Temeraire (Naomi Novik)

I burst into terrific sobs towards the end of this book, so you can be sure that it was a story I enjoyed, or at least was intensely involved in. To distil Temeraire into one sentence - it's a book set in the Napoleonic wars, with one small difference - dragons.

Naomi Novik's dragons are wonderful. What fantastic creations - probably my favourite fictional evocation of dragons, I think. And the way they're used in warfare - I spent a lot of time while reading this book gasping, "Wow, that's just so cool."

I suppose my one quibble with Temeraire would be that I felt at times like I was reading a YA novel (which I don't think it's intended to be). I just felt at times that the dialogue could be more complex - but perhaps its written that way intentionally - it generally fits into the period Novik's trying to evoke. It feels a little "Boys Own", but I think it's meant to - and it's certainly not difficult to let yourself be utterly drawn into Novik's world.

So, despite a few tiny quibbles, I loved and adored it, and can't wait until the sequels arrive at the library. This is a series I'm sure I'll end up buying for myself, as I can tell it's one I'm going to want to re-read many times in the future. Delicious.