Temeraire, aka His Majesty's Dragon
by Naomi Novik
Reviewed by Galen Strickland
Posted September 23, 2026
Buy from Bookshop or Amazon. A purchase through our links may earn us a commission.
Naomi Novik's debut novel was published in the UK in January 2006, under the title Temeraire. When it was released in the US three months later the title was changed to His Majesty's Dragon, and it has been known by that title in all its printings ever since. Temeraire then became the collective name for the series, which encompasses nine novels so far, two others also published in 2006. The following year Novik won the John W. Campbell Award as Best New Writer, that award having changed to the Astounding in 2020. His Majesty's Dragon won the Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Memorial Award as Best First Novel at Balticon, also winning a Locus as Best First Novel, even though it only came in 21st in the voting for Best Fantasy Novel overall. Other awards consideration was as finalist for a Hugo, and the William L. Crawford Award from the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts. In 2017, a year after the ninth book was released, the entire sequence was finalist for a Best Series Hugo.
|
Twenty years later I finally got around to reading the first book, which is very well written, full of exciting action sequences, as well as ruminations on the nature of honor, duty, and loyalty, but also the horrors of war. It is set in an alternate world during the Napoleonic Era, the major twist being the use of dragons by many nations, not just for war, but also transport of goods, and postal mail, and for breeding of new strains. The rest of society is much the same, and the military still consisted of Navy and infantry troops. The main character is Captain William Laurence of the British ship Reliant. They are able to board and control the French ship Amité somewhere in the North Atlantic, and I think they were closer to Europe than to the Americas. They were surprised to find a chest with a dragon egg in the hold. Laurence's surgeon was somewhat knowledgeable of dragons, and concluded that the egg was nearing the hatching stage. Someone needed to harness the dragon as soon after the hatching as possible, with the dragon bonding with them, and henceforth that person would be the dragon's captain and rider. The Aerial Corps was part of the British forces of course, but comepletly apart from all the others, and none of the crew wanted to be transferred there. Laurence decided they should draw lots, but the man chosen was nervous and hesitant, and the dragon ignored him, being more interested in Laurence instead. The captain was very concerned about that, so much so the dragon's first words were, "Why are you frowning?"
Needless to say that startled Laurence; that a newly hatched dragon could speak at all, even more so that they were so articulate. I was puzzled by that myself, but we later learn a dragon could hear when still inside the egg, so it had a few days to hear English spoken. It had been on a French ship previously, and speaks in French in a future scene, puzzling Laurence again. The captain asked how to address the dragon, but the beast said they had no name, and invited Laurence to give them one. Most dragons were given names of Greek or Roman heroes or gods, but Laurence couldn't think of one that quickly, and instead thought of the name of two previous ships of the line, Temeraire. The dragon seemed pleased with that. Laurence knew he was fated to be transferred out of the Navy, so he promoted his second-in-command to the position, promising to put in the word to the Admiralty that they honor his choice. They sail to the Portuguese island of Madeira, where Britain maintained a port. There Laurence was lucky to encounter Sir Edward Howe, a dragon expert, who identified Temeraire as a Chinese Imperial. There are many different types of dragons, and not even all the ones used in battle could breathe fire, which Temeraire could not. Some could spray acid against the enemy, others were useful for their speed or strength. The story could be considered a cross between Horatio Hornblower, or Jack Aubrey, with some other story about dragons (DragonHeart?), although I cannot think of any other book or movie that featured dragons on both sides of a conflict.
The concept of dragons so easily tamed and trained was hard to imagine. As I said above, the action scenes are propulsive and exciting, but I also had trouble visualizing certain things. At one point during the training, Temeraire was tasked with helping to rescue a wounded dragon by supporting the other beast on the flight back to the training grounds. In addition to Laurence, positioned at the back of Temeraire's neck, there were several others on the flight crew, utilizing caribiners to hook onto Temeraire's harness. I could not visualize how Temeraire positioned themselves under the other dragon and still be able to flap its wings, not to mention not endangering the rest of the crew. The best I could do was think of a British ship, with the crew up in the sails and rigging, having to maneuver around while in a strong gale. Then imagine the ship flying, including upside down, which happened in some of the training exercises. One thing that might explain the reason I had not read this before, and I realize I am probably very different from a lot of other readers of fantasy. I have never cared that much about dragons. They are mythical beasts, and I have always thought those myths were the result of the discovery of dinosaur fossils, especially those of pterosaurs. That being said, I do like Temeraire, a very intelligent dragon who quickly became loyal to Will Laurence. Not so sure why he would be that loyal to Britain, other than acknowledging Laurence was loyal to the nation. I do recommend this for anyone who does like dragons, and while I enjoyed it that does not mean I am that anxious to read further in the series, especially if it is mostly battle action. I read the e-book through Cloud Library, and they have the other eight books, at this time at least, so if I change my mind I know where to look. If I do continue at some point, the title of this page will stay the same.
We would appreciate your support for this site with your purchases from Amazon.com, Bookshop.org, and ReAnimusPress.
