January: His Majesty's Dragon

[Wendy B]

His Majesty's Dragon, Naomi Novik

In this delightful first novel, the opening salvo of a trilogy, Novik seamlessly blends fantasy into the history of the Napoleonic wars. Here be dragons, beasts that can speak and reason, bred for strength and speed and used for aerial support in battle. Each nation has its own breeds, but none are so jealously guarded as the mysterious dragons of China. Veteran Capt. Will Laurence of the British Navy is therefore taken aback after his crew captures an egg from a French ship and it hatches a Chinese dragon, which Laurence names Temeraire. When Temeraire bonds with the captain, the two leave the navy to sign on with His Majesty's sadly understaffed Aerial Corps, which takes on the French in sprawling, detailed battles that Novik renders with admirable attention to 19th-century military tactics. Though the dragons they encounter are often more fully fleshed-out than the stereotypical human characters, the author's palpable love for her subject and a story rich with international, interpersonal and internal struggles more than compensate. 

[Taz Shanahan]

Am not a massive fan of historical fiction, but I'm really liking this
one so far.
i guess it's the melding of historical and fantastical.

[Taz Shanahan]

Just finished the book and was pleasantly surprised, all the way
through frankly.

Although it's a historical book set during a time of war, there was
surprisingly little of both. Obviously, the addition of the dragon
element was the piece that made it something less historical and more
fantastical.

I actually liked the slow pace, with some of the many conversations
between Laurence and Temeraire more like those out of a romance novel
than a historical drama. Not to imply any sort of bestiality, but more
that they were intimate, so obviously loving, between the two, that
the comparisson doesn't seem too far from the truth. Something Bronte-
esque where they never even touch, but it's all in what they say
*rollseyes*

Although the 'twist' about French spy was rather predictable, it was
more the reactions of the main characters that was the focus and, I
hate to say, as much as they spoke of their loyalty to each other,
there was something just a bit off here. I can't quite put my finger
on it, but not being able to pin down why it was off for me just
spoiled it a little at that point.

All in all, however, I'd say this is well worth a look.
I may even give some of the other books in the series (I believe
there's about 5 in total) a look...

[Sally Wherry]

I finished it the other day and have gone on to read several of the other books in the series.  I liked the pace, the revelations of character and thought process shown in the discussions between man and dragon.  The spy twist, as you say, was something to see a mile away but it was interesting.  I did enjoy it, obviously but then I do use romance novels to let my brain coast after a heavy work day!

[Staci Finch Thompson]

I have seen this series around and just never started it. Since we picked it, I thought, why not? I can always read about more dragons. I've finished the first two now and am enjoying it. Somehow the story seems a little thin to me, but that's probably because I compare anything with dragons in it to Pern. I really like Temeraire though - he's like the cool, wise, precocious kid that teaches us stuff we should already know.

Light, enjoyable and fun.


--
Staci

The mind is not a vessel to be filled,
But a fire to be ignited

Plutarch

[Simon Field]

> I actually liked the slow pace, with some of the many conversations
> between Laurence and Temeraire more like those out of a romance novel
> than a historical drama. Not to imply any sort of bestiality, but more
> that they were intimate, so obviously loving, between the two, that
> the comparisson doesn't seem too far from the truth. Something Bronte-
> esque where they never even touch, but it's all in what they say
> *rollseyes*

I haven't quite finished it yet, but yes, this is something that sort of
leapt off the page at me the first time Laurence calls Temeraire 'Dear'.
Which came quite early on (as I recall just when they were about to fly off
to England). Just because 'dear' is not something you would expect a male to
call another male. I had to actually read back to check that I hadn't
misunderstood Temeraires gender at some point.

I was rather amused by the section later on where Temeraire was asking
rather wistfully if it was possible for dragons to turn into humans for a
while, and Laurence asks him why, and Temeraire is like 'Oh, no reason!'

And contrast the warmth and intimacy of Laurence and Temeraire, with the
rather cold awkward distant relationship Laurence had with his sweetheart
back home, and the subtext is in danger of becoming text. :)

S.

[Wendy B]

Agreed there definitely was subtext if you wanted to see it and their
level of intimacy is most certainly akin to a romance, stopping short
of anything sexual - except for that awkward tendril moment). It's an
interesting contrast, considering Laurence's awkwardness and
discomfort around women - in general really. He didn’t have a whole
lot going on with Edith. I liked the way his relationship with Roland
was almost a ‘just one of the boys’ that he happens to sleep with sort
of thing in the end.

The Dragon Book compilation featured a short story that involved
dragons in war. It did not go quite as in depth as this and there was
no relationship between dragon and rider. It was one of the stories
that I skimmed over and was a bit worried about Temeraire, but this
wasn’t really about the war and politics at all.

I had a hard time imagining the dragons with all their harnessing and
so many people crawling all over them. Also, Temeraire looks exactly
like Toothless in my head.

Wendy