(no subject)

[rymenhild]

I started writing this post when I'd read two volumes of the three-volume novel Victory of Eagles. I've now finished the book, but I haven't fully processed Book 3 yet, so the thoughts and incoherent flailing under the cut only come from Books 1 and 2.

• Page 50: "Jane--" "Admiral Roland, if you please," she said, sharply. Jane Roland's a loyal aviator long before she's Laurence's lover, and I'm delighted that she chooses her duty as an admiral over Laurence.
  
• I scoffed at Laurence/Granby last year, but the ship's perfectly defensible now. If you drop six words from a sentence on page 58, it's nearly canon.
  
• Page 201: "Darby, sir, but Janus they call me," the seaman said, "on account of a surgeon we shipped in the Sophie, a learned bloke, saying I saw both ways likes some old Roman cut-up by that name..." Hee. I guess Stephen Maturin does exist in Temeraire-verse after all.
  
• Page 229: Poor Riley. Of course he's tactless, left at home to take care of the baby.
  
• Page 239: Catherine's suffering from postpartum depression, isn't she? I do like the subtle ways Novik handles issues brought up by women soldiers.
  
• As the middle book of Victory wears on, we begin to see quiet conflict between Temeraire and Laurence. Temeraire's starting to succeed in his quest for dragon rights, and at the same time -- because of the same actions! -- Laurence faces ever-worse failure and disgrace. Not only that, Temeraire hardly understands what he's done to Laurence, and Laurence can't tell him.
  
• Poor Laurence.