Reflection's Edge

Book Review: His Majesty's Dragon, by Naomi Novik

Reviewer: Romie Stott

Summary: In the war against Napoleon, England's most important defense - and weapon - is the dragon-riding Aerial Corps. But the life of an Aerial Corps officer is rumored to be an unpleasant one - uncivilized, uncultured, and apart from society. When a captured French dragon unexpectedly bonds to naval captain Will Laurence, he knows that he'll have to give up his life, his future, and his friends in order to fulfill his duty to England. However, through his friendship with the dragon Temeraire, he discovers that dragons are intelligent, delightful creatures - and that the Aerial Corps, while rough around the edges, has a lot to offer.

Length: 342 pages, plus a few drawings, some notes on dragons, and a sample chapter from Throne of Jade. The reviewer finished it in six hours, over the course of one day.

From the cover, you might think this book is about: A cruel, snake-like wyvern which belongs to an evil king and crushes innocent ships by wrapping around them like a sea monster. Dominant colors are red and black; the quote on the front is from Stephen King, grand master of horror. The title His Majesty's Dragon may breed confusion with Her Majesty's Wizard.

But it's actually about: A witty, child-like and fully ambulatory dragon which is close friends with a thoroughly decent ex-naval captain. Instead of crushing ships, it likes to be read bedtime stories, to take baths, and to pounce on fish. The title is a play on H.M.S. - His Majesty's Ship - a designation in the Royal Navy.

Dragon Quotient: 97%. There are whole pages on which dragons do not appear, although these pages mainly consist of discussions about the not-present dragons.

Dragon Accuracy: Exceedingly high, according to at least one 11-year-old authority figure.

If this book were a food, it would be: Macaroni and cheese.

Mainstream appeal: Seemingly inexhaustible; the reviewer has had two review copies stolen, and frequently had her reading interrupted by friends and family wanting to hear funny (and adorable) passages from the book. Novik's comparison between riding a dragon and crewing a sailing ship is inspired; it allows for intuitive explanations of how air currents affect flight, and leads to aerial battles that go further than the usual ho-hum jousting. Instead, Novik's dragons are bristling with artillery - bombardier wings drop bombs and flak while naval-sized crews swarm across rigging to board enemy dragons, in a cross between Waterloo and the Battle of Britain.

Fringy-ness: Low. The main character is socially responsible and typically polite; although he occasionally (reluctantly) flouts social convention, he always folds his laundry properly. The dragon is more like a puppy than a velociraptor, giving the book a wholesome and appealing "boy and his dog" quality.

People are saying: The combination of dragons and the Napoleonic war is so clever that it seems obvious - yet it's never been done before. The book regularly exceeds expectations; the combination of new ideas and old standards makes the story both exciting and comfortably familiar. Temeraire is one of the most charming dragons ever to appear in fiction, and appealing everyman Captain Laurence combines the self-awareness of a middle-aged man with the open-mindedness of a teenager. This is a fun, addictively re-readable book with a lot of crossover appeal.

The author is: Probably hard at work on Throne of Jade and Black Powder War, the sequels to His Majesty's Dragon. Expect them in late April and May. His Majesty's Dragon is Novik's first foray into novel-length fiction; before this, her main contribution to genre fiction was as technical lead in programming the fantasy RPG Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide. Her website can be found at www.temeraire.org.

To buy a copy of this book, click: here.

If you liked this book, check out:

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, by Patricia C. Wrede

The Dragonriders of Pern, by Anne McCaffrey

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, by Susanna Clarke

Sharpe's Rifles (the television series, not the books), starring Sean Bean



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