Temeraire/YMMV
- Creepy Monotone: Temeraire, in the audiobook.
- Fridge Brilliance: In Empire of Ivory, we learn that there is a thriving, very complex society in sub-Saharan Africa. While there were certainly smaller, less centralized empires in "real world" sub-Saharan Africa, they could never reach the level of complexity that similar societies did in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Why? Well, according to Jared Diamond in Gun Germs And Steel, the scourge of malaria forced sub-Saharan Africans to live further from sources of water and in smaller, less densely-populated communities. In Empire of Jade, however, it's very casually mentioned that dragons naturally repel mosquitoes. Fridge Brilliance, indeed!
- Funny Aneurysm Moment: In Throne of Jade, there's an amusing little subplot where Laurence hears about a nasty cold going around the English dragons, and many jokes are made about how dragons are such big babies when they're sick. Temeraire comes down with the cold, and it's played largely for laughs. In Empire of Ivory, it turns out that the "cold" is actually a form of dragon tuberculosis that's slowly and painfully killing every dragon in England, and if they hadn't stopped at exactly the right port in Africa and prepared exactly the right mushroom for Temeraire on a whim, he and every other English dragon would have died. And for that matter, since Temeraire was on his way to China, all of the Chinese dragons would probably have died, too. What a fun, wacky subplot!
- Ho Yay: Even with Laurence having a woman for a lover--or, more accurately, a woman having Laurence for a lover (especially as the series progresses and she becomes admiral)--it's mostly dudes aboard Temeraire. This results in some behavior that keen-eyed Yaoi Fangirls haven't left unnoticed, popular pairings being Laurence and Granby (his first officer and later Iskierka's captain) and Laurence and the guide Tharkay. Given that Novik was a very popular slash fanfic writer before she went pro, this is almost certainly deliberate. And this is to say nothing of how "mannish" Laurence's canon lover behaves--smoking, drinking, playing cards, fighting, commanding, walking "like a man," showing no shyness with regards to sexuality...
- The homoeroticism between Laurence and Temeraire. Case in point: Laurence calls Temeraire "my dear" and cuddles him a lot, as well as mentioning how he can't see how any dragon captain could marry and divide their affections between dragon and spouse. Also Temeraire going through puberty and Laurence touching the wrong part of Temeraire:
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"Come now, you are like to make everyone think you are a vain creature," Laurence said, reaching up to pet the waving tendrils. "Truly, they look very well; pray give them no thought." |
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- This troper does have to note that the previous troper left out Laurence's reaction to this statement, which is to immediately recoil away and attempt to explain to Temeraire why he stopped.
- Well, the Laurence/Temeraire undertone is more like Interspecies Romance than Ho Yay. If it weren't for Temeraire being a dragon, there would be absolutely no question that the series was a romance story between the two. On that note, in His Majesty's Dragon, Temeraire is read a myth in which a human turns into a dragon and wistfully considers the idea of either turning himself human or Laurence draconic.
- And someone fanfic'd it! Not the greatest piece of fanfic, mind, but it exists.
- Let's not kid ourselves, people. This is not Ho Yay. This is an Interspecies Romance that happens to not include sex.
- In Crucible of Gold, Granby is revealed to be gay during his protests over Iskeirka's and Hammond's plans to marry him to the Inca Empress. Look back on his and Lawrence's interactions in this light...
- Moral Event Horizon: Trying to use a dragon plague as biological warfare against France.
- Oh, this creates a whole interlocking series of them. First off, it's not just France; it's spelled out by Laurence and Roland that the plague would eventually strike all of Eurasia, leaving Britain the only nation with dragons in the entire Eastern Hemisphere. Second, Laurence and Temeraire go all "Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right" to deliver the cure to France, which is treason and which everyone considers their MEH moment. Lastly, Wellesley trades on this reputation to force Laurence to perform guerilla warfare on French foraging parties, slaughtering them wholesale in defiance of all The Laws and Customs of War, which enforces Laurence's Despair Event Horizon.
- Star Trek Movie Curse: Inverted. The odd-numbered books tend to be more directly related to the war, and some find them to be better books than the more travel-oriented even-numbered books.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: A minor example, but in Tongues of Serpents Laurence and Temeraire discuss the possibility of privateering several times. (Privateering is a "private person or private warship authorized by a country's government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping". Licensed and reputable piracy, basically.) It doesn't happen in this book and looks unlikely going forward, which is too bad, because it would solve most of their problems and, more importantly, a dragon pirate would be awesome.
- There were dragon pirates operating out of Tortuga and Port Royal in the past of the series. Perhaps if we beg hard enough, we can get a prequel set there?
- The Woobie:
- Levitas.
- Laurence himself in Victory of Eagles.
- Kulingile in Tongues of Serpents.
- Tharkay. He's only as snarky and independant as he is because he grew up as a half-asian boy in unaccepting white society. Truth in Television, because mixed couples and children really are discriminated against, even now, in some places.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Lien. She's ostracized for being an albino, and only one person ever shows her any affection. When he dies, she literally has nothing to live for but revenge.