• His Majesty's Dragon

  • Temeraire, Book 1
  • By: Naomi Novik
  • Narrated by: Simon Vance
  • Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (5,738 ratings)

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His Majesty's Dragon  By  cover art

His Majesty's Dragon

By: Naomi Novik
Narrated by: Simon Vance
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Publisher's summary

Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors rise to Britain's defense by taking to the skies - not aboard aircraft but atop the mighty backs of fighting dragons.

When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes its precious cargo - an unhatched dragon egg - fate sweeps Captain Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature.

Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France's own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte's boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into a baptism of fire.

Don't miss the rest of the Temeraire series: Book 2: Throne of Jade and Book 3: Black Powder War.
©2006 Naomi Novik (P)2007 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

2007, New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age

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What listeners say about His Majesty's Dragon

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Unique perspective of dragon rider

The Napoleonic wars - with dragons. Naomi Novik offers a unique view of the dragon rider - a core of the armed forces, with not a single rider, but a crew aboard a war harness complete with rifles bombs and swords aboard a winged battleship in areal battles, with warriors leaping across to "board" another dragon's back to fight to capture the Captain - the actual bonded dragon rider. What a fascinating portrayal. Novik's description of the various breeds of dragons in the world and weapons other than breathing fire (a rare gift), makes it also vary interesting. Her dialog captures the speech of British military men of the era, giving it a wonderful flavor. In addition, the audio reading of this book was excellent, down to the perfect British accents. The appendices at the end describing the various dragon breeds (the writings of the expert on the subject) were delightful and very well thought out. I have absolutely no complaints about this book and am eager to download the next volume.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Very fun intro

I love Ms Novik - I loved Uprooted and Spinning Silver. This seems like a much more drawn out series but she put in the same amount of details and research in this. If you like the merging of fiction and history -you will like this!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Great Book

I have only read one other of Novik's books so I thought I'd enjoy this one just as much. although this is a great book I personally dont believe that its up to par with her Spinning Silver book which I absolutely love and seriously hope that she writes a second book to.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Way better than I could have imagined!!!!

I’m a huge fan of The dragon riders of pern and thought I’d never read anything like it again. I was pleasantly surprised to find the same amazing depiction of dragons here! I’ll admit it started a bit slow for me and I almost gave up on it. But as soon as temeraire hatched, I was hooked. Could not stop listening!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Extremely Enjoyable!

Fantastic story and performance! I laughed out loud multiple times during this book and was brought to tears a couple times too.

I bought the next book before I finished this one and am excited to start

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I took too long to listen to this gem.

very well written and narrated, if you like books about comradeship, period pieces, or high fantasy, then look no further.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

awesome book and series.

The narrator was wonderful the book Capture attention from the start Very Enjoyable read and listen

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Delightful and Entrancing

Highly enjoyed, will read again. I have to read the sequels now though! Simon Vance does an excellent performance as always.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding!

Best series I've read to date. Can't wait to listen to the next book. I recommend to anyone wanting a history novel with a perfect fantasy twist.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant.

Historical fiction can be tough to pin down and make believable yet entertaining without getting bogged down. Novik absolutely crushes it here and I'm extremely excited to dig into the rest of this series.

The performance can be a bit dry at times, which I personally enjoyed, but I can see that being a barrier for some. Give it a chance however, and I can almost guarantee you'll get sucked right in.

As a side note, I particularly enjoyed the attention to detail Novak paid to how Dragons would be applied in classical military scenarios, if you're into military history this book should be right up your alley.

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