Blood of Tyrants by Naomi Novik

Blood of Tyrants by Naomi Novik
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Best of the series so far!

The Temeraire series, for those not familiar with it, is set during the time of the Napoleonic wars, and is quite historically accurate - with the addition of dragons as weapons of war. :-)

As the series has progressed, we have visited just about every continent, and we see how dragons are treated differently, and how the cultures of those countries differ, due to how they view their dragons. And dragons are not just dumb beasts. They are intelligent, and can speak (many are multi-lingual), read and write.

In 'Blood of Tyrants', Temeraire's captain (and best friend) is shipwrecked and lost in Japan (which was violently xenophobic at the time), and has lost his memory. Temeraire is desperate to find him, but there are political issues blocking him. Meanwhile, Napoleon is massing his army (and his dragons) to attack Russia.

This book moves along better than any of the others (and I've loved them all), with wonderful scenes between Temeraire and Laurence, especially when Laurence recovers (most of) his memory. The story is fun, exciting, touching, and sometimes quite sweet. This whole series simply delights me!

I understand there is one last book coming in the series, and I can't wait for it!!

I would recommend this whole series to anyone who likes dragons or alternate histories. It's so well written, and such a complete alternate world that it's quite believable. (And, apologies to my husband, but I think I might be slightly in love with Temeraire! ;)

Redshirts by John Scalzi

Redshirts by John Scalzi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was going to give this 3 stars, but the codas at the end really made it for me, and pushed it up to 3.5, which, of course, we don't have that option!

This is a pretty well done book, considering it's based on a single geek joke - the fact that on the original Star Trek series, away team members wearing red shirts were very often killed off, to provide immediate drama. So the author takes this joke and runs with it.

He bases his characters in a our future, with space exploration just like that of Star Trek. Our main characters get transferred to the flagship of the fleet, where they find everyone avoids away missions at all costs. They work together to figure out why this is happening. No spoiler here on what they find out!

I found the book wryly amusing, and laughed out loud in a couple of places, but didn't find it rip-roaring hilarious. The characters were unique and interesting, with some good sharp dialog. And the ending was satisfying. But, as I said, the codas made me like the book a lot more. Can't say more without spoilers.

If you're a Star Trek fan, this is a fun, light read. If you're not, I don't think you'll really appreciate it.

The Romance of a Spahi by Pierre Loti

The Romance of a Spahi by Pierre Loti
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

A spahi was a horse-soldier in the French army. This book is a tale of a young, naive Frenchman who becomes a spahi and is stationed in Senegal. I bought this book, because this edition is a lovey leatherbound, gilt-edged edition. I had no idea what a spahi was or what the story was about, I just thought the book itself was beautiful.

Well, you know what they say about judging a book by its cover? The content of the book is as far away from the beauty of the cover as is possible. I read older books a lot, as I collect them, and am used to the casual racism and/or sexism that is innate in these older books. But this one was just HORRIBLE. Female black Africans are referred to as Negresses, and they are either lazy and stupid, or sexy and trying to trap the white solders. The blacks beat drums at night, "stirring up the black blood" which makes the soldiers go wild with lust and drink. Oh, and let's not forget the constant reference to the "smell of the Negro".

Our young hero 'falls under the spell' of a lovely black woman (oh, excuse me - Negress), who uses spells and totems to bind her to him. He loves her but also hates her because she's black and he loves her. So he beats her, of course. Which she endures, of course. She follows him even when he has to go on a mission to the interior.

I suppose this is a good example of the "romance" novels of that era (romance in the classic sense, not necessarily 'romantic'), but it was SO difficult to get past the racism and imperialism. The one good thing was that the author was able to really give a sense of the places - the dry white city, the desert, the jungle. The descriptions were very vivid, and made me FEEL what it was like to be there. That's the ONLY positive about this book (other than this edition is pretty! ;) But I really cannot recommend this book to the casual reader - but only to those who may be studying literature of that time and type.