Crucible of Gold: In which truly epic fangirl squeeing is disguised as coherent thought

[lunasariel]

As expected, Crucible of Gold didn't last long. I knew going in that I should make it last as long as possible, since it's probably going to be a good long while before the next (and, if word on the street is accurate, last) one is out, but...yeah. I think it took me about 48 hours, maybe, from start to finish? I didn't allow myself to read it until I'd gotten all of my classwork done, which turned out to be an excellent motivator. Seriously, I thought I would barely have time to sleep this weekend, let alone read anything not required for a class, and here I am on Saturday night/Sunday morning, basking in the afterglow.

And, *man*, but is it some good afterglow. I've heard CoG called "an excellent return to form," and that's a pretty good description. ToS was an...odd book, although by no means a bad one. I just mean that, aside from the birth of Kulingile (and the whole "we're in Australia" thing, but that was really a consequence of VoE), there weren't any of the "dun...dun...DUN!" Big Changes that usually occur about once per book. And CoG has nothing if not Big Changes. One character out of the closet, two dead, a new dragon, yet *another* ally for Napoleon, (possible) alliance(s) with the Tswana and/or China, the return of Home Team (Temeraire's formation)...our gang has been busy.

OK, so let's get the bad stuff out of the way first: no Jane Roland and no Tharkay, Fellowes and Riley are dead, and Granby's down a hand (literally). I wasn't really expecting Jane, but then again, I wasn't expecting the Home Team to show up in freakin' Brazil, either. But I'm almost certain we'll see her in the next installment, and Emily has been shaping up to be very much her mother's daughter, and Harcourt to be an extremely able commander, so Jane's absence wasn't felt that deeply. Tharkay, on the other hand, I was expecting to pop up at any minute. As usual for Temeraire, there was a lot of travelling and a lot of new, unfamiliar cultures, so I fully expected him to pop up at the Inca court, or at least at Rio, gettin' his spy on. His loss was, unlike Jane's, badly felt, as there was no one to stand in for him. Laurence only had Granby to keep him from doing something stupid (which worked about as well as you'd expect) and Hammond to handle the diplomatic side of things (ditto). Fellowes and Riley both died when the Allegiance blew up (yes, again). Riley's death was certainly felt more from a plotwise perspective, and Harcourt's reaction to the news was subtle and understated, of course, but still unexpectedly touching, given her rather cavalier attitude towards marriage in general, and marriage to him in particular, earlier on. But Fellowes was probably my favorite sub-main character, and his common sense and lack of dramarama was also sorely felt; I'm going to miss the old bastard. And finally, I know it's become something of a tradition for Granby to get seriously hurt at least once per book (another thing missing from ToS), but this time, his bad luck really took the cake: when the Allegiance exploded under his feet, a canon came loose and knocked him overboard. Laurence managed to catch him, but his arm was badly dislocated in the process. The near-constant travel and/or fighting from then on out meant that he didn't really have a chance to heal, (and the stress he was under from Iskierka doing her damndest to marry him off to the Empress of the Inca, and very nearly succeeding sure didn't help any) and when Iskierka had to cauterize her own wound in battle, he fell off her back (she wasn't wearing a battle-harness at the time, although she was wearing *something*, because he at least managed to haul himself back on board) hard enough to re-dislocate it, at which point they were in the middle of the Amazon, which didn't help matters at all. The closest thing they had to a surgeon at the time (a drunken barber) said that the hand needed to come off, but was eaten by caimans (South American crocodiles) before he could operate. Because Iskierka was wounded, too, the group had to take it slow, which caused Granby to fall into a delirious fever. Once they got to the coast, they finally found a decent surgeon who could take his hand off, although the aforementioned fever meant that the operation itself was a risky one. So, yeah; although he lived to tell the tale, and now has a fairly awesome hook, it wasn't his best week (month? months?) ever. I just hope that he actually survives the next book!

