For those unfamiliar with the book or the series, Crucible of Gold is part of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series, which can be described as being an alternate history of what the Napoleonic wars would have looked like if all sides had access to dragons. Before anybody raises an eyebrow at that, Novik’s a good writer with a decent working knowledge of the time period, plus – more importantly – a fundamental respect for that time period. That’s kind of needed for good historical fiction: if you treat the inhabitants of a particular era as either overgrown children, or people from your culture wearing funny clothes, you’re doing it wrong. Patrick O’Brian probably would have liked this series, God rest his soul.
Check it out. You can start the series with In His Majesty’s Service: Three Novels of Temeraire (His Majesty’s Service, Throne of Jade, and Black Powder War). They’re great fun.
I saw “Crucible” and assumed it had something to do with Mass Effect 3.
Nah, for the moment I am… not done with Mass Effect 3; but I’m going to take a breather from it until the next DLC comes out. Maybe try the multiplayer again; it was vigorous, in a way that I didn’t quite expect.
For me the series has started to run out of steam, but I liked the first three quite a bit. This one’s waiting until the either the price-fixing cartel is busted, or it’s lowered to match the paperback price, to put it on my kindle.
I’m about 75% through my copy. It’s good so far. I think NN said there are only 2 more books to go before she ends the series. I think the only place left for them to explore is America.
Novik’s a good writer with a decent working knowledge of the time period, plus – more importantly – a fundamental respect for that time period.
Not a bad understanding of contemporary military tactics, either.
Something else worth mentioning: the first three in the series were published in three consecutive months: February, March, and April 2006. I’ve never seen that before in any SF/F series, let alone one by a complete unknown. It says the publisher believed these books would sell, and they were right.
I belive the first three dersden books were the same. A series has better chances of picking up readers than a single novel.