Dragons And Austen

I AM THE CHAMPION MY FRIEEEEND!  Sorry a tad bit loopy this morning ('cause that is something new). Had an incredibly busy weekend, but a very very productive one.  A lot of things were accomplished including finishing up a couple of books on my list.  One of the books was Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton.  A couple of my favorite review sites had done a piece on this book, touting it as a mix of Jane Austen and Dragons.  These being two of my favorite things how could I refuse?  As always spoilers ahead!

This book skips around between characters which works well for the book, but bad for reviews so most of my rambling summation will be less in book order and more in character order.  We start with the death of Bon Agornin, a merchant class dragon who has raised himself to the class of gentility.  His son the Blessed Penn (who is a parson) is there to help his father in his final moments.  Bon Agornin makes it very clear that all of his gold and his body are to be given to the younger three of his five children as the older two have already been established in good society.  Both the gold to increase wealth for his son Avan and dowries for his younger daughters Selendra and Haner, and the consuming of the body to increase the size and

strength of the young dragons.  You see this part of the world is populated by civil dragons, who come complete with there own rank structure, rules, and religion.  One of the tenets of this world is that when a dragon dies, or is determined to be weak they are to be consumed by other stronger dragons who then grow bigger.  Dragon meat is the only way for a dragon to grow and it is considered the most precious of stuff.  Bon Agornin dies and the family gathers to partake of his body.  Penn takes the eyes as is the parsons due, but defers to his fathers wishes and eats none of the body.  In defiance of his father-in-laws wishes the Illustrious Daverek not only devours a large portion, but insists that his wife (Berand, the oldest of Bon Agornin's children) and there dragonnetts eat as well.  This leaves a pitiful portion to be shared by the three youngest.  Angered over this Avan decides to sue his brother-in-law, heading back to the city with his share of gold to begin proceedings.  Haner is sent to live with her oldest sister and her family, who will also take over Bon Agornin's estate.  Selendra is to go home with her brother Penn and live with his wife and dragonettes.  Before they can all take leave Selendra is propositioned by another parson the Blessed Frelt who wants to marry her, even though she refuses, he keeps pushing up against her.  This causes the maiden dragon to turn from a maidenly gold to a bridal blush.  In this society when a maiden blushes she is no longer a maiden, but essentially spoken for.  Once a maiden is married she continues to darken, eventually turning to red as she lays her clutches.  An unmarried pink dragon is quit scandalous.  Penn is worried about his sisters coloring, telling her if it does not go away quickly she will have to marry Frelt.  Amer an old servant who helped raise the family gives Selendra a potion to drink, warning her that while it will turn her back to maiden gold, it may inhibit her ability to turn pink when she is actually ready to marry.  Selendra agrees to this and returns to gold. Everybody then leaves the estate to go to there new respective homes.  This is where I will start following individual characters for the most part.  Avan the younger son returns to the city where he gets the ball rolling on his case against Daverek.  He also returns to his companion, the lipstick pink Sebeth.  Sebeth is a very pink dragon who is not married and yet shares Avan's bed on a regular basis.  What little history we get is a bit on the tragic side.  She is also a proponent of the Old Religion which while not illegal has been pushed underground.  Avin is in love with Sebeth, but feels he does not have the money or status to negate her fallen nature.  As the suit progresses Daverek uses his money and influence and just all around bullishness to scare everybody away from helping Avan with his case.  In the end Sebeth goes home to her dying father, is made heiress of one of the grandest estates in the
area and marries Avan.  Moving on to Haner and her plight.  Haner is sent to live with her oldest sister Berend who is married to the Illustrious Daverek.  She has turned into a bit of a snob and while she loves her sister,is more concerned with keeping her temperamental husband happy. She is working on her second clutch of eggs, which is a dangerous prospect for a female dragon, many of them dying in the laying of there clutches.  Berend is working on her second clutch very close to the first one, which is risky, but what Daverek wants.  To achieve this Berend has eaten one of her first clutched children, the weakling Lamerak.  While this seems really harsh, this is the way of dragons.  On this note Daverek takes Haner, and Berend on a tour of his estate, stopping at a home which has just had a recent clutch.  As the lord of the estate Daverek is entitled to devour any dragonette, or dragon for that matter that he considers weak or excessive.  He cruelly takes one of the farmers dragonettes and eats it, sharing with his wife and sister-in-law.  Haner is horrified at the wanton cruelty of her sisters husband and starts to rethink the way of things.  She becomes engaged to a young dragon who shares her ideals of better treatment for servants, and less eating of other dragons.  Berend while attempting to lay her third egg dies and leaves her dragonettes and sister in the uncaring custody of her husband.  They are all summoned to the city to give testimony in the case against Daverek and Haner ends up locked in her room.  On to Selendra, who is my favorite part of the story.  Selendra goes to live with her brother Penn and his wife Felin and there two dragonettes Wantos and Gerin.  They live in the estate of Exalted Benandi and his mother, who is essentially the ruling matron.  The Exalted Benandi or Sher is a young dragon who does his best to stay out of his mothers way.  He is a good friend to both Penn and Felin and falls hopelessly in love
with Selendra.  Selendra returns his affections, but finds herself stubbornly staying a maidenly gold.  Terrified that she will not be able to blush, therefore not be able to give Sher children, she first refuses him, and then when his mother sets herself against the match, puts forth impossible tasks for him to accomplish before she says yes.  They are all summoned to the city to give testimony for the case.  Sher accompanies them to try and woo Selendra and also to convince Daverek to not make Penn testify since it would compromise his position in the church.  While at Davereks house Sher and Penn request to see Haner.  Daverek insists that she is sick, but when they go to find her, they see that she has been locked in her room and starved. They rescue Haner and bring her back to the rest of the family at Sher's house.  At the trial Sher is so angered by Daverek that he legally challenges and kills him, graciously offering his body to the family.  Inspired by his bravery Selendra goes to lick his wounds and immediately blushes a beautiful bridal pink.  The estate and money all go to the four remaining siblings and everybody gets married and lives rich and happy.
Overall I enjoyed this book, it did have a Austenesque feel to it which was pretty cool, and the dragon society was very well built.  It was kind of weird because I did not find myself waiting to get back to it, but when I was reading it I enjoyed it thoroughly. It is hard to put this book into any one genre, it has dragons so you could call it fantasy, except for if you replaced the dragons with humans it would definitely be historical fiction.  You can definitely see the different Austen books that are referenced, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion being the most recognizable.  I think what I liked best about this book, was the obvious differences from the aforementioned books.  I think that the author established very well that this was a world of dragons, not people.  Things like death, eating each other, living in caves, binding wings as a sign of servitude among other things all helped to remind the reader that while genteel and civilized we are dealing with a society much different then our own.  The contrast of a dragon being fanatical about hierarchy

and propriety, then turning around and devouring her youngest child was very cool, and warranted.  I also liked the idea of the blushing female dragon, her place in society dictated by her color and marital status.  In a lot of books, the status of ones maidenhood is mostly speculation and hearsay with little or no proof, yet it tends to be the ruin of many a young maiden.  In this book the visual is so striking these poor girls don't stand a chance.  The fact that Selendra changed after just one uncomfortable crowding of an unwanted suitor shows you just how perilous there situation is. I enjoyed how all the different aspects of society were explored, from the humble servants, the hard working tenets, the scraping city workers, and the landed lords and ladies.  I even liked the bits of history that came through. My biggest issue was probably the ending (big surprise right).  It was rather abrupt and I wanted more of an epilogue for each of the siblings and some of the solutions to the big problems were a bit pat.  Overall I would recommend this book to people who like Jane Austen, and/or alternate fantasy. I give it 7 out of 10 dragon claws.