In His Majesty's Service

Periodically when reading these books, I would turn to my wife and make a remark along the lines of, "These were made for me." I have long been a fan of the Horatio Hornblower television show and novels as well as the Master and Commander film (haven't gotten around to those novels yet). It would be impossible to overstate how absolutely perfect Novik is at capturing the vibe of Napoleonic naval fiction—only, you know, it's got dragons in it. The worldbuilding totally convinces because everything totally convinces. Even before you get to dragons, the series utterly captures that world of duty and obligation and cruelty. Every time some new wrinkle was introduced, I thought to myself, "Yes, if there really were dragons during the show more Napoleonic Wars, that's exactly how it would be," such as when she explores the rivalry between aviators and sailors in the second book, Throne of Jade. The idea that dragons would require whole crews, not just single riders, is clever and makes for a lot of interesting dynamics.

The first book is strong, mostly serving to set up the world, characters, and situation: Will Laurence is captain of HMS Reliant, but circumstances mean he ends up bonded to a newly hatched dragon, Temeraire, and so he must give up the career he has spent his entire life in and discover an entirely different way of living. We discover the world of dragons and aviators through the eyes of Laurence, and we also experience the developing bond between aviator and dragon. I was genuinely moved by a passage where Laurence and Temeraire are almost tricked into giving each other up Laurence ends up telling Temeraire, "I would rather have you than any ship in the Navy."

It would be easy for a series like this to just be formulaic adventures. I expected it to be nine volumes of fighting Bonaparte, even if I also expected it to be good. But the series impresses in two ways as it develops across the first three books, and I imagine it will continue to go further in both areas. The first is that Novik broadens the canvas: the second novel sees Laureance and Temeraire journey to China on a British dragon transport, so we see what China and bits of the British Empire are like in the world; the third has them travel overland from China to Turkey, and then into continental Europe, expanding the world even more. The other is that many dragonrider fictions make their dragons sentient... and then just have them happily serve their masters without complaint. The Temeraire books actually explore this, as Temeraire has a growing awareness across these three books of the ways in which he is not free, and in which he and his people are given little in the way of choice. Why should a human make a choice but a dragon be constrained? But at the same time the exigencies of war press heavily upon Captain Laurence. How can dragons make a push for freedom when all of Europe is in peril?

I enjoyed all three books collected here. As I already said, His Majesty's Dragon is a solid series opener. The long journey to China in Throne of Jade was fascinating, and the navigating of Chinese politics pulled together a lot of stuff in a clever way. The overland journey in Black Powder War was tense, and I really enjoyed the novel's second half, as Laurence, Temeraire, and crew are swept up in a series of devastating battles in continental Europe was utterly gripping, compelling reading. I am taking a bit of a break before going onto book four, but I can't wait to find out what happens next. show less

Delightful alternate history with dragons - Temeraire is a joy from his first appearance on the page, but the real delight here is in the bromance he develops with straight-laced Captain Will Laurence and Will's subsequent unbending as he is forced (book after book) to confront the various prejudices he holds dear.

The first two books are relatively slow going, but Naomi Novik is a fine hand at inciting emotional attachment, so I relished each development and (in book two) the political entanglements that threatened our glorious pair. The third is more action-packed but - ironically - less successful for me once the team arrive back in Europe; it's a very realistic fantasy depiction of the Napoleonic War against Prussia, which means it's show more a good deal less interesting than everything that has gone before.

Full reviews of Temeraire / Throne of Jade / Black Powder War. show less

Reader note: I'm reviewing the entire nine novels of the Temeraire series in this review.

Such a surprise awaited when I flipped to the first page of His Majesty's Dragon: Napoleonic naval adventures married seamlessly and believably to an aerial component via dragons. All disbelief suspended. Stunningly delightful.

That surprise was further augmented by Novik's impeccable research, the solidity of her character and plot development. All my usual cynicism evaporated. Of course there are sentient dragons populating the globe. Of course Napoleon added those dragon recruits to his troops to great effect, as did the British, and the Swiss, and the Russians.

And of course the Chinese revered and recognized dragonkind, built their cities to show more accommodate their draconian neighbours, gave them rights and employment, allowed them to create their own hierarchies and culture.

In short, Novik's world building is some of the best I've ever read. This is fantasy married to alternate history at its peak. There is no peer for this, in my opinion. She has created a canon of work I believe will endure through time, come to be homed with classics like Adams' Watership Downs, and Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.

And in light of the fact I am such a very difficult reader to impress, it comes as astonishment that once I'd read all nine novels, I immediately, without hesitation, and with great delight, began the first in the series and swam my way through the entire series once again, relieving that joy.