Occasional death and/or dismemberment aside, though, things are finally starting to look up! Laurence has been reinstated in the Corps, despite his original and, TBH, predicable, self-destructive HONOR BEFORE REASON! The Home Team (with the Australia/Allegiance crew being the Away Team) showed up in a truly heartwarming manner, and just in time for one final CMoA. Really, it's been too long since the entire wing (plus Granby and Demane, of course, although unfortunately minus Tharkay and the breeding-ground crew) has been able to unleash the force of their combined awesomeness. The Roomie has a habit of yelling at/and or commenting loudly on whatever she happens to be watching on her laptop at the moment, so I found myself justified in one loud, long squee of unrestrained delight as they got together and captured two French transports (unharmed) and half a dozen frigates (slightly Iskierka'd, but otherwise okay). Even poor little Arthur Hammond got his moment in the sun, when an Incan dragon took a shine to him, rescued him from the Inca/French alliance, and has promised to follow him back to England, although it's looking like there's going to be quite a stopover in China, first.

But all in all, this was a rather Granby-centric book, allowing, of course, that the majority of the focus will always be on Laurence and Temeraire. After being dragged through one too many of Iskierka's crazy schemes, he finally let loose and gave her a piece of his mind, although I do find it kind of funny that he went through her making him wear ridiculous clothes, getting him kidnapped by the French, kidnapping him to join the Away Team, attacking his friends, and setting him up to marry the freakin' Inca Empress very much against his will more or less calmly, but it was her trying to make him wear a gold-plated, diamond-studded hook instead of a regular steel one that got him to snap. And what's more, it seems that she actually listened to him! She gave up the rather considerable sum she made pretty much cheating Temeraire and Kulingile out of their shares of a whale they caught, which I found pretty gorram impressive.

But I think the Big Reveal of CoG was that Granby finally came out of the closet (which, may I just say, I KNEW IT!). As I mentioned, Iskierka and Hammond had wrangled a marriage between him and the Empress, which was meant to head off the proposed one between her and Napoleon (who, by this point, has divorced Josephine *tear*), as the Incas are all pretty much in awe of Iskierka, who A) can breathe an excellent flame, and B) promptly beat seven kinds of crap out of the Incan champion dragon over an initial dispute stemming from Iskierka being Iskierka. So she's pleased as punch that her captain is going to be king of a country where the streets are literally paved with gold, but Granby is demonstrably less so. Eventually, he takes Laurence aside and, in an (I'm sorry to say) actually surprisingly unshippy scene, tells him what the real deal is. Laurence's reaction, is, basically, "Oh, so *that's* why you don't have a girlfriend, even though you're handsome and brave and honorable...I mean, um...HONOR BEFORE REASON, so you still have to marry the Empress. Shame, though." Even better, though, Iskierka, with her usual lack of tact, blurts out a little while later that Granby and Little (again, I KNEW IT!) had and/or have a thing going on (I'm banking on "had," as Little is waaaay too chummy with Chenery for him and Granby to be anything other than ancient history). Laurence overhears this, and later, when he sees Granby and Chenery talking (platonically, as far as I can tell), he pretty much puts his fingers in his ears and goes "LALALALALA I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING LALALALALA" while everyone else has a quiet laugh at his expense, as usual. But srsly, CoG was filled with enough Granby/Laurence to make this fangirl more than happy. There are a lot of quiet, contemplative, mutually emotionally supportive conversations, a couple of Back-to-Back Badasses moments, reciprocal life-savings, some H/C, quite a few of first names used, several instances of fond exasperation, and, as per usual, enough tragic "demands of the service will tear us apart" moments to keep me from actually vomiting rainbows.

In general, CoG was a rather shippy novel. Aside from the aforementioned Laurence/Granby (the crowning jewel of which is definitely when Laurence, who has refused to leave Granby's side since his wound went bad, finds out that Granby is going to live, and things get a bit...unnecessarily handsy), which was, of course, excellent, pretty much every other popular couple is at least addressed. Emily/Demane was explored at some length, including the requisite "Laurence tries to do his quasi-paternal duty by Emily, who is oblivious and/or laughs him off" funny moment, which was, as always, eminently enjoyable in Laurence's extreme discomfort as he asks, basically, if Demane is going to be looking for a ring sometime soon, and Emily completely not getting it. By way of this, Jane/Laurence is mentioned, if only as a contrast to Demane/Emily, in which neither of them wants marriage. But really, Demane/Emily are shaping up to be one of my favorite couples, in all of their teenage, bickery glory!Chenery and Little are joined at the hip, as always, and participate in the final battle together. As I mentioned above, Harcourt is more moved by the news of Riley's death than I would have thought, and her going off to cuddle Lily and have a bit of a cry to herself was the one somber moment in the rejoining of the Home Team and Away Team. Even Temeraire/Iskierka gets addressed, and it turns out that it actually was UST making them bicker all the time! I was actually fairly shocked at this, but when one of the Quetzalcoatl-like Incan dragons openly woos Iskierka, Temeraire not only gets snippier with Iskierka, if at all possible, but loathes Maila, the Incan dragon, for no obvious reason other than jealousy. But then, when Maila falls out of favor with Iskierka by spying on them for the French, she and Temeraire end up actually having sex, and they're almost...friendly after that. Instances of them actively despising each other are way down, anyway, although Temeraire avows, *many* times, that he has absolutely no feelings for her whatsoever, even though he calls her "a very impressive dragon" and cooks for her. Temeraire cooks! As big a foodie as he is, this shouldn't surprise me, but for some reason I found this incredibly endearing. Pretty much the only ships that were absent here were Laurence/Tharkay and G/L/T, but even these were only because Tharkay didn't show up this time around, and is probably off having adventures somewhere else.

