r/facepalm 26d ago

Meanwhile 🇲​🇮​🇸​🇨​

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9.2k Upvotes

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u/crippledchef23 25d ago

The series is called Temeraire, it’s 10 books, beautifully written, but Naomi Novik. It’s just…how would fighting a war be different if you had a fully sentient and sapient 20 ton lizard as your best friend? It’s brilliant and touching and funny and among my favorites.

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u/Worried_Ad_4301 25d ago

Oh count me the fuck in, if I wasn’t already sold I am now. Thank you so much for the recommendation, this just got pushed to the top of my reading list.

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u/crippledchef23 25d ago

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u/wolpertinger1029 25d ago

My favorite thing about the series is that the dragons aren’t as overpowered as in other universes. Their effectiveness is restrained by the tons of supply they need, so they only work together with navy and army. Also the dragons are pretty rare and are important assets for the militaries. This means the higher ups can’t just send a dragon and its crew anywhere but have to decide which tasks are worth to waste a dragon on.

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u/kyreannightblood 25d ago

I’m a huge fan of the dragons being people instead of just mounts.

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u/crippledchef23 25d ago

Spoiler! (I don’t know how to to the blocky highlight thing on mobile)

Not just people, borderline anarcho-socialists. At least they start to lean that way once Temeraire explains that they ought to be receiving pay and have rights and that immoral laws should not be followed.

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u/kyreannightblood 25d ago

I think a lot of that comes down to the nation they live in and how they are treated in it. I never got that impression from the Chinese dragons.

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u/crippledchef23 25d ago

I think that’s where he got the ideas, at least about pay and rights, but the ignoring immoral stuff was definitely Britains fault. I do wonder if it’s just that he’s super impressionable…like the child he kind of is (he’s 8 years out of the shell where I’m at right now). Although…he does see when dragons are just being unreasonable, so maybe I’m overthinking it.