Temeraire

Temeraire, a historical fantasy set in the Napoleonic period, by Naomi Novik - my current favourite book. What is it about? Think of Lassie, toss in Russell Crowe from Master and Commander, and blend together the historical fantasy of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, and you get a rough idea of what Temeraire is about.

Temeraire is a story of Captain William Laurence, an up and coming Naval officer engaged with a beautiful fiancee, rising up society's ranks and highly praised officer in His Majesty's Navy. And how he gave everything up to be an aviator, an outcast of society, all for the friendship of a fighting dragon he named Temeraire, after the ship HMS Temeraire.

It doesn't take long before the story of the friendship between Captain Laurence and Temeraire seized my attention. Stories of dragons and people fighting together is not new, but Naomi Novik takes this premise and puts a new spin to it. Dragons and and their captains in her novel have such a bond that either would give their life for the other. And the story is set in the Napoleonic period, although I know nothing about the war, the sense of urgency and loyalty to King and country comes clearly through the prose. The story is quite easy to follow, so don't worry too much about not knowing anything about English history.

I was also pleasantly surprised by how dragons were used in the war. I assumed the dragon would have a rider and that was that. It was typical in most of the books I've read. But in Temeraire's world, dragons were like living flying ships. There would be the captain, his first officer, handlers, and crew. The crew would do their combat maneuvers on the dragon while in flight, secured to the dragon's harness by carabiners and leather straps. Delightfully unique!

Temeraire is the first in a series of books. The US edition has a change in title, Temeraire: His Majesty's Dragon. I rather prefer the simple title of Temeraire in the UK edition. I got my UK edition from Borders for a pricey RM40, but SP found books 2 and 3 of the Temeraire series from BookXcess in Amcorp Mall for only RM20 each! And the books SP bought for me were the larger versions, so I'd expect they would cost more than RM40 in normal bookstores.

Temeraire is a fun read. Pick it up if you find it. I'm already starting on the second book - Temeraire: Throne of Jade.

And something I recently discovered. Peter Jackson has gotten the rights to the Temeraire series, so a movie may be in the works. I can't wait.