#His Majesty&039;s Dragon

[bethly126]

Kate’s Favorite Books of the Year!

This has been a wild year of reading for me! I have done so much of it for fun! During COVID, I lost a bit of my desire to pick up books. There is still a bit of that resistance there, but with a combination of some great series, letting my whims take me, excellent recommendations from people in my life, and audiobooks, Ive managed to get back to being a reader! Alright! Let’s do this! Best…

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FOX's AniDom Orders Animated Drama "His Majesty's Dragon" ; Turns Down "King Of The Hill" Revival

FOX’s AniDom Orders Animated Drama “His Majesty’s Dragon” ; Turns Down “King Of The Hill” Revival

  According to Deadline, renewals for new seasons of The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers, and Family Guy are all still being worked on with The Great North getting renewed for a fourth season just a few weeks ago. King of the Hill will NOT be coming to FOX’s AniDom lineup, leaving only some sort of combo of Hulu/FX Networks to be the lone true possible home for any potential re-up from Bandera…

[tragedies-and-dreams]

HIS MAJESTY’S DRAGON: BOOK REVIEW His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik ★★★✰✰ 2.5 stars of 5 stars You would think that dragons + the Napoleonic Wars = entertaining story .

[tempest-melody]

Paperback Perils: Throne of Jade

Paperback Perils: Throne of Jade

Title: Throne of Jade Author: Naomi Novik Publication Date: 2006 Publishing House: Ballantine Books

This is the second book in the Temeraire series and it has been sitting on my shelves for years. I’m glad to have finally read it. Read the review for the first book in the series here.

Synopsis from Goodreads

When Britain intercepted a French ship and its precious cargo–an unhatched…

[nikihawkes]

Title: His Majesty’s Dragon

Author: Naomi Novik

Series: Temeraire #1

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

The Overview: Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors ride mighty fighting dragons, bred for size or speed. When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes the precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Captain Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future – and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France’s own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte’s boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into their own baptism of fire. -Goodreads

The Review:

Woe is me for not having read this years ago!

I had this amazing dragon book sitting unread on my shelf for over 10 years… and I’m surprised no one revoked my membership to the dragon obsession club (not a real thing). In all fairness, the way people described this book and series gave me a very different impression than what the first book actually entailed. They’d say, “it’s an alternate military history, but with dragons.” I’m sure that description is completely accurate for the series as a whole, but had someone mentioned even briefly that His Majesty’s Dragon was less about alt-history as a focus (even though that was an essential setting component) and more about the forming bond between a man and his dragon, I’d have been on board the Temeraire ship years ago. Unfortunately first impressions caused me to hold off. When it came out I was in the middle of college and the last thing I wanted to do was put down one text book and pick up another (even if the new one had dragons). I thought I’d be bored with the historical elements and recycled battle scenes. All the discussions I’d had about it with customers made me think I was getting into a dry historical retelling that took itself too seriously. This is SO NOT THE CASE!!

The relationship between man and dragon is 100% the appeal of the book for me. It’s a slowly paced plot that focuses on the bond and establishes the groundwork for what’s to come. Because of the aforementioned expectations for the series, I’m certain some ventured in looking for battle sequences, military strategy, and loads of historical references, but were bored with their lack (which is an irony considering my boredom might have stemmed from those things being present if I’d read it 10 years ago). As I said, perhaps the series as a whole will offer those things, but for me this book offered perfect immersion into what it’s like to be a dragonrider (or Aerialist) in training.

Now that my tastes have broadened, I’m actually looking forward to seeing the historical immersion in future books, but that alone wouldn’t have been enough to get me to pick up the series. The dragons are my main motivation. Not only was Temeraire a fascinating creature, but so were the many other varieties of dragons (aka Niki’s dragon heaven). I loved the training aspects and can’t wait to see those put into good use, I loved the commander of the training encampment (you’ll see), and I loved the relationships and dynamics beginning to form between all the trainees and their dragons. Basically, this is the book I’ve been hounding to find all my life. 😭

The slow burn of this novel might have bored a few people, but I reveled in every single moment. It had me so wrapped up, I even shed a tear or two (I can’t remember the last time a book made me cry). The combination of a fantastic main character, sentient dragons (filled with awesomeness), and the overall theme of the series set His Majesty’s Dragon up as one of the best books I’ve read in a while. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next one!

Recommendations: Read this book if you like dragons. It’s a bonus if you also like alt-history. ;P

Other books you might like:

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

The Emperor’s Blades by Brian Staveley

The Sweetest Dark by Shana Abe

Joust by Mercedes Lackey

Dragon Weather by Lawrence Watt-Evans

by Niki Hawkes

Book Review: His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik Title: His Majesty's Dragon Author: Naomi Novik Series: Temeraire #1 Genre: Fantasy Rating: 4.5/5 stars The Overview: …

[lunastationquarterly]

Memorial Day: Women Writing War

Memorial Day: Women Writing War

War is not (and has never been) strictly a man’s game. Whether through enlistment or conscription, people of all genders have donned uniforms, lost their friends, their family members, their lives. For Memorial Day, here is a list of female-authored war stories. Many of these women write from personal experience. The Healer’s War – Elizabeth Anne Scarborough Scarborough draws upon her own…

[stevenoaks]

Research, and Reading

Whew, a long day of writing. Doing research on past cultures, and trying to make sense of all the information the internet has on subjects takes a lot of time. And it’s not like I was writing a historical piece, it was only for a scene, or an explanation of things in the past.

I think it’s my favorite part of writing though. When I can intertwine reality with the fiction I’m writing I think it…

[bethly126]

Review: His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

Dragons, but set it in the time of the Napoleonic wars, this was so fun. So, this is the beginning of a series and follows Captain Will Laurence and Temeraire as they prepare to defend England from invading French forces. Temeraire is born in the first part of the book and Laurence is a naval captain and not from England’s air defense, so we’re introduced to the world of fighting with dragons as…

[tempest-melody]

Paperback Perils: His Majesty's Dragon

Paperback Perils: His Majesty’s Dragon

Title: His Majesty’s Dragon Author: Naomi Novik Publication Date: 2006 Publishing House: Ballantine Books

I have known about this series since high school when a friend gave me the second book in the series but Throne of Jade has sat on my bookshelf for years, never read. More recently I read Spinning Silver and Uprooted, which are also by Naomi Novik. Having enjoyed those books I managed to find…

[livinginbagendwithamagicwardrobe]

@readathon I just posted my Red book pick for #30DaysofReadathon #HisMajesty'sDragon For my red book pick for #30DaysofReadathon, I chose His Majesty's Dragon. This is a fantastic book about a navy captain who bonds with a dragon.

[tempest-melody]

January Book Haul

I believe that I have discussed the it before on this blog but I love Recycled Books in Denton, Texas. Three stories and a maze of shelves. Perfect for the reader that likes to get lost among the books.

Once a year Recycled has their pre-inventory sales. Everything is 20% off; I don’t normally make a point to go to sales but this one is the exception because I always need more books even when…

[livinginbagendwithamagicwardrobe]

I posted my February TBR! The following is my February TBR I may stick to this I might not depends on how I'm feeling as the month progresses.