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Crucible of gold
323 pages
A sweeping historical fantasy where military duty and personal honor clash amidst aerial dragon battles and global political upheaval.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like stepping onto the deck of a nineteenth-century warship, only to take to the skies on the back of a dragon. The pace is brisk and perilous, sweeping the reader from the quiet exile of Australia to the politically volatile landscapes of Brazil and the hostile territories of the Inca empire. The mood balances the earnest, formal tension of military duty with the thrilling, sometimes wry dynamics between officers and their massive, egotistical dragon companions. It explores the heavy themes of divided loyalties and the friction between personal honor and national service. Fans of historical fantasy who crave global stakes, complex wartime alliances, and the deep, enduring bond between human and beast will find themselves completely absorbed in this high-flying adventure.
- Mood
- sweeping
- perilous
- tense
- grand
- Tone
- adventurous
- earnest
- dramatic
- wry
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- honor versus duty · divided loyalties · wartime alliances · human-animal bonds · political maneuvering
- The writing
- Balances the formal, measured cadence of nineteenth-century military fiction with the grand, sweeping scale of aerial fantasy.
- The arc
- Moves from a quiet, cautious exile into a whirlwind of escalating tension, political friction, and unexpected peril.
- Who it's for
- Readers who love historical military fantasy, complex political alliances, and deep bonds between humans and sentient dragons.
Content notes
- warfare
- bloodshed
- political betrayal
About the book
"Naomi Novik's beloved series returns, with Capt. Will Laurence and his fighting dragon Temeraire once again taking to the air against the broadsides of Napoleon's forces and the friendly--and sometimes not-so-friendly--fire of British soldiers and politicians who continue to suspect them of divided loyalties, if not outright treason. For Laurence and Temeraire, put out to pasture in Australia, it seems their part in the war has come to an end just when they are needed most. Newly allied with the powerful African empire of the Tswana, the French have occupied Spain and brought revolution and bloodshed to Brazil, threatening Britain's last desperate hope to defeat Napoleon. So the British government dispatches Arthur Hammond from China to enlist Laurence and Temeraire to negotiate a peace with the angry Tswana, who have besieged the Portuguese royal family in Rio--and as bait, Hammond bears an offer to reinstate Laurence to his former rank and seniority as a captain in the Aerial Corps. Temeraire is delighted by this sudden reversal of fortune, but Laurence is by no means sanguine, knowing from experience that personal honor and duty to one's country do not always run on parallel tracks. Laurence and Temeraire--joined by the egotistical fire-breather Iskierka and the still-growing Kulingile, who has already surpassed Temeraire in size--embark for Brazil, only to meet with a string of unmitigated disasters that leave the dragons and their human friends forced to make an unexpected landing in the hostile territory of the Inca empire, where they face new unanticipated dangers. Now with the success of the mission balanced on a razor's edge, and failure looking more likely by the minute, the unexpected arrival of an old enemy will tip the scales toward ruin. Yet even in the midst of disaster, opportunity may lurk--for one bold enough to grasp it"--
Description from Open Library.
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