BL: His Majesty's Dragon

[kgbooklog]

Naomi Novik, His Majesty's Dragon (vt Temeraire)
Del Rey (2006) ISBN: 0-345-48128-3
Score: 2.5

First book in the Temeraire series, about the use of dragons in the Napoleanic Wars. Requires some suspension of disbelief to treat large dragons like small (flying) ships, but the plot and characters were sufficiently well done to distract me. Should appeal to fans of Patrick O'Brien and Robin Hobb's Liveship books.

Next Book: Carol Berg, Son of Avonar

Comments

[taschoene.livejournal.com]

Just finished this myself and found it rather disappointing. Not enough thought given to the actual mechanics of aerial combat, or about the social or military implications of the dragons. Nor was there any great tension--the heros lurch from success to success with little sense of jeopardy.

[kgbooklog.livejournal.com]

You may like the second book better. I just started it, and already Laurence has been nearly arrested several times.

[taschoene.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I'll look at it, but I'm not sure.

Part of the problem is that I've read a lot of the nautical inspirations (Forester, Kent, Pope, O'Brian) and this doesn't seem to hold up to them.