One warm summer day, Captain William Laurence of the H.M.S. Reliant and his crew, having flung themselves into a high pitched battle with a French frigate, stumble upon a very unexpected piece of cargo, a dragon egg. The egg soon hatches and chooses Laurence as his Captain. Forced to leave his life in the British Navy, Laurence is drafted into the Aerial Corps along with his dragon, Temeraire. Laurence and Temeraire must undergo oppressive training in stamina, flight, and war while battling Napoleon's seemingly undefeatable army and, at the same time, Temeraire's insatiable hunger. In this series of historical fiction, will Laurence and Temeraire triumph, or will Napoleon have the whole world under his yolk?
What did you think about His Majesty's Dragon? Post your thoughts below.
I haven't read the book, but it's interesting to me to see how they've set up the forces of good and evil. In America, so many of our villains are vaguely Russian (from the Cold War) or German (from the World Wars). I suppose it makes complete sense for the Brits to have similar feelings about the French given how long those two nations spent as enemies.
ReplyDeleteHow much do you know about Napoleon's rise to power? Why was he so feared? Have you read any history of this time period? The French Revolution is a strange time in history, one in which it's very difficult to separate the bad from the good. If you like reading about that time period, you could try reading A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens. (The main character in that book is a drunk lawyer - one of my favorites of all time.) Keep reading!
Thank you D-Town for your comment and insights. Feared for his military genius, Napoleon amassed an empire that stretched through France, Spain, Austria, Italy, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Luxembourg, Monaco, The Netherlands, Slovania, Switzerland and the Vatican City--he was pretty epic!!! Indeed, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between the good and the bad. Napoleon also emancipated the Jewish people from the Ghettos, giving them the right to worship, land and careers. After his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon was exiled to an island off the British coast. In Temeraire, it is interesting to see how dragons might impact the social, political, and economic development of that time. In the series, the dragons are massive in size, power, and appetite, but, they are actually gentle with child-like perceptions of the world they inhabit. They are the voice of reason in a time of chaos. Thank you for recommending A Tale of Two Cities, I hope to read, and blog about it, soon.
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