Enter The Dragons!

Synopsis: Naomi Novik's stunning series of novels follow the global adventures of Captain William Laurence and his fighting dragon Temeraire as they are thrown together to fight for Britain during the turbulent time of the Napoleonic Wars. Captain Will Laurence has been at sea since he was just twelve years old; finding a warmer berth in Nelson's navy than any he enjoyed as the youngest, least important son of Lord Allendale. Rising on merit to captain his own vessel, Laurence has earned himself a beautiful fiancee, society's esteem and a golden future. But the war is not going well. It seems Britain can only wait as Napoleon plans to overrun her shores. 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 aviators' cause, thus relinquishing all hope of a normal life. But when the newly-hatched dragon ignores the young midshipman Laurence chose as its keeper and decides to imprint itself on the horrified captain instead, Laurence's world falls apart. Gone is his golden future: gone his social standing, and soon his beautiful fiancee, as he is consigned to be the constant companion and trainer of the fighting dragon Temeraire!

Review: A really enjoyable book to read, the characters were engaging, especially the dragon 'Temeraire'; I loved his relationship with Laurence (he is almost always called Laurence though it is his surname). Usually dragons in fiction are either fierce or impossibly cute, this was a rather pleasing mixture of the two (erring on the right side in both cases).

I loved the notion too that during the Napoleonic wars, dragons were in the Air Corps with crew, very much like the fighter planes in WWII. There are some sensational aerial battles, really edge of the seat stuff and I'm not in the least surprised that Peter Jackson has bought the film rights. If executed well the films should be fantastic and he's probably the man to do it.

There are a couple of glitches, Laurence's relationships with his family and his, soon to become ex, fiancee aren't really fleshed out. Perhaps we'll learn more about them in the sequels (I think there are three so far). A couple of the plotlines, like the one involving the french deserter Choiseul, were fairly predictable. But that didn't really get in the way of what was, on the whole, a highly enjoyable read.

It was really reminiscent of those old swashbuckling adventure stories ... but with the added bonus of dragons too!! There were a couple of situations or words that were fairly 'adult' .. which just prevents it from being suitable for 9 year olds and above .. nothing at all graphic, just words mainly, but that's a bit of a shame because I think they would enjoy it immensely. I will read the first sequel at least. I hope it continues in the same vein.