Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #318218 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Synopsis
This book talks about the Napoleonic Wars...with dragons. This is an historical fantasy with bite. This deliciously addictive debut novel from Naomi Novik captures the Napoleonic period perfectly and skilfully layers history with imagination by adding a Dragon Air Force to the battle for England. As Napoleon's infantry rampages across Europe and his armada lies in wait for Nelson's smaller fleet, the war does not rage on land and water alone. Squadrons of aviators swarm the skies. Raining fire and acid upon their enemies, they engage in a swift, violent combat with flying tooth and claw! - The Dragon Air Corps. Captain Laurence has a respectable commission aboard the ship Reliant, a pretty but ambitious fiancee and his life all planned out. But months before the Battle of Trafalgar, on patrol in the Atlantic, the Reliant captures a small French frigate, storm-damaged and possessing a fierce crew unwilling to surrender as easily as they should. On board Laurence finds a dragon egg. Having spent months on a slow journey from Asia, the egg hatches. Hatchling dragons must be put in a harness immediately otherwise the dragon-young become hard to control - fit only for the breeding colonies. The person chosen to first harness the beast must be an aviator, for the dragon will accept no other. The life of an aviator is not a desirable one; reviled by fashionable society, they live hard, lonely lives bound to duty and they frequently die young. Ignoring the young midshipman Laurence had assigned to the task, the dragon picks Laurence himself, and now his life will be changed forever.

Customer Reviews

Dragons and sailing ships
This book has also been published under the name Temeraire.

it covers the period of the war with Napoleon, but with the addition of dragons that can fly.

Both sides domesticate and breed dragons to use as weapons. This book covers what happens once an egg is captured.

I bought the e-book version to read as it sounded like a different take on classic scifi / fantasy. It isnt - this is more of a historical novel with a big "what if" thrown in.

But this is a really good book - so who cares how it should be classified. More please.

Anyway, i immediately got the sequel as soon as i had finished this book (Throne of Jade).

Summary - original plot take using some classical themes, really good writing, lots of atmosphere. Recommended.

Horatio Hornblower with added dragons.
This is an intelligent historical fantasy with heart. It's undoubtedly the most original dragon book I've had the pleasure to read, and one of the very finest historical fantasies around. Novik's prose is clean, accessible and evocative, and she effortlessly evokes a world which is both strange and familiar; her period details are consistent and convincing and will delight readers of historical fiction (or viewers, for that matter - 'Hornblower', 'Master and Commander' etc), and so it's all the more startling and delightful to find dragons, that stalwart of fantasy fiction, smack bang in the centre of the novel. Novik blends the genres masterfully; she takes this glorious, outrageous 'what if' and runs with it, and all the nuances of her universe are so convincing that one's disbelief is very swiftly suspended, and one gets lost in the triumphs and tribulations of the characters (one of whom just happens to be large and scaley).

Temeraire himself is entirely charming and disarming, and Novik delineates the characters of the other dragons (of varying skills and intellects) beautifully. The story of how he and his rider ajust to their new existence is thoroughly engaging in and of itself (yes, at one point I did have to resort to tissues in an effort to salvage my mascara), but it still leaves one looking forward to the next book.

BEWARE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is a great book. However if like me you discover an author you like and a story you like, you then go and buy the rest of the series then you're in for a shock in one books case.

"Temeraire" and "His Majesty's Dragon" are one and the same book with different cover and title. EXACTLY the same book !!! How did this happen ? What was the author or publisher thinking when they gave permission for this to happen. I'm not impressed at all and have never seen this before .