fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3526 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3526 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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02.

[Feed The Birds, from Mary Poppins]

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03.

(Once Upon A Time)

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04.

[ Dota 2 esport ]

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05.

[Great British Bake Off, series 3]

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06. http://i.imgur.com/82bEEum.png
[The Private Report on My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness; linked for nudity/implied porn, illustrated]

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07.

[We Happy Few]

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08.

[Stranger Things]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 32 secrets from Secret Submission Post #504.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I read this for the first time ages ago, but was glad of the excuse to pick it up again. The story holds up to a re-read very well – the world-building in particular is great fun, especially because it combines two of my favourite things, Age of Sail and dragons! I like how the dragons are almost stand-ins for the Navy, in that like enlisted or pressed men, they aren't all that highly regarded, but that they have a great sense of duty and esprit de corps, and do their job so magnificently.

I agree with what you say about the main characters – they're multifaceted and likeable, even though Lawrence is a bit of a dick to Temeraire to begin with. He's a Navy captain, he should know better! But he gets over that very quickly and the strength of his bond with Temeraire is lovely.

One of two nitpicks – I though everyone had quite a similar voice. OK, it's a novel of the early nineteenth century, but the cast of characters is very wide and there could at least be some choice swear-words.

I didn't feel that Granby's initial hostility was sufficiently well-explained – he would surely know that he had to rein that sort of attitude in if he wanted to get ahead?

Also, although it was great to meet a dragon training-master, I felt that Celeritas was falling down on the job. No matter what his sentimental attachment to Levitas' captain was (forget his name) the welfare of the dragon should have come first, firstly for reasons of common humanity (or whatever) and secondly because the country needed its dragons to be operating at peak efficiency. I get why this episode was included, I just think the premise could have been better supported.

Over the years I've read all of the sequels and enjoyed them, but this one is the best IMO. (I'm Australian, and Tongues of Serpents – well, it wasn't edge of the seat stuff, alas!) But I see that my library system has the latest book in the series, so I've ordered it – the summary looks like fanfic at its finest.

Thanks to whoever put this book up on the poll – I had great fun reading it.

I didn't think he was really a dick to Temeraire at first but more that he just had no idea how to treat a dragon properly. He assumed they'd be like a horse - not stupid, but not as smart as a person, requiring a certain amount of maintenance, and existing for its labor. He had no idea what he was really in for!

I think maybe Granby was just immature. That's honestly how it read to me. Maybe he was good friends with...what was his name? The guy who tried to take over Temeraire's harness? and just took the "slight" against his bro too personally.

You raise a good point about Celeritas, but I think he really felt like his hands (forefeet? talons?) were tied. It would have been a huge overstep of his authority to remove a captain already in harness. I see that as more of a problem with the system than with Celeritas. Rankin could have made a really big fuss and caused all kinds of problems. I get the very strong sense that de-harnessing a handler was simply not done; completely unheard of. Celeritas chose to reject him, but Levitas didn't. In fact now that I write that, maybe it was an issue of Levitas' agency? Levitas never once tried to find a better captain. He truly loved Rankin and just wanted his affection returned. That's what made his story and his end so tragic. (Man, I loved Laurence in that scene though...)

Also, Celeritas, like a human character, is not without flaws. I think he deeply regretted not making more of an effort towards putting Rankin out of harness completely when he rejected him. But it was kind of a "the damage has been done" situation.

Now that Laurence has interfered with his ability to find a new dragon, I hope he never gets in a harness again.

[ SECRET POST #3526 ]

Re: Some of my thoughts...

Re: Some of my thoughts...