His Majesty's Dragon: Book One of the Temeraire

As both a fan of history and dragon stories, this seemed to blend them nicely. I haven't read the other books in the series, but after this one, I definitely plan to. If I had to say anything negative about this book (and the reason for the 4 stars instead of 5) is that it was a little slow for the first half. I understand the author was probably getting a lot of character development in, but it took a while for me to get through the first part when it talks so much about British formality. Into the second half of the book, it gets more into the workings of the Aerial Corp, battles, and became much more interesting to me. Good book and highly recommended.

If you have a thing for dragons, then stop reading this right now, and start reading the book already. You’ll love it. If, like me, you have a thing for character-driven stories with intricate plots, and you can either take or leave dragons, then you might wish to move along. The hero of this story, British Naval Captain Will Laurence, takes a dragon egg as the spoils of war after a brief battle with a French ship in this alternate history of the Napoleonic wars. When the egg hatches on his ship, far from land, and the dragon (who can speak and reason straight out of the egg) chooses Captain Laurence as his handler. This effectively ends Laurence’s career in the Navy as he is now expected and duty-bound to join the Aerial Corps and devote the rest of his life to caring for the dragon. Not only does this end his career, but it ends his marriage prospects, and his family effectively disowns him for a run of bad luck. This all sounds like a great recipe for some character-driven fiction as Captain Laurence must struggle with his desire to perform his duty to the King, and his desire to have the future he has planned. But no, Captain Laurence doesn’t seem the least bit bothered by the loss of his family, his betrothed, and his career. Though the narrator tells me he is bothered, I never see it in Laurence’s actions. He never acts on his frustration. He never bemoans his loss. It doesn’t color his experience. It is essentially forgotten in his unwavering quest to perform his duties. This devotion to duty turns Captain Laurence into a rather white knight-like literary figure. He’s a shining pillar of virtue whose only flaws appear to be rigidity and dullness. By the end of the book, he’s slightly less rigid. But his loosening up really has no impact on the plot, and only appears to have an impact on two minor character in the book. Now, although I do love a good character-driven book, I can get behind the occasional flat character arc if there is a compelling plot line. The plot line in this book is clear from the beginning: Can Captain Laurence and his dragon Temeraire be turned into a valuable asset for the Aerial Corps? The story plods along on this plotline with few distractions and in the company of a few subplots that have little impact on the main plot. It is in the main subplot where Captain Laurence finally loosens up and steps outside of the boundaries of duty to see to what he believes is right action. Though his actions are commendable and justified, they have no consequence for him. Though technically he is risking court martial and ignoring orders, he is ignoring orders given by a commanding officer he no longer serves under. And his current CO is all like, “Well, that guy had it coming.” No risk. No consequences. No real impact on the main plot. Speaking of which, the main plot does have consequences by the time the climax begins in earnest, and the main plot is resolved, but without any growth or change on the part of Captain Laurence. The main plot is completed successfully only when it looks as if all is lost and we are about to see how far Laurence’s devotion to duty will carry him when he plunges into a hopeless battle that is nearly lost--until Temeraire suddenly has some magical powers that no one knew about, and if they were foreshadowed, I completely missed them. Despite the flat character arc, the dull protagonist, and the simple plot line with a magical resolution, the novel does have its moments. The love story at the heart of this novel is believable, even though it doesn’t appear to come at any cost to either side, and is given easily and never tested. The style is consistent, and Novik did a good job of giving the narration a Regency feel without sacrificing the readability that marks contemporary novels. So, in summary, if you are looking for characters with depth and a plot line with flair… well, here be only dragons.

Such a strange title for this Wonderful book. I'll be done with this 1st novel and on my way to the second in moments. It's quite simply written, however. I'm hoping for a higher degree of writing next time.