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A review by brisingr
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
5.0
Okay, okay, okay okay. This is what I'm talking about.
The life of the captain Will Laurence of the Royal Marine changes the moment he finds at the board of a french ship a dragon egg. Suddenly becoming the captain of Temeraire, the smart dragon coming out of this surprising egg, Laurence has to change his way of living, now bonded to the skies rather than the seas.
Terry Brooks of the New York Times says: Just as you thought you've seen every existing type of dragon stories, Naomi Novik proves you wrong". And oh, this is so true!! In this book, we follow the napoleonic wars in a world where dragons have lived from the longest time. In China, dragons have been cherished long before the romans even managed to form any kind of bond with them; Hell is seen as dragons burning the world to the ground and everything is carefully constructed around this simple notion: trying to co-exist with dragons since the beggining of the human race. And it's fascinating, because everything makes sense and proves to be an awesome alternative to the history we know from school. Also, the mechanisms around fighting dragons are all also very interesting and it makes an incredible picture. The dragons are all very different and portrayed so lovingly that my adoration towards this fantastic race could only bloom after reading this book.
Temeraire, as the dragon, is a joy to read about! He's my favorite character and I adore his personality so, so much! He is so smart and so interested and so liberal in his views, but also caring and he makes such a loveable character, that it's probably hard to have many come close to him. Basically, I need Temeraire as my best friend!!
Unfortunately, this title goes to Laurence, who is also a really nice character, easy to get and easy to love, I adored his rightness and how much care he put in each of his tasks and words. His bond with Temeraire is so, so great and actually, each of the captains' bond with their dragons proves enjoyable to read about, seeing all the different type of treatment, but the same love and mutual respect blooming between most of them. I feel like somehow, in this book, the notion of soul mates is touched exactly in the relationships between humans and dragons, it's such a raw and fragile thing, but so nurturing and important to both sides. It's a friendship taken to the limits, between species and against the passing time and all the harsh and pitiful words.
What I also really like is that, no matter the screen time, all characters prove themselves to be both bad and good, both wrong and right, and even if they did take questionable decisions, they're all great in the fact that they're molded after our everyday encounters; you find out in the pages of this book the same type of people you find out while being out in the world, and THIS is always a very big plus on my list.
I liked the writing style, it really captivated me, there are some really great fighting/war scenes and a lot of breath taking or heart breaking moments, and Naomi Novik manages to say what's important in simple words and she captures the heart of the reader in such way that the pages just fly by and to be honest, all I could think about is where the next adventure will take my favorite human-dragon duo (*collective gasp* yes i did call them my favorite after only the first book).
This book does feel like it's just the beggining, of course, it ends with a lot to still be explained and it leaves open the space to build an epic adventure featuring a dragon from the greatest species in the world. It is promising, I can't wait to read the next volumes (oups, gotta have them first!) and I am definitely adding Naomi Novik's fantastic imaginary worlds to things to look out for.
This book held me at the edge of my seat all the way and it only took it 10 pages to earn my heart, so if you love fantasy (and dragons, especially), God, please try this series!
The life of the captain Will Laurence of the Royal Marine changes the moment he finds at the board of a french ship a dragon egg. Suddenly becoming the captain of Temeraire, the smart dragon coming out of this surprising egg, Laurence has to change his way of living, now bonded to the skies rather than the seas.
Terry Brooks of the New York Times says: Just as you thought you've seen every existing type of dragon stories, Naomi Novik proves you wrong". And oh, this is so true!! In this book, we follow the napoleonic wars in a world where dragons have lived from the longest time. In China, dragons have been cherished long before the romans even managed to form any kind of bond with them; Hell is seen as dragons burning the world to the ground and everything is carefully constructed around this simple notion: trying to co-exist with dragons since the beggining of the human race. And it's fascinating, because everything makes sense and proves to be an awesome alternative to the history we know from school. Also, the mechanisms around fighting dragons are all also very interesting and it makes an incredible picture. The dragons are all very different and portrayed so lovingly that my adoration towards this fantastic race could only bloom after reading this book.
Temeraire, as the dragon, is a joy to read about! He's my favorite character and I adore his personality so, so much! He is so smart and so interested and so liberal in his views, but also caring and he makes such a loveable character, that it's probably hard to have many come close to him. Basically, I need Temeraire as my best friend!!
Unfortunately, this title goes to Laurence, who is also a really nice character, easy to get and easy to love, I adored his rightness and how much care he put in each of his tasks and words. His bond with Temeraire is so, so great and actually, each of the captains' bond with their dragons proves enjoyable to read about, seeing all the different type of treatment, but the same love and mutual respect blooming between most of them. I feel like somehow, in this book, the notion of soul mates is touched exactly in the relationships between humans and dragons, it's such a raw and fragile thing, but so nurturing and important to both sides. It's a friendship taken to the limits, between species and against the passing time and all the harsh and pitiful words.
What I also really like is that, no matter the screen time, all characters prove themselves to be both bad and good, both wrong and right, and even if they did take questionable decisions, they're all great in the fact that they're molded after our everyday encounters; you find out in the pages of this book the same type of people you find out while being out in the world, and THIS is always a very big plus on my list.
I liked the writing style, it really captivated me, there are some really great fighting/war scenes and a lot of breath taking or heart breaking moments, and Naomi Novik manages to say what's important in simple words and she captures the heart of the reader in such way that the pages just fly by and to be honest, all I could think about is where the next adventure will take my favorite human-dragon duo (*collective gasp* yes i did call them my favorite after only the first book).
This book does feel like it's just the beggining, of course, it ends with a lot to still be explained and it leaves open the space to build an epic adventure featuring a dragon from the greatest species in the world. It is promising, I can't wait to read the next volumes (oups, gotta have them first!) and I am definitely adding Naomi Novik's fantastic imaginary worlds to things to look out for.
This book held me at the edge of my seat all the way and it only took it 10 pages to earn my heart, so if you love fantasy (and dragons, especially), God, please try this series!