‘TEAM FRANCE’ by FlamebloodQuickblade. Not actual book illustration.

I’ve just borrowed ‘Empire of Ivory’ from the library. It’s the fourth book in Naomi Novik’s excellent series of a dragon and an Aerial Corps commander, set during the Napoleonic wars! And guess which French general who became emperor makes regular appearances throughout? Yeah, I sort of gave that away with the period description, didn’t I? Oh, and in case you’re wondering, yes, he has a dragon too. ;)

Anyway, yeah, I highly recommend Temeraire (that’s the series title). I think you might like it if you’re a history fan; one reviewer described it as “Patrick O’Brian with dragons”. Naomi Novik did her research, and she tells the Napoleonic wars through the eyes of Captain Laurence, a British naval commander-turned-reluctant-aviator and his dragon-in-arms Temeraire, as they literally journey around the world on epic missions and daring adventures. There’s political intrigue, there’s swashbuckling aerial dogfights, there’s some romance, there’s ethical dilemmas, there’s a great supporting cast, and of course, there’s the deep friendship that the two share (Temeraire, despite his size and strength, is pretty naive about life, and Laurence ends up acting as a father figure who teaches him about the world).

Each book can be read on its own, but preferably one should start with the first, “His Majesty’s Dragon”. Novik’s prose gets a little flowery at times, but the characterisations and scene descriptions make up for it. “Throne of Jade” is the ‘worst’ so far (the climatic seige at the end was quite over-the-top), but it gets better in “Black Powder War” when we see more of Napoleon and the introduction of another dragon character. I just started the fourth, “Empire of Ivory”, and I intend to finish it over the winter break. I think there’s about two more (“Victory of Eagles” and “Tongues of Serpents”) and there’s one more in the works.

There’s rumours that Peter Jackson may adapt “His Majesty’s Dragon” for the big screen, but so far it’s on indefinite hiatus while he’s working on the “Hobbit” and “Tin-Tin” first (and he mentioned he’s considering turning it into a TV series, which I hope for the love of Glaux he doesn’t). I would explode with joy if it ever gets adapted into a motion-picture; even before I knew that there were such plans, I felt the material is practically begging to be made into a Hollywood blockbuster. :)

2006 AICN interview
2009 AICN interview

I even drew a silly fanart piece that I entered into a ‘short story’ competition Novik held last year. It was a rush job, and there were much better entries than mine (there’s a whole community on dA), but I was proud to receive an email from her (even if it’s a ‘general email’ sent to everyone else, haha).

*end fan gush* Fantasy and historical fiction fans should definitely check this out.