''His Majesty's Dragon'', published in the UK as ''Temeraire'', is the first novel in the '' Temeraire''

alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, alte ...

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

series by American author

Naomi Novik Naomi Novik (born April 30, 1973) is an American author of speculative fiction. She is known for the ''Temeraire'' series (2006–2016), an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars involving dragons, and her ''Scholomance'' fantasy series (2020 ...

. The story is set during an alternate-history version of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...

, in which

dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted a ...

s not only exist but are used as a staple of

aerial warfare Aerial warfare is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in warfare. Aerial warfare includes bombers attacking enemy installations or a concentration of enemy troops or strategic targets; fighter aircraft battling for contr ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. The dragons of the story are portrayed as sapient and intelligent, capable of logical thought and human speech. The series centers primarily on events involving Temeraire (the titular dragon) and his handler, Will Laurence. The first book of the series tells how Laurence, formerly a Captain in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

, becomes Temeraire's handler, and of their early training in preparation for battles against

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

's aerial fleet. It was first published in 2006. It won the 2007

Compton Crook Award The Compton Crook Award is presented to the best English language first novel of the year in the field of science fiction, fantasy, or horror by the members of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society at their annual science fiction convention, Balti ...

for best novel in the

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

/fantasy genre during 2006 by a first-time author.

Plot summary

In the winter of 1804 ("the year four" as the characters call it) or thereabouts, during the

War of the Third Coalition The War of the Third Coalition) * In French historiography, it is known as the Austrian campaign of 1805 (french: Campagne d'Autriche de 1805) or the German campaign of 1805 (french: Campagne d'Allemagne de 1805) was a European conflict spanni ...

, HMS ''Reliant'' under Captain William Laurence seizes the

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

''Amitie'', a 36-gun frigate. Laurence and the crew of the ''Reliant'' find an unhatched dragon-egg on board and declare it a prize captured from the French. Unfortunately, the egg is near hatching, and in order to bring the resulting dragonet into service with

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

's Aerial Corps, it must accept harness and a handler as soon as possible. Laurence orders every officer aboard to prepare to make the attempt, but the dragonet, unusual with all-black hide and six spines on his wings, chooses Laurence, who names him Temeraire, after a second-rate itself named for a French ship likewise brought into service of Britain. Despite Laurence's reluctance to leave polite society and join the Aerial Corps, whose men are almost married to their dragons and who are known for grievous informality, he and Temeraire develop a deep affection. The ''Reliant'' lands in

Madeira ) , anthem = ( en, "Anthem of the Autonomous Region of Madeira") , song_type = Regional anthem , image_map=EU-Portugal_with_Madeira_circled.svg , map_alt=Location of Madeira , map_caption=Location of Madeira , subdivision_type=Sovereign st ...

, where Laurence and Temeraire await the Aerial Corps' response concerning their enlisting in the Corps; they are eventually ordered to a training camp at Loch Laggan in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. Meanwhile, the naturalist Sir Edward Howe identifies Temeraire as a rare Chinese Imperial, a breed rarely seen outside

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, much less in Britain; only the Celestials are rarer. The Corps also attempt to reassign Temeraire to a more experienced handler, Lieutenant Dayes; Laurence is surprised at how close he has grown to Temeraire in this short time and rejoices when Temeraire rejects Dayes entirely. After a brief stopover at his father Lord Allendale's estate, where Laurence reveals his new profession to his family, Temeraire and Laurence arrive in the covert of Loch Laggan. Here Laurence meets Celeritas, the dragon training-master; Catherine Harcourt, the young female captain of the Longwing Lily (Longwings, the only acid-spitters in Britain, insist on female captains), whose formation they will join; Berkley, the captain of the Regal Copper Maximus; and Rankin, a captain of noble family, and his abused Winchester Levitas. Temeraire sees his first action when Victoriatus, a Parnassian, is injured in combat and must be carried back to base. Laurence and Temeraire also adopt their flight and ground crew, headed by Lt. John Granby; Granby, a friend to Dayes, showed initial hostility to Laurence, but the two overcome their difficulties during the mission to aid Victoriatus. Finally, Laurence meets Jane Roland, mother of one of his runners, Emily Roland, who is being groomed to captain the Longwing Excidium after Jane herself retires; Jane and Laurence eventually become lovers. During their training, Celeritas introduces Choiseul, a French deserter, and his dragon Praecursoris, whom Temeraire views as competition. Choiseul is revealed to be a

double agent In the field of counterintelligence, a double agent is an employee of a secret intelligence service for one country, whose primary purpose is to spy on a target organization of another country, but who is now spying on their own country's organ ...

when he attempts to kidnap Lily and Captain Harcourt. After interrogation, he admits that he was actually sent to steal Temeraire, whom the Chinese had gifted to Napoleon as his personal mount. The spirits of the captains, dragons, and crew are bolstered by the victory at the

Battle of Trafalgar The Battle of Trafalgar (21 October 1805) was a naval engagement between the British Royal Navy and the combined fleets of the French and Spanish Navies during the War of the Third Coalition (August–December 1805) of the Napoleonic Wars (1 ...

