Tongues of Serpents (The Temeraire Series, Book 6)

Description

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.

Naomi Novik was born in New York in 1973, a first-generation American, and raised on Polish fairy tales, Baba Yaga, and Tolkien. She studied English Literature at Brown University and Computer Science at Columbia University before leaving to work in the games industry. Over the course of a brief winter sojourn working on a game in Canada, she realized she preferred the writing to the programming, and, on returning to New York, decided to try her hand at novels. Temeraire is her first.Naomi lives in New York City with her husband and six computers. Her website and livejournal are at www.temeraire.org.

'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 'Novik has stirred the passions with a genre-busting historical fantasy of the first order.' Sunday Sport 'In the best tradition of fantasy, historical fiction and nautical novels.' Guardian