His Majesty's Dragon

Naomi Novik's His Majesty's Dragon is a blend of historical fiction and fantasy. It is the time of Napoleon and dragons are form a strategic part of the armed services of the major countries. In fact they have been bred for centuries for specific advantageous traits.

The story starts with Captain Laurence of the Royal Navy captures a French ship. On the ship is a large dragon's egg, which his advisers say is about to hatch. Knowing that the dragon will imprint on one of the first people it sees, he and his men draw straws to see who will approach it with a harness. Yet when the beast hatches it goes right to Laurence and speaks to him. Laurence has become the dragon's trainer, to his dismay, and he must give up his position as captain to become part of the air corps.

Laurence names his dragon Temeraire, and together they both learn about dragons and the air corps. They see a local expert who determines that Temeraire is an Imperial, a rare Chinese breed. The two of them are assigned to training. Most of the book is the story of their training as Temeraire gets used to flying in formations, Laurence gets used to a less regimented life, and they both get used to each other. Laurence makes some mistakes, such as interfering with another pilot's dragon, which causes some friction.

The story builds to a concluding battle, with a bit of suspense and treachery to make things interesting. The book is an interesting take on dragons and warfare in the Napoleonic era. There's not a whole lot of action, as a lot of it is exposition describing life as a dragon trainer at the dragon compound. But it works as a fantasy about dragons. The creatures themselves have personalities, and there is a good relationship between Laurence and Temeraire. There is also tension between some of the others, and Temeraire shows some awareness of his awkward position: being both owned by Laurence and having a mind of his own, he could foresee-ably have divided loyalties if either Laurence were to turn against the English or if they were ordered to separate. Overall a fun and amusing story. B+

The Escapement

The Escapement is the final volume in K. J. Parker's Engineer Trilogy. The events take place a few months a few months after the end of the second book, and the war of the Eremians, Valdani and Aram Chantat against the Mezentine Empire is gearing up. Engineers Ziani Vaatzes and Gace Daurenja have formed an uneasy truce in their rivalry. As they work on creating siege engines they manipulate each other, Daurenja to gain power and Vaatzes to reach his final goal.

The Mezentine clerk Lucao Psellus has risen to the head of the all-powerful Necessary Evil--the committee in charge of the war. He uses his new powers to interrogate Vaatzes' wife, trying to get to the bottom of why he created an illegal abomination and who turned him in. Sometimes he seems too smart, as he figures out that his predecessor had an affair with the woman and set the events in motion. He also finds an old book on sieges that he uses to prepare the defense of the city. Both sides are aware of a certain calculation: the allies only have a sufficient food supply to last a few months, so they have a short amount of time to take the city and its supplies before they all starve. So it is a war of attrition.

Unfortunately Duke Valens ends up in the background of the book for most of the story, after being ambushed and nearly killed. I missed him since he was one of the more interesting characters and a central force in the second book. However he becomes less important to the scheming Vaatzes, so he appears less. Miel Ducas shows up and becomes one of Valens' officers, basically putting aside his differences with Daurenja and Vaatzes. He does this in part for himself and in part for his woman, whom he escaped with at the end of the second book. Of all the characters he is one of the most interesting and goes through the most changes. Instead of the dignified noble, he descends to ambushing and murdering Aram Chantat soldiers (who are allied with his ally Duke Valens) and selling their supplies. He leads his soldiers in sacking the farms of neighboring counties and slaughtering the residents. When the allies blow up the embankment in front of the Mezentine city, he leads the charge to slaughter the enemy.

The start of the book was a bit slow, but it gained speed and the description of the siege of the city, which takes up most of the second half, is fascinating. There are many different types of engines, sappers, and sorties that succeed only because the enemy is more incompetent. Overall this was an enjoyable read. I was a little disappointed in the ending and found it unbelievable, but I have to admit it does make some sense in retrospect. Vaatzes stays true to his character up to the end. He is the driving force throughout the series, and claims to have planned everything from the early stages, despite a few places where he got lucky.

Throughout the book the characters ruminate on the philosophical implications of their situations. Psellus for example realizes that the engines and techniques in the book he follows predate the Mezentines, so they could not have been the source of their great technology that is basically the foundation of their society. Valens realizes the kind of man he is allied with in Vaatzes but is powerless to do anything about it. The central theme is Vaaztes plans and his need for an escapement--a piece of the plan to take the stored energy and put it into effect. It is how he finds this that makes the entire plot fall into place. B+

Evil for Evil

Evil for Evil is K. J. Parker's sequel to Devices and Desires. Duke Orsea, who has lost his duchy, is living with his wife under the refuge of his rival Duke Valens. The duchess, Veatriz, maintains an uneasy relationship with him and Valens, with whom she exchanged letters for years. Veatriz and Valens waver between acknowledging their attraction and pushing each other away.

