 |
| Click the picture to purchase and support. |
The seventh installment of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series,
Crucible of Gold, once again puts Laurence and
his dragon in the move. This time they embark on a trip to South America in
order to forestall an attack by the French ally Tswana on the Portuguese
colonies. As Napoleon seemingly spreads his fingers deep into the world,
Laurence and his dragon band seem to find ways to meet him at every stop.
Restored to his rank, Laurence witnesses the destruction of his dragon
transport, the Allegiance, and thus they are thus lost at sea without a hope of
survival. After days of flying all hope is lost. Yet, in a well-crafted
section, Novik places Temeraire, Kulingile, and Iskierka upon a French transport
under a flag of surrender.
After brief
travels and being marooned on an island, the band finds their way to the main
continent and hell-bent on making their way to Rio to stop the Tswana.
In typical Novik fashion, a series of errors and
miscalculations by the dragons places them instead in the heart of the Incan
empire with Iskierka as their emissary nonetheless. Incan politics, the power
of dragons over men, and the mysterious empire beneath the jungle, are all put
on display. With the nuptial fate of Granby in the balance, they seek to stop
the potential alliance between the Inca, their strange feathered dragons, and
the French.
As always, the road can be bumpy, the journey thrilling, and
Novik keeps the pages and fun turning as the series rockets towards its
terminus.
