you might think.

This book is filled with plenty of emotional moments as some characters fall victim to the dangers of their mission, and some great new characters are introduced to us. We also continue to admire Temeraire and his enlightenment journey, shall we call it, and he debates ethics and morals with Laurence – and with any other dragon who will listen.

I also really enjoyed how ridiculously fast Temeraire learns language. There ain’t nothing this kid can’t do. But there’s certainly some big character growth for Temeraire in this instalment, as the line between personal want and loyalty is sorely tested (much to Laurence’s agony). Plus the introduction of the eggs storyline allows us see a new side of Temeraire that I hope we’re going to explore more in the next book.

I’m really excited to continue with this series! This got so thrilling at the conclusion of this book (with some very fun new characters thrown into the mix!) and I certainly don’t feel that the story is losing steam at all. No sir, only full steam ahead here!