Product Description

A historical fantasy with bite, this deliciously addictive debut novel from Naomi Novik captures the Napoleonic period perfectly and skillfully layers history with imagination by adding a Dragon Air Force to the battle for England. Temeraire is a Celestial dragon, the most highly-prized of all draconic breeds; famed for their intelligence, agility and most of all for the Divine Wind - their terrible roar capable of shattering the heavy timbers of war ships and devastating woodland. Captured by the British, Temeraire was meant to be the companion of the Emperor Napoleon and not captained by a mere officer in the British Air Corps. The Chinese have demanded his return and the British government cannot afford to provoke the Asian super-power into allying with the French - even if it costs them the most powerful weapon in their arsenal, and forces Laurence and Temeraire apart.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #195061 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

Review
Praise for TEMERAIRE "Temeraire is a terrifically entertaining fantasy novel. Is it hard to imagine a cross between Susanna Clarke, of Norrell and Strange fame, and the late Patrick O'Brian? Not if you've read this wonderful, arresting novel." -- Stephen King "A splendid novel. Not only is it a new way to utilize dragons, it's a very clever one and fits neatly into the historical niche this author has used. The plot was excellent, extraordinary in that the reader has no idea where it's leading --which is always fun. Let's hope this is the first of many from Naomi Novik. She'll be one to watch." -- Anne McCaffrey "Just when you think you've seen every variation possible on the dragon story, along comes Naomi Novik to prove you wrong. Her wonderful Temeraire is a dragon for the ages and a fitting companion for the brave, steadfast Will Laurence." -- Terry Brooks

Synopsis
A historical fantasy with bite, this deliciously addictive debut novel from Naomi Novik captures the Napoleonic period perfectly and skillfully layers history with imagination by adding a Dragon Air Force to the battle for England. Temeraire is a Celestial dragon, the most highly-prized of all draconic breeds; famed for their intelligence, agility and most of all for the Divine Wind - their terrible roar capable of shattering the heavy timbers of war ships and devastating woodland. Captured by the British, Temeraire was meant to be the companion of the Emperor Napoleon and not captained by a mere officer in the British Air Corps. The Chinese have demanded his return and the British government cannot afford to provoke the Asian super-power into allying with the French - even if it costs them the most powerful weapon in their arsenal, and forces Laurence and Temeraire apart.

About the Author
Naomi Novik was born in New York in 1973, a first-generation American, and raised on Polish fairy tales, Baba Yaga, and Tolkien. She studied English Literature at Brown University and did graduate work in Computer Science at Columbia University before leaving to participate in the design and development of the computer game Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide. Over the course of a brief winter sojourn working on the game in Edmonton, Canada (accompanied by a truly alarming coat that now lives brooding in the depths of her closet), she realized she preferred the writing to the programming, and, on returning to New York, decided to try her hand at novels. Temeraire is her first. Naomi lives in New York City with her husband and six computers. Her website and livejournal are at www.temeraire.org

Customer Reviews

It's OK but...
Yeah, it's different and most of it is pretty readable but too many things jarred with me somehow. I found it very twee when Lawrence calls the dragon 'my dear' for example. Couldn't get worked up about it I'm afraid.

Fun, but perhaps a little too disposable.
Temeraire is an epic fantasy/alternate history crossbreed novel by Naomi Novik, first published in 2006. Confusingly, it is also the first novel of the Temeraire series, an open-ended series which now encompasses five volumes with several more on the way. In the USA, possibly more sensibly, it is called His Majesty's Dragon.

The Napoleonic Wars are raging across Europe, but this is not the history we are familiar with. Dragons exist in this world and most nations have harnessed them to be used as weapons of war. Captain Will Laurence of the Royal Navy wins a great coup for Britain when he captures a French vessel transporting a rare Chinese dragon egg to Napoleon. The egg hatches and the newborn dragon immediately bonds with Will, to his consternation. Once a dragon has chosen its rider, the bond cannot be severed and Will has to give up his career in the navy to train as a dragon-rider.

The rest of the novel follows Will as he learns the basics of serving in Britain's aerial corps and bonds with the young Temeraire, who rapidly grows to maturity, before taking part in a series of engagements with Napoleon's forces culminating in the Battle of Trafalgar and a French aerial assault on the British coast.

Temeraire is a fun read. It's light but enjoyable. Novik paints her characters with a light touch, and after numerous recent dark and gritty fantasies it's something of a relief to read something that is enjoyable and amusing without being drenched in blood every five pages. Conversely, this makes the book something of a popcorn read: a somewhat disposable product. There's some fairly broad characterisation going on and some of the background doesn't make sense (it's still unclear to me why aviators are considered the scum of the earth compared to soldiers and naval crew), not to mention some fairly wince-inducing, Eddings-esque dialogue between the aviators and their dragons. However, that tends to get forgotten when the muskets start blazing and French and British warships are pounding away at one another with giant lizards battling one another far above, which is all splendidly exciting and well-realised. Given Novik's background in computer programming, it's appropriate to describe the Temeraire concept as an obvious 'killer app', and it's no surprise it was rapidly snapped up for a movie adaption by Peter Jackson (it would be interesting if Smaug in the upcoming Hobbit movie adaption turns out to be a prototype for the dragons in the Temeraire move to follow).

Temeraire (***) may be fluff, but it's fun and easy to read, and I really need to get around to reading the sequels, but as I said with so many other, meatier books around it's easy to forget about this series.

Phenomenal
My title says it all! I had seen this book on bookshop shelves & in libraries, and always just thought it may not have been my cup of tea ... "Historical Fantasy" - hmmm. I finally decided to give it a go two days ago, and have only just managed, metaphorically, to prise my cramped fingers from the book now that I have finished reading it. I was blown away by Ms Novik's skill in introducing us to an era of talking dragons. The historical context provides a rich backdrop for the unfolding story of Captain Will Laurence and the dragon, Temeraire, whom fate has brought together. I don't want to give any spoilers so I won't go into detail about the characters, story, or style. As an avid reader, I enjoy reading three or four books a week (not counting the weekends); for me, Temeraire is that rare book that fuels my passion for the written word and the worlds, experiences, and excitement a good author can introduce us to. I was blown away by Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series, Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series, George R R Martin, Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman, Piers Anthony, Orson Scott Card, and my taste in other genres runs to Rachel Caine, Kim Harrison, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Dean Koontz, Lee Child, to name a few. I am thrilled to have stumbled upon another author to add to my list of favourites. I can't wait to embark on the rest of the series and highly recommend Temeraire.