The HMS Reliant is at sea when it captures a French frigate carrying an unexpected cargo: a nearly ready to hatch dragon’s egg. When the dragon hatches, it bonds with the Reliant’s Captain, Will Laurence, and with Temeraire, Laurence leaves the Navy, and joins the Aerial Corps to defend England against Napoleon’s Army.
This particular story is mostly about Laurence and Temeraire’s training, and well as finding out more about Tremeraire, since he’s clearly a Chinese dragon, and not much is known about these beasts in Europe.
I loved this book. It’s got a great flavor of the time, with the dragons inserted seamlessly. It makes absolutely perfect sense to have them defending England. Temeraire and the other dragons are charming, and Laurence’s journey from the remarkably gentlemanly Navy to the more rough Aerial Corps makes a great story.
I can’t wait to read more. I had to keep myself from reading book backs when I was at the book store yesterday so I didn’t spoil the future story lines for the additional five books in the series. I’m so happy to find another series to look forward to reading more of.