A Quokka Dreeds its Weird

This is not all that I read in December! I am not noting books and manga for which I still hold out hope of writing longer reviews.

( King of Thorn (all), Absolute Boyfriend (all), Element Line 2, Everyday Survival, Graceling, Rumble Tumble, Victory of Eagles, The Dead and the Gone, A Citizen of the Country. )

Adrian likes anime, but had not yet read any manga-- until I gave him volume 1 of Monster. After the obligatory few pages of disorientation via unfamiliar reading orientation, he was completely sucked into the clever plotting and generally correct medical details (though he is still trying to figure out what medical instrument was translated as "spatula.") I have promised to loan him the rest of the series (as far as I have it, anyway.)

He also loved His Majesty's Dragon -- another gift from me.

I just packed him off to the airport for a week-long trip to Denver, along with my final gift, Young Miles, which constitutes The Warrior's Apprentice, The Vor Game, and "The Mountains of Mourning." When I described it to him, he said that he thinks his best buddy Jarrad, who was an Air Force medic with him, had recced it to him before. My mention of "Camp Permafrost" rang a bell, as apparently that was Jarrad's nickname for some godforsaken base in North Dakota.

This is a heads-up, not an actual review. I'll write more about this terrific fantasy-- a perfect antidote to venom cock-- when it comes out in March 2006. (The British edition may be out earlier.)

As the advance publicity pointed out, it's basically Patrick O'Brian with dragons.

In an alternate version of the Napoleonic wars, both sides have an air force-- dragons! When English captain William Laurence captures a French ship, he finds its prize: a dragon egg about to hatch. Dragons are rare and valuable and essential to the war effort, and must bond with their handler immediately after birth, or else they'll go feral and fly away. No one wants to bond with the dragon, for aviators live apart from the rest of society, are looked down upon, and and are rumored to be quite weird. Whoever gets the dragon has to abandon his Navy career, whatever place in society he already has, and will have huge problems finding a woman willing to marry him. So the sailors draw lots for the dubious honor. Laurence dodges that bullet, but the newly emerged dragon, Temeraire, ignores the sailor who was chosen and zeroes straight in on Laurence.

And so begins the most fun novel I've read all year. From the pitch-perfect period language, to the touching relationship between Laurence and Temeraire, to the carefully thought-out aviator society, to thrilling aerial battles, this book contains everything that drew us to Anne McCaffrey when we were younger, only it's actually good! Well-written! Without bizarre gender-related hang-ups! Without creepy dragon-mediated quasi-rape scenes! And, best of all, utterly without venom cocks.

Read the first chapter here: http://www.temeraire.org/