His Majesty's Dragon

by Naomi Novik

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Imagine that you are a British navy captain in the Napoleonic Wars. The last thing you want is to ruin your career and marital prospects by joining the Aerial Corps, a rather uncouth and secretive branch of the service, but duty calls, and the dragon egg you captured from aboard a French ship is about to hatch. Yes, a dragon egg—in this first of a trilogy, the British sea story is given a new twist: instead of tall ships, we have enormous flying dragons that make up an aerial combat force. Each dragon is paired at hatching with a captain, and the two form a close bond that gives an emotional center to what might otherwise have been just another alternate history. Novik's engaging debut is a perfect blend of the familiar and the fantastical, with both exciting air battles and the natural history of dragons described in what would be well-researched detail if it didn't happen to originate in the author's imagination. Fans of historical fantasies like Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell may enjoy. Highly recommended for all public libraries. [The second volume in this “Temeraire” series, Throne of Jade, will be published on April 25; the third and final, Black Powder War, on May 30.—Ed.]—Jenne Bergstrom, San Diego Cty. Lib.—Jenne Bergstrom, San Diego Cty. Lib.

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From BookList, February 1, 2006, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.
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*Starred Review*
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This is the first book in a superbly written, character-driven series, Temeraire, which conjures the Napoleonic-era military replete with aerial corps of fighting dragons and their handlers. When Captain Laurence of HMS Reliant takes a French frigate as a prize, the cargo includes a dragon egg due to hatch before the Reliant can reach a British aviators' base. When the hatchling chooses the captain to be his handler, Laurence's naval career comes to an end. He is now an aviator and a member of a service more tolerated than admired. Within very short order, he finds himself bonded with Temeraire, a most elegant and intelligent dragon, more closely than he has ever been bonded with anyone before, and that includes the lady he had thought he would marry. Novik fully integrates dragons into late-eighteenth-century military tactics and develops a convincing armed-service social milieu that includes the dragon corps. But what keeps one turning the pages is the urge to find out what happens next to Captain Laurence and Temeraire, characters who win one's heart from the beginning. Bravos for a most promising new author!
FriedaMurray.
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