Valens has to concentrate on the war with the Mezentines. After rescuing Veatriz and Orsea, the Mezentines are waging war in vengeance and to kill the defector Vaatzes. Valens decides that since his city is no match for the Mezentines and their mercenaries and their war engines, the best option is to evacuate the city and scuttle the silver mines. He consults with Vaatzes who comes up with a plan to collapse the first hundred feet of the mines to fool the Mezentines into believing they are totally ruined.

Lucao Psellus, the clerk in the empire who got the war started and became part of Necessary Evil, has been tasked with discovering more about Vaatzes crime. He is also sent to meet with Vaatzes to make a deal with him to betray the Vadani like he betrayed the Eremians. Of course the Mezentines have no intention of keeping any promise they make him.

Meanwhile Miel Ducas, the disfavored Eremian lord, is leading the Eremian resistance against the Mezentines but is picked up by scavengers after a battle. He manages to escape before being turned over, and makes his way to an old estate of his where a man and his daughter are working on the formula for a particular color of glaze to be able to sell Mezentine style pottery.

At the center of the plot (and plotting) is Ziana Vaatzes, who continues to connive to get vengeance against his former country. This volume starts to go in a different different direction, changing expectations quickly. The wild card is a man named Daurenja, who is Vaatzes' equal and nemesis. He sees through the defector's machinations and sets in motion plans of his own. The two go from being wary allies to being bitter rivals, yet they both need each other.

I was pleased to encounter unexpected twists in the book, on top of the unexpected twists in the first volume. Vaatzes continues to be the main driver of the plot, even as events start to overtake him and acquire a life of their own. The metaphor of Vaatzes' plot being a well calibrated and designed machine is expanded. All the characters continue to develop. The nature of the relationships keeps changing as the plot thickens. I was a little concerned in the first half of the book when the plot seemed to get bogged down and characters seemed to be in stasis with little interesting events. But then a surprise attack comes out of nowhere things get very interesting. It's a good example of the twists that happen in the book. For a middle volume, it manages to keep interest. B+

Devices and Desires

K. J. Parker's Devices and Desires is the first novel of a fantasy trilogy. The Eternal Republic is a city-state of Mezentines who have a regimented society built around solid principles of engineering. Any deviation from Specification is an extreme crime punishable by death. Ziani Vaatzes is the foreman of a factory that makes scorpions, military war engines that fire spears. When he is convicted of making an abomination, a deviation from Specification, he is sentenced to death. Enraged at the idea of his wife and daughter suffering without him, he escapes the city and swears revenge.

Beyond the city are the neighbors are the Eremians and the Vadani, two rival duchies that are more agrarian. The Eremian Duke Orsea has just suffered a terrible defeat by the Mezentines and their scorpions after an ill-advised attack. In their retreat they capture Vaatzes, who offers to build scorpions for the Eremians. Orsea and his council decline his offer, but he sets up a shop building them with the help of a partner.

Meanwhile, the duke's right hand man Miel Ducas fnds himself with a quandary when he comes into possession of a secret letter written to the duchess from Valens, the Vadani duke. When Ducas finally decides to destroy the letter he discovers that it's been stolen.

The Mezentines decide that to protect their technological secrets they must destroy Eremia, but the first army of mercenaries they send are wiped out by the Eremian scorpions. The second army they send is decimated by the Eremian cavalry before laying siege to the city. Ducas is imprisoned when the missing letter comes into Orsea's hands, just as the Mezentines begin their attack.

This is an exciting story that has more to it than my brief synopsis would indicate. At the core is Vaatzes cold determination to reunite with his wife. As an element of a machine, he is a part of a metaphor of fate, his sentence leading mechanically to his revenge and unification with his wife. The book is also quite funny in places, especially the relationship between Ducas and Orsea. The cultures of the Mezentines and the Eremians are drawn well and are in stark contrast. Vaatzes, as the central cog, provides the engine for the story. His determination and machinations are impressive. The story is often dark, cold, and ruthless. I look forward to the next volume. A-