Tongues of Serpents | Novik, Naomi

Lange Beschreibung
From the New York Times bestselling author of A Deadly Education comes the sixth volume of the Temeraire series, as Will Laurence and Temeraire are exiled to Australia in the ever expanding war between Napoleon and Britain.

Temeraire and his fellow dragons are surely Novik s finest accomplishment. BookPage

Convicted of treason despite their heroic defense against Napoleon s invasion of England, Temeraire and Captain Will Laurence have been transported to a prison colony in distant Australia and into a hornet s nest of fresh complications. The colony is in turmoil after the overthrow of military governor William Bligh aka Captain Bligh, late of HMS Bounty. And when Bligh tries to enlist them in his bid to regain office, the dragon and his captain are caught in the middle of a political power struggle. Their only chance to escape the fray is accepting a mission to blaze a route through the forbidding Blue Mountains and into the interior of Australia.

But the theft of a precious dragon egg turns their expedition into a desperate recovery operation leading to a shocking discovery and a dangerous new complication in the global war between Britain and Napoleon.

Don t miss any of Naomi Novik s magical Temeraire series
HIS MAJESTY S DRAGON  THRONE OF JADE  BLACK POWDER WAR  EMPIRE OF IVORY  VICTORY OF EAGLES  TONGUES OF SERPENTS  CRUCIBLE OF GOLD  BLOOD OF TYRANTS  LEAGUE OF DRAGONS

Rezensierung

Praise for His Majesty s Dragon and the Temeraire series

These are beautifully written novels not only fresh, original, and fast paced, but full of wonderful characters with real heart. [The Temeraire series] is a terrific meld of two genres that I particularly love fantasy and historical epic. Peter Jackson
 
A terrifically entertaining fantasy novel . . . Is it hard to imagine a cross between Susanna Clarke, of Norrell and Strange fame, and the late Patrick O Brian? Not if you ve read this wonderful, arresting novel. Stephen King
 
A splendid series . . . Not only is it a new way to utilize dragons, it s a very clever one and fits neatly into the historical niche this author has used. Anne McCaffrey
 
Just when you think you ve seen every variation possible on the dragon story, along comes Naomi Novik. Her wonderful Temeraire is a dragon for the ages. Terry Brooks
 
Enthralling reading it s like Jane Austen playing Dungeons & Dragons with Eragon s Christopher Paolini. Time
 
A completely authentic tale, brimming with all the detail and richness one looks for . . . as well as the impossible wonder of gilded fantasy. Entertainment Weekly (Editor s Choice, Grade: A)
 
Novik has accomplished something singular with her Temeraire series. . . . At its heart, it s a story about friendship that transcends not only time and class, but species. NPR

[Naomi Novik] is soaring on the wings of a dragon. The New York Times
 
A thrilling fantasy . . . All hail Naomi Novik. The Washington Post Book World
 
An amazing performance . . . [I] was immediately hooked by the writing, the research and the sheer courage of the whole enterprise. Chicago Tribune
 
Novik s influences run the gamut from Jane Austen to Patrick O Brian, with a side trip through Anne McCaffrey. Her books are completely involving and probably addictive, their central conceit explored in clever detail with a great deal of wit and historical insight. San Francisco Chronicle
 
Something new and quite wonderful . . . The Temeraire trilogy could well be this year s Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. BookPage

A superbly written, character-driven series . . . What keeps one turning the pages is the urge to find out what happens next to Captain Laurence and Temeraire, characters who win one s heart from the beginning. Bravo! Booklist (starred review)

Buchausschnitt
Chapter One

There were few streets in the main port of Sydney which deserved the name, besides the one main thoroughfare, and even that bare packed dirt, lined only with a handful of small and wretched buildings that formed all the permanence of the colony. Tharkay turned off from this and led the way down a cramped, irregularly arranged alley-way between two wooden-slat buildings to a courtyard full of men drinking, in surly attitudes, under no roof but a tarpaulin.

Along one side of the courtyard, the further from the kitchens, the convicts sat in their drab and faded duck trousers, dusty from the fields and quarries and weighted down with fatigue; along the other, small parties of men from the New South Wales Corps watched with candidly unfriendly faces as Laurence and his companions seated themselves at a small table near the edge of the establishment.

Besides their being strangers, Granby s coat drew the eye: bottle-green was not in the common way, and though he had put off the worst excesses of gold braid and buttons with which Iskierka insisted upon adorning him, the embroidery at cuffs and collar could not be so easily detached. Laurence wore plain brown, himself: to make a pretense of standing in the Aerial Corps now was wholly out of the question, of course, and if his dress raised questions concerning his situation, that was certainly no less than honest, as neither he nor anyone else had yet managed to work out what that ought in any practical sense to be.

I suppose this fellow will be here soon enough, Granby said, unhappily; he had insisted on coming, but not from any approval of the scheme.

I fixed the hour at six, Tharkay answered, and then turned his head: one of the younger officers had risen from the tables and was coming towards them.

Eight months aboard ship with no duties of his own and shipmates nearly united in their determination to show disdain had prepared Laurence for the scene which, with almost tiresome similarity, unfolded yet again. The insult itself was irritating for demanding some answer, more than anything else; it had not the power to wound in the mouth of a coarse young boor, stinking of rum and visibly unworthy to stand among even the shabby ranks of a military force alternately called the Rum Corps. Laurence regarded Lieutenant Agreuth only with distaste, and said briefly, Sir, you are drunk; go back to your table, and leave us at ours.

There the similarity ended, however: I don t see why I, Agreuth said, his tongue tangling awkwardly, so he had to stop and repeat himself, speaking with excessive care, why I should listen to anything out of a piss-pot whoreson traitor s f***ing mouth

Laurence stared, and heard the tirade with mounting incredulity; he would have expected the gutter language out of a dockyard pickpocket in a temper, and hardly knew how to hear it from an officer. Granby had evidently less difficulty, and sprang to his feet saying, By God, you will apologize, or for halfpence I will have you flogged through the streets.

I would like to see you try it, Agreuth said, and leaning over spat into Granby s glass; Laurence stood too late to catch Granby s arm from throwing it into Agreuth s face.

That was of course an end to even the barest hope or pretense of civility; Laurence instead pulled Granby back by his arm, out of the way of Agreuth s wildly swinging fist, and letting go struck back with the same hand, clenched, as it came again at his face.

He did not hold back; if brawling was outrageous, it looked inevitable, and he would as soon have it over with quickly. So the blow was armed with all the strength built up from childhood on rope-lines and harness, and Laurence knocked Agreuth directly upon the jaw: the lieutenant lifted half-an-inch