Crucible of Gold: A Novel of Temeraire

NaomiNovik's beloved series returns, with Capt. Will Laurence and his fightingdragon Temeraire once again taking to the air against the broadsides ofNapoleon's forces and the friendly-and sometimes not-so-friendly-fire ofBritish soldiers and politicians who continue to suspect them of dividedloyalties, if not outright treason.

ForLaurence and Temeraire, put out to pasture in Australia, it seems their part inthe war has come to an end just when they are needed most. Newly allied withthe powerful African empire of the Tswana, the French have occupied Spain andbrought revolution and bloodshed to Brazil, threatening Britain's lastdesperate hope to defeat Napoleon.

Sothe British government dispatches Arthur Hammond from China to enlist Laurenceand Temeraire to negotiate a peace with the angry Tswana, who have besieged thePortuguese royal family in Rio-and as bait, Hammond bears an offer to reinstateLaurence to his former rank and seniority as a captain in the Aerial Corps.Temeraire is delighted by this sudden reversal of fortune, but Laurence is byno means sanguine, knowing from experience that personal honor and duty toone's country do not always run on parallel tracks.

Laurenceand Temeraire-joined by the egotistical fire-breather Iskierka and thestill-growing Kulingile, who has already surpassed Temeraire in size-embark forBrazil, only to meet with a string of unmitigated disasters that leave thedragons and their human friends forced to make an unexpected landing in thehostile territory of the Inca empire, where they face new unanticipateddangers.

Nowwith the success of the mission balanced on a razor's edge, and failure lookingmore likely by the minute, the unexpected arrival of an old enemy will tip thescales toward ruin. Yet even in the midst of disaster, opportunity may lurk-forone bold enough to grasp it.

Naomi Novikreceived the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer at the 2007 WorldScience Fiction Convention. Along with the three novels in this collection, sheis the acclaimed author of Empire of Ivory and Victory of Eagles, the fourthand fifth volumes in the Temeraire series, which has been optioned by PeterJackson, the Academy Award-winning director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Ahistory buff with a particular interest in the Napoleonic era, Novik studiedEnglish literature at Brown University, then did graduate work in computerscience at Columbia University before leaving to participate in the design anddevelopment of the computer game Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide.Novik lives in New York City with her husband and six computers.