Tongues of Serpents

The Temeraire Series, Book 6

By: Naomi Novik

Narrated by: Simon Vance

Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Naomi Novik’s stunning series of novels follow the global adventures of Captain William Laurence and his fighting dragon, Temeraire, as they are thrown together to fight for Britain during the turbulent time of the Napoleonic Wars.

Convicted of treason and stripped of rank and standing, Temeraire and Lawrence are transported to the prison colony at New South Wales. With them travel three dragon eggs destined to be handed over to second-rate officers willing to accept so remote an assignment - including one former acquaintance, Captain Rankin, whose cruelty once cost a dragon its life.

They arrive at a young Australian colony in turmoil after the overthrow of the military governor, William Bligh - formerly Captain Bligh, late of HMS Bounty. Eager to escape the political quagmire, Laurence and Temeraire accept a mission to pioneer a route through the forbidding Blue Mountains and into the interior of Australia. But when one of the dragon eggs is stolen, the surveying expedition becomes a desperate race to recover it before the dragonet hatches - a race that leads to a shocking discovery and a dangerous new obstacle in the global war between Britain and France.

©2019 Naomi Novik (P)2019 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

"These are beautifully written novels, not only fresh, original and fast-paced, but full of wonderful characters with real heart." (Peter Jackson)

"Novik won me over with her first novel...the combination of military history, sympathetic characters, and engaging style makes this series great, intelligent fun." (The Times)

"Plenty of intrigue, swordplay, exotic locations, plausible invention. In short a treat." (The Telegraph)

Im lovin it

Awesome continuation, perhaps a little light on the action in this one but the adventures take centre stage and are fascinating, love all the twists and turns and the characters, particularly lawrences evolving character, cant recommend it enough!

Slow burn this one.

Not a lot really happens apart from the introduction of some new dragon characters.

Still thoughly enjoyable

I love this series.

The characters are well drawn, well expressed and extremely likeable/unlikeable as appropriate.

If you love tales that meander and wander, exploring and developing, richly described and well written then these books are for you.

They're for folks who'd like to get to know a dragon or two, and his captain, and the world they live in, and the conflicts and consequences caused by their choices.

Lawrence's sense of duty is vast, to the point of frustration, Temierriere is quite properly mannered in his mildly rebellious nature and has his own very strong sense of what he feels is proper. Each new dragon you meet is quite distinct and rich a character as you could wish for.

The world is detailed and self consistent, it really is a thoroughly done alternate history from a few characters view point. Unusually for a series with dragons there is no fantasy element of magic of any kind, though in this tale you get bunyips.

The magic of this series is the relationship of man and dragon and theirs with the world. And it's quite glorious listen indeed.

Also love Simon's choice of voice with Temierriere.