Big McLargehuge

Big McLargehuge rated a book 5 of 5 stars

I, Claudius (Claudius, #1)
by Robert Graves

read in April, 2013

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Big McLargehuge rated a book 5 of 5 stars

Memoirs of Hadrian
by Marguerite Yourcenar

read in October, 2012

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Big McLargehuge rated a book 2 of 5 stars

Crucible of Gold (Temeraire, #7)
by Naomi Novik (Goodreads Author)

read in October, 2012

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You know what, I'm probably going to get flamed to hell and back for being *that* guy but screw it, this has been bugging me for several books now and this latest one reached critical mass for me. Novik seems really, really intent on pushing a politi...more You know what, I'm probably going to get flamed to hell and back for being *that* guy but screw it, this has been bugging me for several books now and this latest one reached critical mass for me. Novik seems really, really intent on pushing a politically-correct rainbow of diversity in the universe of these books and it's finally reached the point where it takes me out of the context in which these stories are supposedly written.

It's established in the first book that there are female crew members and even female captains. Okay, I can buy that - there's a reasonable explanation given for it in that certain dragons will only accept female companions and the British Air Force has quietly accepted it because they're so desperate for more troops in the air. It also contributes to the secretive nature of the Air Force and the widespread suspicion it receives - in short, it contributes to the premise in a constructive way. Yet suddenly there's a woman in a prominent leadership role -and hence is highly visible - among the British military, with very limited reaction to this fundamental challenge to the social norms of the time. African tribes suddenly being some kind of noble-savage utopian superstate speaks for itself (and in fact they end up being even more cringe-inducingly overpowered in CoG). In the last book Demane becomes a captain and again Novik seems to tiptoe around the obvious elephant in the room - the crew's hostility never stems from anything racial but instead merely out of jealously of early advancement. And now in Crucible of Gold a main character is - rather unnecessarily plotwide, as it turns out - abruptly Dumbledored. Being outed as gay does little to nothing to define his character (indeed, it had absolutely no bearing on him in any of the previous six books) yet is used to artificially give tension to a minor political-marriage plot and increase the cast's diversity quota - again, with nobody really having any kind of reaction to it one way or the other. You can say it's because the dragons are protecting them or whatever, but that comes off as flimsy plot armour. It's all the more odd since Novik offers plenty of those kinds of conflicts with people's attitudes towards dragons - and thus clearly understands that whitewashing tensions makes for uninteresting reading - yet barely touches upon conflicts with people's attitudes towards other kinds of people.

In short, it feels like 21st-century social values are being forced onto an early-19th-century story, and the result is a rather confusing clash of attitudes that takes me out of the story. For better or worse, people in the Napoleonic era were god-fearing nationalistic bigots - that doesn't mean you can't have characters outside the norm in that context, but it needs to generate SOME kind of conflict or impedance for it to fit the time it's written in, otherwise it just comes off as trivial diversity for the sake of it. Call me a bigot if you want to but it really sticks out like a sore thumb to me. As I've mentioned in other Temeraire reviews it's pretty clear that Novik has a deep love and knowledge of the time she's writing about, which makes the anachronistic social attitudes all the more odd since I'd assume she's just as aware of this as I am. I'd have to guess it's done out of fear that readers will assume that writing characters with less than admirable values in our own context equates to unilateral condoning of those values. An unfortunately shortsighted yet common attitude among the social-media generation (these are the same people that consider Django Unchained 'racist' because the script uses the n-word, after all), but one I can see pressuring her towards pushing the PC angle.

Whatever the reason, it's really starting to tug away at my interest in these books. It doesn't help that, yet again, the characters are all putzing about at the far end of the world while the actual war rages on elsewhere - and the setup of the next book seems to suggest more of the same is coming up. Napoleon literally drops into the story halfway in an attempt to broaden the scope of the war but I don't really buy it. Overall, meh.(less)

Big McLargehuge rated a book 2 of 5 stars

Tongues of Serpents (Temeraire, #6)
by Naomi Novik (Goodreads Author)

read in September, 2012

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Ech, the pendulum of Temeraire books takes yet another swing. Novik clearly knows her late 18th/early 19th politics and warfare, and it's evident because when she bothers to write about the actual Napoleonic Wars this series really shines (see: 1, th...more

Big McLargehuge rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Count Belisarius
by Robert Graves

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Big McLargehuge rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Count Belisarius
by Robert Graves

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Big McLargehuge rated a book 4 of 5 stars

Victory of Eagles (Temeraire, #5)
by Naomi Novik (Goodreads Author)

read in October, 2012

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Thank goodness. Empire of Ivory seemed to lose the plot but Victory of Eagles really gives the series a fresh shot in the arm. FINALLY we get to see some radical departures in the course of history as Napoleon successfully breaches the Channel and ma...more

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Big McLargehuge rated a book 5 of 5 stars I, Claudius (Claudius, #1) by Robert Graves read in April, 2013	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
22 hours, 7 min ago
Big McLargehuge rated a book 5 of 5 stars Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar read in October, 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
22 hours, 7 min ago
Big McLargehuge rated a book 2 of 5 stars Crucible of Gold (Temeraire, #7) by Naomi Novik (Goodreads Author) read in October, 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
You know what, I'm probably going to get flamed to hell and back for being that guy but screw it, this has been bugging me for several books now and this latest one reached critical mass for me. Novik seems really, really intent on pushing a politi...more
22 hours, 7 min ago · see review
Big McLargehuge rated a book 2 of 5 stars Tongues of Serpents (Temeraire, #6) by Naomi Novik (Goodreads Author) read in September, 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Ech, the pendulum of Temeraire books takes yet another swing. Novik clearly knows her late 18th/early 19th politics and warfare, and it's evident because when she bothers to write about the actual Napoleonic Wars this series really shines (see: 1, th...more
22 hours, 7 min ago · see review
Big McLargehuge rated a book 4 of 5 stars Count Belisarius by Robert Graves	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 27, 2012 02:01pm
Big McLargehuge rated a book 4 of 5 stars Count Belisarius by Robert Graves	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Oct 27, 2012 02:00pm
Big McLargehuge rated a book 4 of 5 stars Victory of Eagles (Temeraire, #5) by Naomi Novik (Goodreads Author) read in October, 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Thank goodness. Empire of Ivory seemed to lose the plot but Victory of Eagles really gives the series a fresh shot in the arm. FINALLY we get to see some radical departures in the course of history as Napoleon successfully breaches the Channel and ma...more
Oct 14, 2012 09:37pm · see review
Big McLargehuge is now a fan of Jonathan Safran Foer
Oct 14, 2012 04:10pm · like · see all of Big's favorite authors

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