Type of bind: Paperback
EAN num: 9780007258710
Format: Import
ISBN number: 0007258712
Label: Voyager
Manufacturer: Voyager
Page Count: 352
Printing Date: August 06, 2007
Publishing house: Voyager
Sale Popularity Level: 1864296
Studio: Voyager
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Rated by buyers 
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Ok I read the very first two books in this series and it was strange. The writing was good and there was never lack of story line. But it is weird that there is mostly interaction with a guy and his dragon. It's like nothing else matters but his dragon. I don't know I thought it strange I like a good romance and friendship making and a good bad guy everything is so vague.
Rated by buyers 
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The concept was interesting and had potential. I liked most of the character development and interaction. The very first section of the book was fine up to and including when Laurence met the very first "real" dragon rider - a courier with a dragon of limited intelligence.
Then dragons started showing up with crews in the dozens with guns and cargo nets and tents and chain armour and boarding parties and carrying hundreds of tons of weight between 4 dragons. It was horrible. I can handle standard fantasy type dragons that can fly and carry a person or two - that's well established in fantasy and sci-fi literature. But the inconsistency within this novel killed me. Sometimes the dragons had limited strength and endurance and sometimes they were much much much stronger.
Then there were the boarding parties. How ridiculous is that? Not only can the dragon fly into battle with thousands of pounds of people weapons, cargo and armour but the crew can hop willy nilly from one dragon to the next! Why don't the dragons just flip upside down? Why would you want your dragon slowed down with all the weight and wind resistance? A faster more nimble dragon would be able to tear apart one that is loaded down to the point of imbecility.
I gave it a two instead of a one because I did find some redeeming features, but I wish I hadn't wasted my time on it.
Rated by buyers 
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If you've admired the writing of Patrick O'Brian and are also a devout fan of fantasy, then you'll enjoy "Her Majesty's Dragon", the debut novel in a best-selling fantasy series written by fellow Brunonian Naomi Novik. Royal Navy Captain Will Laurence stumbles upon a mysterious dragon egg in the hold of a newly captured French frigate at the height of the Napoleonic Wars. It's a discovery that will forever change his life, forcing him to leave Navy service for the Aerial Corps. He forms a strong emotional bond with a young dragon immediately upon its hatching from that egg. Together Laurence and the young Temeraire will start a literary friendship that will remind readers of O'Brian's Captain Jack Aubrey and Dr. Stephen Maturin in it emotional richness, if not in its intellectual depth. Novik has a fine eye for detail and keen ear for dialogue, telling her vivid tale in language that would have earned ample praise from the likes of O'Brian and from those familiar with both the Royal Navy and British culture during the Napoleonic Wars. `Tis truly a most elegant blend of historical fiction and fantasy, skillfully woven by a superb prose stylist and story-teller.
Rated by buyers -
While I really like this book, I wanted to share what happened when I bought this book as a gift for a friend. My friend like this book so much that after reading it, she went out and bought the subsequent three books.
Rated by buyers -
Bottom Line: Try before you buy
When I bought this book, I had no idea what it was about...other than it had dragons in it..
I start reading it, and soon discover I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around pairing the Napoleonic Wars and ships at sea with dragons. It didn't make any sense to me, and it didn't feel believable at all. I didn't get past the very first couple of pages.
Frankly if she had written the book, without the history in it, I might have believed it more... If the story is strong enough, it shouldn't need the history in it.. Or if she used the history (i.e. time period) but made the fiction part like what was going on at sea from the perspective of the ship's crew (characters she created) without infusing the unrealistic fantasy of dragons in it, that would have been better as well.
She took a risk, and for me as a reader, it didn't pay off.
For historical fantasy, The Mists of Avalon is much better.
As for fantasy with dragons, Lorna Freeman (Boderlands series), and Melanie Rawn (Dragon Prince)..and of course there's Harry Potter.
For other fantasy, not set in present day, I'd recommend Winterbirth, and The Blade Itself series.
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