Laurence and the crew of the Reliant find an unhatched dragon-egg on board and declare it a prize captured from the French. In the winter of 1804 ('the year four' as the characters call it) or thereabouts, during the War of the Third Coalition, HMS Reliant under Captain William Laurence seizes the French Amitie, a 36-gun frigate. It won the 2007 Compton Crook Award for best novel in the science fiction/fantasy genre during 2006 by a first-time author. The first book of the series tells how Laurence, formerly a Captain in the Royal Navy, becomes Temeraire's handler, and of their early training in preparation for battles against Napoleon's aerial fleet.

The series centers primarily on events involving Temeraire (the titular dragon) and his handler, Will Laurence. The dragons of the story are portrayed as sapient and intelligent, capable of logical thought and human speech. The story is set during an alternate-history version of the Napoleonic Wars, in which dragons not only exist but are used as a staple of aerial warfare in Asia and Europe.

If only they can be reunited, master and dragon might rally Britain’s scattered resistance forces and take the fight to the enemy as never before, for king and country-and for their own liberty.His Majesty's Dragon, published in the UK as Temeraire, is the first novel in the Temeraire alternate history/ fantasy series by American author Naomi Novik. Separated by their own government and threatened at every turn by Napoleon’s forces, Laurence and Temeraire must struggle to find each other amid the turmoil of war. Unfortunately, the dragon Temeraire has been removed from military service-and his captain, Will Laurence, has been condemned to death for treason. Napoleon’s prime objective is the occupation of London. “A story about friendship that transcends not only time and class, but species.”-NPRįor Britain, conditions are grim: Napoleon’s resurgent forces have breached the Channel and successfully invaded English soil. From the New York Times bestselling author of A Deadly Education comes the fifth volume of the Temeraire series, as Will Laurence and Temeraire struggle to reunite and face the Napoleonic army on London's doorstep.

Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik