Dead Wake is a non-fiction account of what happened to the Lusitania, the ocean liner sunk by a German u-boat that led to the the United States joining WWI. That was the extent of my knowledge about the topic prior to this book. I remember learning about the sinking of the Lusitania in high school but like most US history classes, we were racing through the 20th century at the end of the school year so it was a footnote, along with the Zimmerman Telegram […]
Dragons with feathers!
Though I’m writing reviews for Books 4-7 all at once, and posting separately, I haven’t mentioned until now that the regular cast of characters besides Temeraire and his human buddy Will Laurence has really grown to a large group of familiars. I have to give giant props to Naomi Novik for building a world of details easy to absorb and remember, and still read super quickly. This book, number 7 of the series, brings us to South America, one of the few continents not yet visited […]
I wanted more ships; I got more ships
It wasn’t too long ago that, upon reading a highly enjoyable seaward romance, I thought to myself “this is a niche I want to explore.” Lo and behold, I happen upon a recommendation for Almost a Scandal, only to find it was already on my TBR, and away we go! This was a true delight — about 4.5 stars, and I honestly can’t think of a good reason why I’m leaving off that last .5, other than some nebulous form of contrarianism. But let’s not quibble — […]


