Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors rise to Britain’s defense by taking to the skies… not aboard aircraft but atop the mighty backs of fighting dragons.
When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes its precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Capt. Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future — and an … 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.
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A very interesting tale. Cool stuff. =)
A fun blend of historical fiction and fantasy fiction.
A Familiar world with a twist..the Napoleon threatens Britain and her allies and all that stands in her defense is her Navy..and her Dragons. take the air with Temerrair and her crew and her Captain and fend off the French dragons and her sharpshooters..a rollicking good story..
I wanted to read more
I own the series and they are awesome.
Really great story
I read this in paperback when it first came out. Great beginning to an original series.
LOVED IT, LOVED THE WHOLE SERIES.
Didn’t expect to enjoy this book so much. It was fun
I haven’t found myself unable to stop reading a book for a while now – but this one did it. An excellent combination of historical fiction and fantasy. The dragons are some of the best characters in the book.
Fabulous . Really. Napoleonic wars with an air force made of dragons. Wonderful dragons, talking, fighting combination of cat, horse and bird of prey. It would make a spectacular series of movies, but for now the books in this series are some of the best alternate historical fantasy around. Great fun.
This is a really cool book. The situation is in the early 1800s, during the war with Napoleon. The difference here is dragons. Each side has some and they are used a bit like airplanes. They carry a crew, bombs, sharpshooters. The dragons are smart and talk so they are partners, rather than just beasts of burden. The relationship between the …
great series
The first in a fantastic and believable series of books. I have read several of them. They are engaging and original. I love them.
Nice light read
I did not expect a romanticized historical-fiction story. The dragons talk, which I have always found as kind of awkward. I expected something more like George R.R. Martin, Raymond E. Feist, Terry Brooks, Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory, or R.A. Salvatore. Many will like this, so decide for yourselves readers.
I enjoyed the juxtapositon the Napoleonic setting with a fantasy twist. Very well written, quickly endears you to the characters.
After the first book, I had to binge thru the whole series.
After reading Uprooted I was searching for more from Naomi Novik and found this start of a series described as alternative history with dragons….not a huge recommendation for me, but I gave it a shot. On book 8 now because these are wonderful stories! Original thinking about how dragons would or could play a role in history, adventure and …
I’m a massive sucker for any dragon or dog bonding stories. This is no exception. And I loved the alternate history. I haven’t read many stories set during the Napoleonic era, so that was really interesting