(October 1805), which erases Napoleon's navy and diminishes his aerial strength; additionally, while Nelson is raked by fire from a Spanish Flecha-del-Fuego, he survives to fight another day. While they are celebrating, Rankin and a mortally wounded Levitas arrive at Dover with important intelligence: Napoleon had not planned to send troops over by sea, as originally predicted. Instead, he plans to send them by air, using transports hauled by dragons, accompanied by Napoleon's aerial force. This disrupts celebrations as the captains at the Dover covert prepare for combat, knowing their great disadvantage in numbers. The Dover dragons fly out to meet the French aerial armada, their primary objective the destruction of the transports. Unfortunately, the superior French numbers prove telling, and soon some of the transports land. However, Temeraire, earlier deemed unlikely to develop a breath weapon, unleashes a powerful shockwave roar, which destroys the transport they are attempting to take down. This turns the tide of battle and the French signal retreat. At the celebration party held in order to commemorate the victory, Sir Edward seeks out Laurence. He then reveals that Temeraire is actually Celestial; the roar, called the " divine wind," is unique to that breed. The Chinese reserve Celestials solely for emperors and royalty. Though this opens plenty of new worries concerning China's apparent friendship with France, Temeraire dismisses the idea of going to France, preferring his life in Britain with Laurence.

Characters

* Captain William Laurence: Former captain of HMS Reliant while in the Royal Navy. Circumstance compels him to become captain of the dragon Temeraire and join the Aerial Corps, the least respected branch of the British military. * Temeraire: A powerful dragon and the titular character of the series. Named after '' Téméraire'', a French vessel captured during the Napoleonic wars, his name means "reckless". Captain William Laurence is his companion. He possesses an extremely practical, inquisitive, and sometimes too blunt personality, although he sometimes can be overly sensitive about the differences between his appearance and that of western dragons. He is also quite possessive and protective of Laurence. * Lieutenant John Granby: The head of the Loch Laggan flight crew and firm friend to Laurence * Lieutenant Dayes: An experienced dragon handler whom the Loch Laggan covert attempt to place as Temeraire's master. * Celeritas: A dragon, head of dragon training at the Loch Laggan covert. His name means "swiftness". * Jane Roland: Captain of the Longwing dragon Excidium, Jane is also the mother of one of Laurence's runners, Emily (who stands next in line to captain Excidium). Jane Roland and Laurence become lovers. * Choiseul: A Frenchman who joins the Loch Laggan covert under the pretense of deserting from the French military

Animated series adaptation

In September 2022, it was reported that the novel will be adapt into an adult animated drama series at Fox. It will be produced by Fox Entertainment, Bento Box Entertainment and

Orion Television Orion () may refer to: Common meanings * Orion (constellation), named after the mythical hunter * Orion (mythology), a hunter in Greek mythology * Orion (spacecraft), NASA crew vehicle first launched in 2022 Arts and media Fictional en ...

Ben Queen Benjamin Queen is an American writer and producer. He was the creator/showrunner for the NBC television show ''A to Z''. He wrote the screenplays for MGM's ''The Addams Family 2'', and the Pixar animated movie ''Cars 2'', and co-wrote the story f ...

will write and executive produce.

Reception

''His Majesty's Dragon'' was very favorably received, and won the 2007

for best novel in the

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

genre during 2006 by a first-time author. It was also nominated for the

Hugo Award The Hugo Award is an annual literary award for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year, given at the World Science Fiction Convention and chosen by its members. The Hugo is widely considered the premier ...

for Best Novel in 2007, but lost out to '' Rainbows End'' by

Vernor Vinge Vernor Steffen Vinge (; born October 2, 1944) is an American science fiction author and retired professor. He taught mathematics and computer science at San Diego State University. He is the first wide-scale popularizer of the technological singu ...

. A compilation of the first three ''Temeraire'' books titled ''Temeraire: In Service of the King'' won the

Locus Award The Locus Awards are an annual set of literary awards voted on by readers of the science fiction and fantasy magazine ''Locus'', a monthly magazine based in Oakland, California. The awards are presented at an annual banquet. In addition to the p ...

for Best First Novel in 2007. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' called it "a completely authentic tale, brimming with all the detail and richness one looks for in military yarns as well as the impossible wonder of gilded fantasy," and ''

Booklist ''Booklist'' is a publication of the American Library Association that provides critical reviews of books and audiovisual materials for all ages. ''Booklist''s primary audience consists of libraries, educators, and booksellers. The magazine is av ...

'' referred to it as having "characters who win one’s heart from the beginning" and calls Novik as "a most promising new author."Booklist Online review of ''His Majesty's Dragon''
/ref>

External links

''His Majesty's Dragon'' official website
*

References

{{Locus Award Best First Novel 2006 American novels American alternate history novels American fantasy novels Debut fantasy novels Debut alternate history novels Temeraire books Books about dragons Novels by Naomi Novik Del Rey books Cultural depictions of Horatio Nelson Fiction set in 1804 Fiction set in 1805 2006 debut novels