It has been a very long time since I have been this mesmerized and delighted by a fantasy series, or frankly any literary work.

If you've never read the Temeraire series, you should. Right now. Go. Acquire His Majesty's Dragon, and then settle in for a delicious, entertaining, utterly believable adventure you're never going to forget. show less

Novik's engrossing series (of which this is the first three books in a combined edition) combines the best of historical adventure with high fantasy. It's an irresistible setup: Dragons are real, and are routinely used (as a sort of specialized aerial cavalry) on the battlefields of the world. She has mastered the mannered prose of historical nautical fiction without sacrificing any of the vigor of seafaring travel or of Napoleonic-era warfare. It would be a fun read regardless, but she manages to draw engaging and very real characters along the way -- both human and dragon -- sometimes with a few economical strokes. The series' title character, in particular, Temeraire, is a charming blend of idealism, pride, immaturity (he is very show more young), courage and loyalty that makes him one of fantasy fiction's most delightful heroes. I could not resist plunging right on into the rest of this (thankfully long!) series as soon as I had finished the trilogy, and I can't wait for more! show less

I love the Temeraire series which could be described as a mix of McCaffrey's Pern (dragons!) and Horatio Hornblower daring do (Napoleonic wars) and the delightfully unique. Novik's style is clean, unobtrusive, with a voice and diction that is often Austen-esque in tone. In His Majesty’s Service is an omnibus edition of the first three novels in the series: His Majesty’s Dragon, Throne of Jade and Black Powder War.

The first book marked it as unique among dragon fantasies I've read for giving dragons all the personality and intellect of the human characters, while still feeling alien in character. At a certain point in the first book, I'll confess that I cried, and that's not a common experience for me reading a book. And what evoked show more that emotion wasn't anything that happened to a human, but one of the dragons. Throne of Jade gave us a society of dragons integrated into China. The personal and cultural clashes are done well within a tightly written action-adventure tale that didn't let me up for a moment until I found myself at the end of the book and pinning for more. In a world-building sense,Black Powder War can't match the first two books--there's no further development or surprises in terms of Temeraire's or Laurence's character--but it's fully as engrossing a read and engaging an adventure. The second book took us to China, the third to Turkey and Germany of the Napoleonic era, and it's part of the book's virtue to make me believe I visited those places--or at least what they would be like had dragons been part of the picture. Lien is also a great villain and the third book introduces Tharkay, one of my favorite characters in the series.

There are three more in the series to date--I don’t think the last two are as strong as the first four--but Temeraire continues to charm. show less

Great world-building, excellent writing -- I admire writers who just integrate the world's workings without lengthy expository. It makes the book very smooth and wholly immerses the reader. The characters are rather flat; I felt like the dragons had more three-dimensionality than the humans. Laurence was definitely a predictable British soldier type -- very nice and admirable and all that, but unsurprising. Temeraire was more interesting!

His Majesty's Dragon - 5★

Oh, I quite enjoyed this one. I found the contrast between Laurence's prim Navy ways and life with an unpredictable dragon endearing. I enjoyed watching his growing affection for Temeraire and Temeraire's honest open love. I did find some of it predictable and it didn't really have much of an ending, since this is the first of a much longer series. But I'm looking forward to book two.

Throne of Jade - 3.5★

I still loved the characters and the writing and the world-building (dragon species, etc) was still astounding, but honestly I found this book a bit dull. The vast majority was comprised of traveling. While there were a few battles with [insert opponent here], most were just random encounters in the course show more of oceanic transport. There were very few events of actual importance to the plot. What little there was, was crowded in the last 1/4 or so of the book. Even then, Laurence's reticence to push people/dragons for further information left the reader wanting information. Still a good book, but I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as the first.

Black Powder War - 3.5★

My review of this Black Powder War is very much the same as Throne of Jade. I adored His Majesty's Dragon, but though I still enjoyed the writing, characters and world building of these latter books, the continued shift toward the war and politics as the primary focus of the story bored me. Plus, the fact that the books all seem to end without conclusion is annoying. I'm just not willing to dedicate myself to 5 more books in the hope of an ending. And that's if the 8th book, published just this year, is an actual conclusion, as opposed to just the most recent book with more to come. So having reached the last page of my third 300 book in the series I am calling it quits.

Again, the voice of these characters is wonderful. Novik has really created very detailed draconic strata based largely on dragon size and ability. There is a lot of subtle humour and history is deftly merged with fantasy. So for the right reader this is probably a full-on five star book, as book one was for me. I, however, can't drag my rating up that high for something I wasn't less disappointed in. show less