Dear Naomi Novik,
I tried to enjoy your book, but it was hard for me because you gave credit for some of the greatest naval victories ever to a bunch of dragons. (also your descriptive writing style is a little weak) The British navy didn't need dragons to blow up L' Orient! They did it themselves! And as for turning the battle of Trafalgar into a diversion tactic so Napoleon could invade England with dragons, shame on you. Although the idea of having dragons carrying over troop transports is...a very clever idea...NONETHELESS! To make up some fakey Dover invasion (when everyone knows Napoleon was planning on going through Ireland) just to have your pretty dragons fly around and save the day is unforgiveable. And to have Nelson survive the battle!
! ! !
How dare you. How very dare you. What, so now he's going to get fat and boring and be one of those old sailors telling sea stories only to be shouted down by people wanting to hear about the dragons? Pfff! I only hope that when Peter Jackson makes your book into a movie he will do justice to the British Navy. I suspect that you and I have a lot in common, Naomi. Couple a' Americans...history fangirls...who like magic... ships and breeches...you know. Typical, ordinary. Have you seen "Master and Commander?" You'd like it. I tried really hard to like your book, but I think I was just too biased in the opinion that history didn't need improving on. Now, if you could have had the dragons fighting AT the battle of Trafalgar, that would have been wicked. And if you could have somehow got Nelson ONTO a dragon, well, now that would have just been spectacular. AR. As it stands...well, sorry, but "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" is still sadly solitary in my "alternate history" bookshelf section. But! Good description of the ship-py bits, and I've added "Temeraire" to the list of potential dog names (right after "Horatio"). And good luck on that movie. Forget England, Nicki expects to see the best.
Sincerely,
Nicki
2 comments:
Is Peter Jackson really going to make this book a movie? If not, well then...I don't really need to read it do I?
You probably have the best grasp of the English language when it comes to sarcasm. Both Englnd and American that is. I'm glad that you read it though and now have an idea of what probably should have taken place, I mean I would have used dragons too.
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