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When a British ship wins a battle against a French ship, the British find a rare prize aboard: a dragon egg. The naval crew know little about dragons, but they do know that someone has to be available to greet and tame the dragon as soon as it hatches. While one sailor draws the lot to be that person, the newly hatched dragon instead chooses someone else: the captain of the Reliant, Will Laurence.
Now permanently tied to the dragon he names Temeraire, Will has to give up his naval career and, really, life as he knows it. It seems a great sacrifice, but soon enough he is incredibly fond of his intelligent and curious dragon.
As soon as they reach land, they are sent to a training facility in Scotland. Will has to learn a whole new method of warfare, and Temeraire must be taught combat skills. The Napoleonic Wars are raging, and every dragon is needed to defeat the French.
I wouldn’t normally read a historical fiction book about battles and strategy, but this unusual twist on adding dragons into history made it more interesting for me. (What really tipped me over the edge was that it is by Naomi Novik, who has written the fun Scholomance books and the richly drawn fairy tale adaptations Spinning Silver and Uprooted.)
So I admit I did drift a bit and maybe skip some details in the combat sections, particularly near the end. But I got the gist of the story just fine. I mostly enjoyed reading the book for the characters of Temeraire and Will. Their relationship is sweet, and Temeraire is a delightful character. Watching him grow from hatchling to fully developed young dragon is much like observing a toddler progress in skills and speech into a teen (but over a much shorter period of time). He’s just charming. I probably won’t read any more of the books because I’m not into combat, but I enjoyed this peek at the story.
Rated: Mild. Profanity includes one instance of moderate profanity, about 40 uses of mild language, and about 30 instances of the name of Deity in vain. Sexual content includes an understood “off-screen” act. Violence is fairly frequent, with battles and training for war, but mild.
