Here Be Dragons
Friday, September 15th, 2006
His Majesty’s Dragon
Throne of Jade
Black Powder War
by Naomi Novik
A new twist on dragons? Is such a thing possible? Much to my surprise, and delight, there is, and Naomi Novik proves it.
“Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors rise to Britain’s defense by taking to the skies…not aboard aircraft, but atop the mighty backs of fighting dragons.” –back blurb of His Majesty’s Dragon
Short, short synopsis:
Will Laurence is captain of HMS Reliant. A captured French ship yields the prize of an unhatched dragon egg. But the ship is too far from shore to bring the egg to the Aerial Corps before it hatches. So Laurence is forced to trade his ship for a dragon, a rare black dragon he names Temeraire (after the dreadnought of the same name).
Of course, Laurence is not a proper aviator, nor is Temeraire a usual dragon–he is a Chinese Imperial, and extraordinarily intelligent and free-willed. The two newcomers proceed to turn the Aerial Corps upside-down with their strange ideas on how things should be done.
I shan’t spoil the rest of the story with more information, except to say Temeraire isn’t really an Imperial after all, and this discovery leads to all sorts of trouble in books 2 and 3.
You know, I’m having the worst time finishing this post–I started it on Sunday night, and haven’t gotten it done yet. So I’m just going to put up what I have here and leave it be.
Bottom line–I really enjoyed this series. Do read them, especially if you like this era of history. Novik does an excellent job of capturing the feel of the times.