His Majesty's Dragon - Naomi Novik

HIS MAJESTY'S DRAGONS
Book 1 of "Temeraire"

ISBN - 9780345481283
FIRST PUBLISHED - 2006
PAGES - 353 (Paperback)
GENRE - Fantasy
PUBLISHERS - Del Rey

AUTHOR - Naomi Novik

SYNOPSIS - Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors ride mighty fighting dragons, bred for size or speed. When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes the precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Captain Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future – and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France’s own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte’s boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into their own baptism of fire

QUOTES - 

• And we must still try or we would be leaving our friends to fight without us. I think this is what you have meant by duty, all along; I do understand, at least this much of it.

• I am beginning to feel the need of a glass of wine to fortify myself against this conversation.

• I should rather have you than a heap of gold, even if it were very comfortable to sleep on.

• It seems to me that if you wish to apply laws to us, it were only reasonable to consult us on them, and from what you have read to me about Parliament, I do not think any dragons are invited to go there.

FL Speak -  Temeraire. 

Goodness, it's a tough word to pronounce, isn't it lads? 
(please try to read this in British accent as I'm pretending right now) 

Aah, where do I begin? It's love at first page. Dragons. There you go, mate. That's the magic word. Who doesn't love them? Eragon has one, Harry Potter rode one. The point being, we love them. Now this isn't Middle Earth or Narnia. It's London. And it's building up for a war against the French who are led none other than that arrogant bastard, Napoleon Bonaparte. 

Yes, my dear, it's alternate history. Wars are fought with battleships in the seas, military in the streets and... Yes, the aerial corps comprising of those awesome swashbuckling men and women riding atop those beautiful and deadly dragons. 

That's the setting. Our reluctant older hero finds an egg and before long the young hatchling has decided to bond with him. And as a proud citizen of England, he has no other choice but to report to duty. In this case, vigorous training for the duo. Book 1 was all about duty, those English manners of the 80's, friendship and learning. And in between there were betrayals and wars which is almost normal. Right? 

I can tell you that this is going to be a wonderful series if the later books are penned the same way. I simply love the crisp, simple writing. There's never been a need for additional flair to make a story more compelling. Naomi's greatest strength lies in the fact that her words make it believable. Of course it's complete sane to duel with swords atop a dragon hundreds of feet in the air. It's also sane to believe that Napoleon was a gigantic prick (who also has more dragons btw). Bad guys somehow always have the upper hand. 

DRAGONS.

Oh Naomi, you stole my nights.

RATING - 5/5