{"id":263,"date":"2006-06-03T17:30:12","date_gmt":"2006-06-04T00:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=263"},"modified":"2026-01-21T15:07:38","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T20:07:38","slug":"his-majestys-dragon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/263","title":{"rendered":"His Majesty’s Dragon"},"content":{"rendered":"

His Majesty’s Dragon<\/a><\/em> (2006) Naomi Novik<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>During the Napoleonic wars, Captain Will Laurence of the HMS Reliant<\/em> captures the French ship Amitie<\/em> and its valuable cargo: a dragon egg. Unfortunately, the egg is close to hatching, so someone on the ship must become bonded to the dragon upon its hatching, and then leave the Navy to become one of Britain’s aviators, a fate no one on the ship wants.<\/p>\n

I was reluctant to pick up this book initially, because I’m not a fan of Anne McCaffery, so I wasn’t interested in a book about dragons. However, the idea of dragons and the British Navy during the Napoleonic wars struck me as very interesting, so I decided to take a chance and pick up His Majesty’ Dragon<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I have to say that I was really impressed. I liked the characters, I loved the setting, and I really enjoyed the story. Temeraire was a very interesting character, and I very much liked the relationship between him and Laurence. Although some things were not clear–such as why Levitas put up with Rankin–other things became more clear as the story progressed–such as why they wanted to pair Temeraire with Dayes. <\/p>\n

But mostly I really liked Temeraire.<\/p>\n

Although this is an alternate history, she chose to keep things pretty much the same, except for the addition of dragons. I enjoyed this very much, because I particularly like books set in Regency\/Victorian England, (No, I don’t know why. I just do.) so in addition to a well written story, the setting was one that I like.<\/p>\n

The writing is also different from what I had expected. Right or wrong, I expect dragon stories to be written more for teenagers, but although there were romantic elements (plus sword fighting!), and it wasn’t a hard book to read, it didn’t strike me as particularly light and fluffy. Additionally, I thought some of the elements of the story were quite well done (particularly dealing with Laurence’s adjustment to the air corps). <\/p>\n

However, there were a few things that were a little to easily dismissed, particularly, the estrangement between Laurence and his father. Perhaps Laurence was so busy he didn’t have time to dwell on this issue, but I really thought he should have been more upset than he was.<\/p>\n

Otherwise, this was an enjoyable book, and one that I think Michael will really like. I can’t wait to read the next two (which I went out and picked up today,before I even finished His Majesty’s Dragon<\/em>.) And, although this is a trilogy, this book stands on its own. You’ll want to read the next book not because you were left hanging at the end of this one, but because you like the characters and want to spend more time with them.
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

His Majesty’s Dragon (2006) Naomi Novik During the Napoleonic wars, Captain Will Laurence of the HMS Reliant captures the French ship Amitie and its valuable cargo: a dragon egg. Unfortunately, the egg is close to hatching, so someone on the ship must become bonded to the dragon upon its hatching, and then leave the Navy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,2,291],"tags":[911,509],"class_list":["post-263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-fantasy","category-paper","tag-naomi-novik","tag-temeraire"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-4f","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17618,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/17618","url_meta":{"origin":263,"position":0},"title":"His Majesty’s Dragon","author":"Michelle","date":"August 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"His Majesty's Dragon (2006) Naomi Novik (Temeraire) Set during the Napoleonic Wars, but with dragons. Michael has been listening to the Aubrey\u2013Maturin series, and I wasn't quite up for that, but decide that a revisiting of Temeraire would fit the bill. Captain Will Laurence of the HMS Reliant does not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"His Majestys Dragon","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/His-Majestys-Dragon.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/His-Majestys-Dragon.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/His-Majestys-Dragon.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/His-Majestys-Dragon.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/His-Majestys-Dragon.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":265,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/265","url_meta":{"origin":263,"position":1},"title":"Throne of Jade","author":"Michelle","date":"June 4, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Throne of Jade (2006) Naomi Novik Temeraire is not just a Imperial dragon, but a rare Celestial dragon, and upon discovering that the English have him, the Chinese are demanding his return, and the military is commanding Will Laurence to give him up--and to lie to Temeraire to convince him\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/Throne-of-Jade.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":17704,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/17704","url_meta":{"origin":263,"position":2},"title":"Throne of Jade","author":"Michelle","date":"August 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Throne of Jade (2006) Naomi Novik (Temeraire) Set in an alternate timeline, 1805 After the Chinese discovered that their treasured dragon egg ended up with an English naval captain, they started insisting Temeraire be returned to China. However, Temeraire will not be separated from Lawrence. First, a major chunk of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Throne of Jade","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Throne-of-Jade.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Throne-of-Jade.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Throne-of-Jade.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Throne-of-Jade.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Throne-of-Jade.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":266,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/266","url_meta":{"origin":263,"position":3},"title":"Black Powder War","author":"Michelle","date":"June 5, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Black Powder War (2006) Naomi Novik Trilogy? Did I say trilogy? BAH! This is no trilogy! This is a series, nowhere near done! It is, however, still good, and although the war still rages, she does complete the story arc of this book, and does not leaving you hanging--at least\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/Black-Powder-War.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13910,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13910","url_meta":{"origin":263,"position":4},"title":"The Tea Dragon Society","author":"Michelle","date":"January 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Tea Dragon Society (2020) K. O'Neill This is an odd little story. It's about a girl, who is learning how to be a blacksmith. She finds a lost dragon and returns it to its owner, and slowly learns about tea dragons. And also slowly becomes friends not just with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Fantasy"","block_context":{"text":"Fantasy","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/fantasy"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Tea Dragon Society","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/The-Tea-Dragon-Society.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13589,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13589","url_meta":{"origin":263,"position":5},"title":"A Boy and His Dragon","author":"Michelle","date":"November 18, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A Boy and His Dragon (2013) R. Cooper I was perusing ebooks on sale and came across an R Cooper fantasy romance. Then I saw that it was available from the library. So I checked it out. And then realized they didn't have the kindle edition so I had to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"A Boy and His Dragon","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/A-Boy-and-His-Dragon.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}