Review – His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik

So I’ve had this on my TBR for quite some time, but picked up the audiobook from my local library. The story is basically the Napoleonic Wars with the fun addition of dragons (which make everything better). A ship’s captain, Will Laurence, captures a French ship,and on board is a dragon egg. When the egg hatches and the dragon bonds with Laurence, he must leave his beloved navy and join the very different aviators, where his life undergoes significant change. Here’s my thoughts on the much-loved novel:

• As already mentioned, I listened to the audio version, and the narrator (Simon Vance) does a stellar job breathing life into Laurence, the dragon Temeraire, and all the other various military-type characters in the story
• The relationship between a man and his dragon is easily the highlight of the book. Laurence’s struggles as his life changes – a change in career, being disowned by his family and becoming a surrogate father – are mirrored by Temeraire’s struggles to adapt to the strangeness of human nature
• The pace is kind of slow. It’s certainly not boring, but there’s not a lot of non-verbal action. That being said the battle at the end of the book is pretty darn exciting, but otherwise it’s mostly conversation driven
• Of course, the author writes all this chit-chat really well, but I’m not sure I’d have enjoyed the reading experience as much as the listening one
• Temeraire is easily the finest character in the book, not just because he’s a dragon, but Novik’s portrayal of him. There’s a definite feline vibe to his character, and he made me laugh a bunch of times with his wry observations Laurence is also a blast, offering some equally witty critique, and often has his stiff upper lip and gentleman’s sensibilities been cast into doubt by his dragon on occasion.

I’ll give the audiobook an entertaining 4 out of 5 stars. Not sure I would have sprung for that if I’d read it though.