His Majesty's Dragon

An excellent short read. A great take on alternate history, combining fantastical dragon battles with the Napoleonic War. I enjoyed the interplay between the different characters and their dragons, and I liked the constant historical connections that were made. Recommended.

This book was a lot of fun, much more than I expected it to be. It reminded me a lot of the kind of science fiction I read growing up, a very McCaffrey edge to the human/dragon relationship with personal bonds and practical application of dragons. The dragons themselves, though, are a very unique spin on the trope. At first I was a little annoyed by the dragons magically speaking English right out of the shell, but Novik provides at least a nod to explain that particular device.

The alternate history is probably what most people enjoy about this book, but for me that part is a little dry. What I liked watching was the different attitudes of humans and dragons and how they change over the course of the story. Rankin and Levitas are probably the most interesting example, and I wish they'd gotten more screen time. Laurence and Temeraire themselves are maybe a bit too perfect, but I think Novik manages to walk that line between “Soldierly Duty” and “Screw this” pretty well.

The dragons really steal the show and I was happy they never took second stage. I kind of wonder how humans got the dragons into a subservient role to begin with. These are hyper-intelligent creatures which most of the world is convinced are dumb beasts. Just... how does that work? The handler bond is Novik's explanation, but that can't be a biological/evolutionary advantage. Maybe I'm being nitpicky, but having just read Marie Brennan's “A Natural History of Dragons,” I really wanted to learn more about the breeds and how the dragon/human relationships came to be. I hope that we get more alternate science in later books, which I definitely plan on reading.

Overall, this was exactly the kind of book I needed after the slog through Stephenson. It's light and fast-paced with dragons. I am an easy to please creature.

A truly fantastic alternate history, introducing dragons into the Napoleonic wars. The book was an extremely fast read, but ever lacked for detail and story, a great pallet cleanser between thicker, heavier books. Already have the next in the series on hand, just waiting to be read!

The first time I read this, I found it utterly charming and captivating–I loved the characters, the concept, and, most of all, Temeraire. The relationship between Temeraire and Laurence is fan.tas.tic. Can't get enough of it – man, I want a dragon like Novik's.

I'm puzzled by this novel, which seems in some ways like a children's book, although it gets a bit more adult in its later stages. I don't think it's deliberately aimed at children, though it's hard to be sure. There are references to the sex lives of the aviators, but no sex scenes.

It's a story of bonding between man and dragon in the context of the Napoleonic Wars—an alternative version of the Napoleonic Wars in which all countries have dragons and use them as an air force.

The story makes pleasant enough reading, and I'd normally be willing to give it three stars, but I'm bothered by two gross implausibilities that the author expects us to swallow.

1. Partway through the book, we're told that the dragon Temeraire learned first fluent French and then fluent English by listening to the sounds outside his shell before hatching; so he hatches with full command of both languages. This is not just implausible, it's completely impossible. No-one, not even a dragon, can learn a language just by listening to the sound of it, without ever having seen anything of the world except the inside of an egg. You can't link words to objects and actions when you know nothing of those objects and actions, never having seen them.

2. The dragons clearly have human intelligence, or something very close to it. But they're surprisingly willing to be commanded by humans and to risk their lives in human wars. Temeraire shows traces of scepticism at times, but when needed he goes into battle with the rest. I'd have expected more organization among the dragons in their own interests—a dragon trade union, or perhaps a secret society of dragons, trying to organize a country of their own somewhere.

I had already read the first third of this collection as a stand-alone novel, so this entry represents the second and third parts of the series.

Temeraire is the story of a dragon from which the series takes its name, and his captain, one Will Laurence. Will and his dragon serve the British crown during the Napoleonic wars, fighting first at Dover and then travelling to China, Turkey, and Prussia in an attempt to prevent Napoleon and his dragons from conquering the world.

This was a lot of fun! Very reminiscent of Patrick O'Brien's work, but with less focus on the mechanics of naval travel, and more focus on giant dragons. I also really enjoyed the relationship between Will and Temeraire; in the face of the journies and challenges they faced, it helped to keep the plot grounded and focused.

The one real downside to the series, IMO, is that in Europe, at least, the presence of dragons seems to have had little to no influence on society (or, from what I can tell, the progress of the war). That seems odd to me, and I think it would have been really interesting to see how the evolution of society would have changed if dragons were historical creatures.

Yes, I loved this book, and the irony is that had it not been offered free for the Kindle, I never would have read it. Let me be more blunt, actually. Not only would I not have read it, but I would have scoffed at it.

“His Majesty's Dragon”?? Come on. At best I would have read the title aloud in a mocking tone and escaped the fantasy/sci-fi section with haste. See the cover art? Just like every other magic-y, Lord-of-the-Rings-y, fantasy book you see piling up in bookstores. What's to differentiate one from another? They all blend together into a haze of something that might as well be labeled “for fans of this genre only.”

But it was free for the Kindle. So I took a look. I checked up on some reviews, and the Washington Post was very favorable. What the hell, I need metro train reading, let's try the first few pages.

Hooked. Schooled.

It's smart, it's charming, it's subtle. It respects the reader, the characters are fully realized, complete with quirks that are just visible enough to fool you into thinking these people (and dragons) are real.

So smart business model. I'll be buying all the rest in the series forthwith. Stupid-sounding titles or no.

Oh, and having read the book, the title's not actually stupid. Hmph.