Villain-wise, things were...interesting. Hammond was his own enemy a lot of the time, especially when he allied with Iskierka to try to marry Granby to the Empress, even when he obviously really, really didn't want to. Lien and Napoleon showed up for, like, five pages, to be Smug Snakes and upset Hammond's and Iskierka's plans, but Napoleon only has a few lines, most of which are showboating, and I don't think that Lien even speaks, which is a disappointment, because I love reading about her verbal sparring with Temeraire. Even the Empress, who originally seemed to be, if not any more into Granby than he was her, enamored of Iskierka's abilities, about-faces, causing the Away Team to have to skip town, and fast, before her army can catch up to them, which is implied to be because she accepted Napoleon, and thus an alliance with France. Of course, there were plenty of natural disasters, as well as "nobody particular's fault" disasters, like the explosion of the Allegiance (although this was technically the fault of drunken sailors after a storm), to keep everybody hopping. And then there were the Tswana, but they end up as allies, after Laurence's particular brand of, shall we say, idiosyncratic diplomacy wins them over, so I don't know if they count. My favorite one-off villain was definitely Manca Copacati, a venom-spitter (although not quite up to Longwing standards), who Iskierka ends up dueling. Their fight really had my heart pounding, not least because it was written to give the impression that Iskierka's recklessness and impatience would cause her to lose, which would mean forfeiting Granby as a slave to the Inca Empire. It was very well-choreographed, and it'd been a while since we'd seen a good aerial battle, especially from the ground, which provided an interesting perspective.

It's obvious that a *lot* of work went into this book, so I'm more surprised that ever to remember that interview from a few weeks back, where Naomi Novik extolled the virtues of Wikipedia, of all places, as a research site. I mean, pre-Colombian South American history/anthropology isn't really my strong suit, but there's quite a lot of, to my eye, rather well-done research not just on Incan culture, architecture, communications, economy, what have you, but on the internal politics of Napoleon's life and army, Brazil under the Portuguese, the slave trade, even the mechanics of being marooned! Basically, this is way too much work, and too high-quality work, to result from a casual Googling or Wiki-surfing.

I'm sure there was more I meant to say about all this, but it's nearly 4 AM (EDIT: 5 AM, because I forgot about the time difference. Ugh.) now, and I need to get at least some sleep before meeting with my fellow presenters tomorrow. I mean today. XD

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

(How dorky is it that my main NOOOO reaction to all this is not to Riley or Fellowes' deaths (I knew about Riley, and I'm sorry about them both, but it happens), or Granby losing a hand (didn't know about that, but it could've been worse), but the Napoleon and Josephine divorce? XD)

Anyway, I'd spoiled myself for the other Granby reveal, too, and was eagerly awaiting seeing your thoughts on it. :P

Also, Temeraire/Iskierka, huh? That's definitely not one of my favorite ships, but ah well.

A little bummed about the relative lack of Jane and Tharkay. Does Perscitia ever show up?

Anyway, the return of the Home Team, the return of Laurence to the service, and the general return to form makes me think that I won't wait for the library on this one. Thanks for the vicarious test drive! ;)

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

the Napoleon and Josephine divorce?
Me, too! I don't know much about the guy, but I've always been immensely charmed that he genuinely married for love, and it didn't come back to bite him in the butt (I'm pretty sure?).

