1. It's pretty great so far! Nice to confirm. I know lots of fellow fans like it, but lots of fans like things I don't, too, and I trailed off after the first few Temeraires, so you never know. Clear storytelling, vibrant setting, central female friendship, great creepiness with the Woods, clam dude with better sexual tension than other books I've read lately. *cough Discovery of Witches*
2. Trying to figure out who the Dragon reminds me of besides fanon!Snape. It's someone/something I read or saw recently but I can't put my finger on it. ETA: & no, it is not Rodney McKay. ETA ETA: Ah! Got it: Twelfth Doctor.
3. If I were to ask for anything different, it would be to reverse the gender stereotypes so the man isn't the one being all logic-methodical and the young woman isn't the one going by loosey-goosey instinct. But at the same time, that wouldn't make as much sense for the plot, unless the woman were the experienced wizard and the man were the apprentice, and then we wouldn't have a female protagonist, which is generally so refreshing. And I do like the matrilineal (if that is the right word) descent of the spells Agnieszka uses.
2. Trying to figure out who the Dragon reminds me of besides fanon!Snape. It's someone/something I read or saw recently but I can't put my finger on it. ETA: & no, it is not Rodney McKay. ETA ETA: Ah! Got it: Twelfth Doctor.
3. If I were to ask for anything different, it would be to reverse the gender stereotypes so the man isn't the one being all logic-methodical and the young woman isn't the one going by loosey-goosey instinct. But at the same time, that wouldn't make as much sense for the plot, unless the woman were the experienced wizard and the man were the apprentice, and then we wouldn't have a female protagonist, which is generally so refreshing. And I do like the matrilineal (if that is the right word) descent of the spells Agnieszka uses.