Dragonriders of England

As I was looking ahead to see what books are due to be published this summer, I was pleased to see “Tongues of Serpents", the latest Termeraire book by Naomi Novik is due out in July.

The Temeraire series is in part fantasy, and in part alternate history. The series begins in the year 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars. The major difference between this world and our own is that in this world, dragons exist. Both the British and the French have an “air force” composed of various breeds of dragons with human crews. Other nations and cultures have their own species of dragons, which fit into their societies in different ways.

An interesting aspect of this series is that it reads more like historical fiction than fantasy. There are dragons, but they are not “magical” as such. Some dragons are not much larger than horses; others are enormous multi-ton flying behemoths. Some can spit fire or acid, others have good night vision, or other abilities. But in the end, they are regarded as no more remarkable than any other natural phenomena. Although most dragons do speak, some characters debate just how intelligent dragons are. This leads to parallels between the treatment of British dragons and slavery in the British Empire which plagued the time as well.

Temeraire, the central character of the book, is a Chinese dragon who upon hatching impressed on Captain William Laurence, a British Naval officer. This forces Captain Laurence to leave the Royal Navy and join the Royal Aerial Corps which is far less prestigious. Despite this the two become fast friends. They, and their aerial crew, go through a number of adventures across Europe, Asia, and Africa.

The books in the series so far are:

His Majesty’s Dragon

Throne of Jade

Black Powder War

Empire of Ivory

A Victory of Eagles

Tongues of Serpents (coming in July, on order at the Glenview Public Library)



-JK