HIS MAJESTY’S DRAGON: Naomi Novik: Ballantine Books: Fantasy: 375 pagesA blend of fantasy and history, this delightful novel is the story of Will Laurence, a British navel captain, during the Napoleonic wars and Temeraire the dragon. Captain Laurence and his crew take over a French frigate on its way back from the Orient and discover in the cargo an unhatched dragon’s egg, but before the ship can make it back to land, the dragon hatches.
Dragons must agree to be harnessed shortly after hatching or they become feral beasts. So when Captain Laurence and Temeraire bond, Laurence agrees to give up command of his ship, become the dragon’s aviator and join His Majesty’s Aerial Corps.
The author does a wonderful job of integrating dragons into this time period. But what kept me turning the pages were the characters especially stuffy yet true-hearted Captain Laurence and eager to please but slightly rebellious Temeraire.
AJ
1 comment:
Historical fiction and fantasy with dragons are two of my favorite types of books to read, and this book series combines the two. I thought it was clever to re-imagine the Napoleonic Wars with a dragon aerial corp. I liked that Novik's dragons are intelligent; I prefer reading dragon books with intelligent, good-guy dragons. The dragon and rider relationship is similar to to Anne McCaffrey's Pern books. I'd recommend this series to anyone interested in dragons, or alternate history.
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