Temeraire

Image credit: Kobo Inc.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, one of my greatest joys in life is finding new favourites. New favourite writers, new favourite stories, and -for me particularly- new favourite series. We know I love fantasy and children’s/young adult novels specifically, and I am so happy right now because I have just closed the cover of the first book in a series, the entirety of which is absolutely going to take up residence on my library shelves. Yes, I have a new favourite series! What’s wonderful about the whole discovery is that it really is transporting me back to being a young reader in primary school and getting really enveloped in the world that promises to while away many glorious hours because there are many more adventures to come. This new love in my life is the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik.

The first book in the series, Temeraire, follows naval Captain Will Laurence; an upstanding gentleman with a beautiful fiancé, society’s admiration, and a bright future. Britain is at war and it is not going well. With Napoleon’s forces massing and playing a strategic game, it seems that all Britain can do is wait for invasion. After a skirmish with a French frigate, Laurence and his crew find themselves in possession of rare and valuable cargo: an unhatched dragon egg. Being intelligent and tactile creatures, properly trained and harnessed dragons are a great asset to the war effort, delivering fearsome attacks from the skies. But dragons are also particular about their handlers and when the egg hatches at sea, it’s with a heavy heart that Laurence must plan his retirement from the navy and entrance into the Aviator Corps, as the hatchling imprints on him. While the loss of his social standing and esteem is horrifying, Laurence soon develops a bond with his dragonet, Temeraire; a bond that takes some of the sting out of his situation, as the two of them must face a rushed training in aerial combat, social ostracization from their fellow aviators, and an impending invasion.

Upon closing the cover of this book, I promptly got online and ordered the next. That is how excited and in love I am. Dragons are my favourite mythic fantasy creature. They were also my grandmother’s, who sadly passed away one year ago. I couldn’t help but think many times during reading Temeraire that she would have also loved this book.

It’s very much an introductory book in that we get to meet these characters and get to know them and there isn’t all that much happening in terms of external action or narrative. The basic plotline is a man and a dragon becoming friends and getting a job together. What captivated me was that it felt like I was reading a children’s book, but made mature by the military backdrop and the fact that there aren’t many children. In a way it reminded me a lot of Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness series; Laurence’s story is similar to Alanna’s in that they are both outsiders that enter into a training camp and have to work hard to earn even a modicum of respect from their peers. The only difference is that Laurence has to recalibrate his entire way of thinking and social behaviours, which have been shaped by his strict naval training since he was 12 years old, whereas Alanna merely had to hide the fact that she was female. The drama of this book is entirely in the social interactions of the characters, like a Jane Austen novel, with Laurence going from a gentleman’s world of respect and a strict code to that of a lad’s with casual attitudes and women in combat.

Image credit: NPR

It’s very much a book that focuses on establishing compelling and loveable characters, getting the reader on their side as well as providing an understanding of the way the world works. Laurence is very much a classic British gentleman and Temeraire is a gorgeous combination of highly intelligent and childishly curious. Scenes where the two are reading together in the evenings are not only delightful, but right out of my grandmother’s own dragon story, which we started writing together and I intend to publish one day.

My love of this book may be a bit more sentimental, adding to the reading experience, but I would still absolutely recommend this if you’re looking for a new series to while away a quiet afternoon. Temeraire has got loveable characters, exciting action, social entanglements, and delightful smatterings of comedy and heartwarming moments. I cannot wait to get my hands on the next one.

Author: Naomi Novik, 2006

Published: First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers, 2006. Pictured edition published by HarperVoyager, London, 2007

Temeraire is the first book in Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series.