Temeraire - Naomi Novik

Title: Temeraire - Naomi Novik
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Series: Temeraire #1
Service: Own
Release Date: 06/08/2007
Pages: 342
Format: Paperback

Rating: ★★★★★

Buy || Twitter || Website || Goodreads

Captain Will Laurence has been at sea since he was just twelve years old. Rising on merit to captain his own vessel, Laurence has earned himself a beautiful fiancée, society’s esteem and a golden future. But the war is not going well. It seems Britain can only wait as Napoleon plans to invade.

After a skirmish with a French ship, Laurence finds himself in charge of a rare cargo: a dragon egg bound for the Emperor himself. Dragons are much prized: properly trained, they can mount a fearsome attack from the skies. One of Laurence’s men must take the beast in hand and join the aviator’s cause, thus relinquishing all hope of a normal life.

But when the newly hatched dragon decides to imprint itself on Laurence, the horrified captain’s world falls apart. Gone is his golden future: gone his social standing, and soon his beautiful fiancée, as he is consigned to be the constant companion and trainer of the fighting dragon Temeraire…

Give me one word…

Why do you say that?

Will Laurence is a captain in the navy during the Napoleonic war. After defeating a French ship his crew take charge of a dragon egg that soon hatches an Oriental dragon, Temeraire.

The story line takes us with Laurence as he adjusts from being a man of the navy to becoming an aviator and learning to live alongside and train his rare dragon.

This book is such a beautifully written and heart warming story. The relationship between Laurence and Temeraire grows from something that Laurence could potentially be resentful of to something that he could not imagine his life without. There were many points in the book where you could almost forget that Temeraire is a dragon and imagine him as more of a brother.

By the time their relationship is established you are introduced to a variety of other dragons and their trainers and see the difference in their techniques. The emotions you feel seeing the rest of the aviators would not nearly be as strong had Novik not successfully made you fall in love with what can be described as the ‘bromance’ between Temeraire and Laurence.

I did have one or two issues with the book although they were not major. Novik throws a lot of information at you rather quickly sometimes. There was some military/ship terminology that I was not 100% sure of and we got introduced to different breeds of dragons with not a lot of information. However the latter point was resolved by the end of the book with a short extract from Sir Edward’s book about dragons.

All in all, if you are looking for a book with action and friendship I would highly suggest 'Temeraire'.