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His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Bk 1)
His Majesty's Dragon - Temeraire, Bk 1
Author: Naomi Novik
From Publisher's Weekly: 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 a...  more »
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ISBN-13: 9780345481283
ISBN-10: 0345481283
Publication Date: 3/28/2006
Pages: 384
Rating:
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 297

4.2 stars, based on 297 ratings
Publisher: Del Rey
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

cosmichomicide avatar reviewed His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Bk 1) on + 134 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 13
A wonderful alternate history, Novik manages to give a respectful nod to the whole of dragon fantasy while taking it to new heights. Both the dragons and their crews are fully realized, the action exciting, the history perfectly drawn. I am just sorry that I allowed this series to wait as long as I did to begin reading it - this first book stands comfortably in stature with the first Pern trilogy and is a gem within the genre. If there were six stars this book would deserve them.
reviewed His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Bk 1) on + 164 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 10
This was so good! I love Temeraire!

I took this with me to read on a trip and finished it yesterday on the plane home. Overall impression - exciting story with lots of details and great dragons! The author did a wonderful job of incorporating dragons into the alternate historical setting. The characters were all very well done too. The humans weren't people with present day sensibilities who happened to be wearing old-fashioned clothes - they really fit the time period. And the dragons were fabulous of course!

(By the way, it seemed especially fitting to be reading about dragon flying maneuvers and aerial battles while flying across the country in a little puddle-jumping Embraer with a lot of turbulence. I did end up rereading a lot of sentences as the book jumped away from my eyes, but that's OK - they were pretty good sentences!)
sunalso avatar reviewed His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Bk 1) on + 40 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 7
This is the most charming book! Ms. Novik has an excellent writing style that succinctly recalls the time period her story is set in. I am not at all surprised that Jane Austin is one of her favorite authors. And I was extremely impressed by her use of vocabulary, how exciting to find an author unafraid of adjectives. The story itself is wonderful, and I love Temeraire. The whole concept Ms. Novik has created only deserves the highest praise!
reviewed His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Bk 1) on + 27 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
Just finished reading this first book in the series, and it's actually very good! After I read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norell I started looking for other Historical Fantasy and this one filled the bill so to speak. Her writing style is great and from the very beginning you're drawn into it. The relationship between dragons and riders and society is actually quite refreshing from the norm.
ed avatar reviewed His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Bk 1) on + 92 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
a really neat twist on the dragon rider theme. It combines a naval officer like one of the various fictional naval heroes [Hornblower, Bolitho, Drinkwater, etc ] and various talking dragons in a well written tale of naval air battles in Napoleanic times. This is a good one and I look forward to the rest of the series.
Read All 38 Book Reviews of "His Majestys Dragon Temeraire Bk 1"

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reviewed His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Bk 1) on + 9 more book reviews
Thoroughly enjoyable!
reviewed His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Bk 1) on + 33 more book reviews
only read this one, kept me interested
reviewed His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Bk 1) on + 2 more book reviews
I love it! My fave genre of books are historical fictions, which this is, but it also adds the exciting element of fantasy dragons. Very well written. It has bounced to the top of my fave list.

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