Back into battle with Laurence and Temeraire! Napoleon’s the bad guy! Easy and fun to read!
But wait, first we have to get Laurence and Temeraire back together, because Laurence has been sentenced to death for treason for saving all the dragons in the world (<cough>Mary Sue<cough>), and Temeraire is moping in the breeding grounds in Wales. This is an opportunity for Novik that she jumps all over, and I think the reader is the big winner: we finally get to read from Temeraire’s POV. Woot, woot!
Up until this point, Will Laurence’s POV has been the only perspective that we’ve had. And while he has been separated from Temeraire in the past, we haven’t as yet read “through” Temeraire’s eyes. From now on, starting with Victory of Eagles, the chapter POVs alternate between Laurence and Tememaire, and it’s absolutely fantastic.
Temeraire really continues to come into his own in this book, which is #5 of 8 (so far). He rallies a militia of free-agent dragons (feral dragons who have never had a captain, and dragons in retirement who will no longer take a captain) that have been languishing in the breeding grounds to which he has been sentenced. It advances his political position of wanting recognition for the rights of dragons, which the British government and Admiralty won’t recognize whatsoever, and also strengthens the British position against the Napoleanic forces… Of course. Because everything Temeraire does is perfect.
Also in the “of course” column: Temeraire and Laurence are reunited, they have adventure, they have some political success (but not enough that there don’t need to be more books), and they push Napoleon back a few steps, at least off of British soil for the time being.
Let’s go, Dragons!