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Tooth and Claw Jo Walton 9780765349095 Books

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Tooth and Claw Jo Walton 9780765349095 Books

This is literally a Jane Austen novel -- with a cast of characters who are all dragons. This is not done for whimsy -- it's not a whimsical book.

I had the feeling that Walton may have been pondering the rigid code of the English upper classes that Austen's world wears like a corset, and have had the sudden flash of inspiration that it would make more sense if the species living by it were not human.

Imagine a society where a young woman's "purity" was the prime requirement for respectability, and therefore young women are sheltered and cloistered and hedged about with restrictions -- and now imagine that a maiden's loss of purity is a matter of emotions, not physicality, a biochemical process that shows up in a dramatic change to the color of her skin.

Imagine a society where male aggression is carefully channeled into legal forms, but treated as inevitable -- and now imagine that males are actually carnivorous predators built for lethal combat. Imagine a society where the greatest desire of a man's life is to leave his children and estate well-provided for -- and now imagine a society where sleep and healing are dramatically improved by sleeping upon gold, where the only way for a member of society to grow into their full size and strength is by consuming the flesh of other members of society, and where droit de seigneur is not ravishing maidens, but culling and eating the weak of one's demesne. Inheritance and greed suddenly take on a whole new meaning!

Walton has produced such an impeccable dragon justification, such a perfect dragon fit, for the norms of Regency society, it's almost as if the human version of them had been blindly copied from dragons. If you enjoy Austen and the more substantial Regency novels, if you enjoy dragons, or steampunk, or just good SF world-building... you'll enjoy this unforgettable novel.


Tags : Tooth and Claw [Jo Walton] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <div>A tale of love, money, and family conflict--among dragons A family deals with the death of their father. A son goes to court for his inheritance. Another son agonises over his father's deathbed confession. One daughter becomes involved in the abolition movement,Jo Walton,Tooth and Claw,Tor Fantasy,0765349094,Fantasy,Fantasy - General,Fiction,Fiction - Fantasy,Fiction Fantasy General,Fiction-Fantasy,General Adult,MASS MARKET,SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY

Tooth and Claw Jo Walton 9780765349095 Books Reviews

I finished the Small Change trilogy and I practically ran out to get all Jo Walton books (metaphorically, I have a and wi-fi, I need never leave my house again), there is something awe inducing in the way this woman writes.
As it usually happens with all the great authors, it seems to be done effortless, like she is mostly amusing herself with a little hobby, and by the time you finish the book something very close to magic has happened and it took you entirely by surprise.

In this books Walton takes over the Victorian novel and wonders what would happen if instead of tradition and lack of imagination what defined people's different situations in life was rooted in and explained by nature. And let's do it with dragons.
So women don't have claws and the lost of their virtue is easily seen by anybody by the change in the colour of their scales. Big dragons eat small dragons, quite literally, and we get Pride and Prejudice with dragons (I know Jean Austen is not victorian). I must say, considering that I have read Pride, Prejudice and Zombies, Tooth and Claw is by very far the more amusing and clever book.

I didn't particularly fell in love with any of the characters so it's not going to my all time favorites's shelve, but that is on me, not on the book.
If you liked Pride and Prejudice this is a five star book. If you didn't, you will find yourself skipping to the end (which I did).

It is Pride and Prejudice in an England inhabited by Dragons. Fire breathing, gold hoarding, eat each other and perfectly civilized dragons. With Catholic and Episcopal churches for Dragons.

It is completely true to the style, the pacing, the plotting of Pride and Prejudice without cloning the book. I found myself admiring the book, even if I had to skip to the end in order to finish it.
Borrow characters and situations from Austen, Dickens, Trollope and Heyer, add a few plot points from the books you used to read as a kid (e.g. finding a treasure in a cave after a picnic, something the Famous Five could have done). Turn your protagonists into dragons, imagine a few details that make their world different from a human one (they sleep on gold, females turn pink when in love and lose their maidenly gold, dragons need to eat dragon flesh or remain stunted.) Now write in a style accessible to the less discerning for example, if you want the reader to understand X is amazed, do not write "It's amazing ! X said," but rather "It's amazing, X said, amazed", and Bingo! you have a novel.
Jo Walton has written what is essentially an Anthony Trollope novel populated with dragons! This is really great. Highly recommended. My daughter told me I would love this book, and she was right, although she described it as Jane Austen with dragons, her familiarity with nineteenth century English novels is limited. Definitely Anthony Trollope and not Jane Austen. There is more social criticism in this novel of manners than Jane Austen would have written, this is Victorian, post Dickens, with social justice themes but with less melodrama than Dickens and without the wild emotions of any of the Brontes or Hardy. l loved Jo Walton's My Real Children. This is less devastating, and more fun. I need to read more of her work.
This is literally a Jane Austen novel -- with a cast of characters who are all dragons. This is not done for whimsy -- it's not a whimsical book.

I had the feeling that Walton may have been pondering the rigid code of the English upper classes that Austen's world wears like a corset, and have had the sudden flash of inspiration that it would make more sense if the species living by it were not human.

Imagine a society where a young woman's "purity" was the prime requirement for respectability, and therefore young women are sheltered and cloistered and hedged about with restrictions -- and now imagine that a maiden's loss of purity is a matter of emotions, not physicality, a biochemical process that shows up in a dramatic change to the color of her skin.

Imagine a society where male aggression is carefully channeled into legal forms, but treated as inevitable -- and now imagine that males are actually carnivorous predators built for lethal combat. Imagine a society where the greatest desire of a man's life is to leave his children and estate well-provided for -- and now imagine a society where sleep and healing are dramatically improved by sleeping upon gold, where the only way for a member of society to grow into their full size and strength is by consuming the flesh of other members of society, and where droit de seigneur is not ravishing maidens, but culling and eating the weak of one's demesne. Inheritance and greed suddenly take on a whole new meaning!

Walton has produced such an impeccable dragon justification, such a perfect dragon fit, for the norms of Regency society, it's almost as if the human version of them had been blindly copied from dragons. If you enjoy Austen and the more substantial Regency novels, if you enjoy dragons, or steampunk, or just good SF world-building... you'll enjoy this unforgettable novel.