I'd spoiled myself for the other Granby reveal, too, and was eagerly awaiting seeing your thoughts on it. :P
Said thoughts being, basically, incoherent fangirly squeeing and flailing. XD NO REGRETS!

Also, Temeraire/Iskierka, huh? That's definitely not one of my favorite ships, but ah well.
Don't worry, they're not an official couple or anything, it's just sort of subtly understood that they actively despise each other a little bit less now, although they're definitely not friends, and I don't think they ever will be.

Does Perscitia ever show up?
Sadly, no. She only gets mentioned once, when the Home Team reveals that they got shipped off to Brazil when they tried to help her build her pavilions, and ended up wreaking a fair amount of damage when they tried to do things like quarry rock or cut timber themselves. XD I'm hopeful of seeing her (along with Jane, Tharkay, etc.) in the next one, though!

I won't wait for the library on this one.
Yay! I can't wait to get your take on it! ^.^ (On a related note, how much do ebooks generally cost? I've been thinking of getting a reader, mostly because being able to do word searches to find specific passages would be really useful.)

[hamsterwoman]

it's just sort of subtly understood that they actively despise each other a little bit less now

I can live with that, I guess :P

the Home Team reveals that they got shipped off to Brazil when they tried to help her build her pavilions, and ended up wreaking a fair amount of damage when they tried to do things like quarry rock or cut timber themselves

Heh, sounds perfectly logical! :) (I do hope the next one gets us back to England and Jane and Perscitia and Tharkay. Because those are my three favorite characters and... yeah. You're totally right, though, that having Emily around helps a lot with the lack of Jane.)

how much do ebooks generally cost?

It seems to be "a couple of bucks less than what you can buy a hard copy for" -- that is, for new books that are only out in hardcover, Kindle books are ~$12-15, and for books that are out in paperback, the eBooks cost exactly as much as the paperback unless it's a promotion or a low-end series. I just looked and, say, for ToS, it's $7.99 for either MMPB or eBook, and for ASoS it's $8.99 for either, too, and the Dresden Files paperbacks and eBooks are both $10. For ADWD, the hardcover is $21 and the eBook is $15. Ghost Story is $17 in hard cover and $15 in eBook. I guess the cheapness relative to hard copy increases as the size of the book increases? And I guess it makes sense to buy the eBook if you're going to buy the book in hardcover anyway. There are other perks, of course -- instant delivery (and never having to pay for shipping) and not having to lug around a doorstop.

I do love my Kindle a lot -- reading on it feels very much like reading a new book -- but I haven't actually bought any books for it yet, because something in me is averse to paying $8-15 for, you know, electrons. The books I've been reading on it so far have been library loans, out-of-copyright books, freebies, and Russian books for which there's a free (possibly not entirely legal) library ont he web.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

You're totally right, though, that having Emily around helps a lot with the lack of Jane.
She certainly seems to have taken over Jane's snarking and eye-rolling duties at Laurence's earnest but entirely unhelpful "I SHALL PROTECT THEE, O FAIR DAMSEL!!!"-ness, which is one of the main things I miss her for, so, yeah, I'm not feeling the lack of Jane as much as I otherwise might.

The books I've been reading on it so far have been library loans, out-of-copyright books, freebies
Hmm...*adds to Christmas/birthday list* That sounds excellent! One of the main defects of my little library is that I don't have any room for the classics, which I really need to read more of, and which are also nice to have on hand as reference, so having them all one one handy-dandy device (and thus always on hand, with the added bonus of word search) doesn't sound too bad!

[brit-columbia.livejournal.com]

I tried not to read most of this because I do intend to read the Temeraire novels at some point and I didn't want to be spoiled.

I'm really happy for you that you got all your schoolwork done ahead of schedule, though!

I forgot about the time change too until the middle of the afternoon.

[lunasariel.livejournal.com]

I do intend to read the Temeraire novels at some point and I didn't want to be spoiled.
YAAAAYYYY!!! *flaily glee* I really hope you'll enjoy them! (And, yeah, good move in not reading this one; it's chock-full of spoilers!)

I forgot about the time change too until the middle of the afternoon.
I seem to be okay with fall back, but with spring ahead, I always either forget or am incredibly muzzy and off the next day, which is what happened today. Hope you didn't miss out on any appointments or anything because of the time change!