It does not seem fair, because it was I who found the necklace, after all

[sovay]

The guinea drops: Naomi Novik's Temeraire is not an Aubrey-and-Maturin, but a Regency romance.

This revelation brought to you courtesy of Georgette Heyer's The Corinthian (1940) and a low-grade fever. I am sure everyone else has already noticed. I'm going back to bed.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

So you'd read Temeraire before and are now reading The Corinthian?

I've only read the first Temeraire book, and it made me restless. I could see too much coming, things seemed *placed* to happen. Others tell me the later books are more satisfying. So, judging by what Rosefox says, and what you're saying, the relationship between the dragons and the people is more romance than friendship?

I guess one day I'll really need to read, or at least dip into, a Georgette Heyer.

[sovay]

So you'd read Temeraire before and are now reading The Corinthian?

I have read up through Victory of Eagles in Naomi Novik; my only experience of Regency romances had been Heyer's Sylvester, or The Wicked Uncle (1957)—which I love very much, but which is more a satire of Gothic novels and their readers, I think, than a classic Regency screwball. The Corinthian is very classic and it's wonderful. And the voice of the character Pen Creed, a seventeen-year-old heiress in boy's clothing who frankly does not see the point of most of the social rituals she is supposed to observe, suddenly sounded like Temeraire to me.

I've only read the first Temeraire book, and it made me restless. I could see too much coming, things seemed *placed* to happen. Others tell me the later books are more satisfying.

The third (Black Powder War) introduces a character I am very fond of, and I think the fourth (Empire of Ivory) is genuinely different. I would recommend seeing how you feel after Throne of Jade and proceeding, if desired, from there.

So, judging by what Rosefox says, and what you're saying, the relationship between the dragons and the people is more romance than friendship?

The relationship between Laurence and Temeraire uses the language and patterning of a Regency romance; it fills the same shape of space. The same does not hold true for all human-dragon pairings (some for reasons that I will discuss if you read the books or do not care about spoilers), but the majority are conducted like arranged marriages, with the obvious caveat that they are platonic and not viewed even in the light of romance; they are matters of practical compatibility and benefit.

I guess one day I'll really need to read, or at least dip into, a Georgette Heyer.

I can recommend the two I've read with flying colors!