Book Review: His Majesty's Dragon

I was previously unfamiliar with the term "flintlock fantasy." It makes sense not to restrict traditional fantasy elements to facsimiles of the Middle Ages, but I never gave much thought to reimagining later actual historical periods on Earth with them. This Naomi Novik novel, for instance, features dragons participating on both sides of the Napoleonic Wars.

( Cut for length )

I would not have guessed that this was Novik's first novel. Sure, it doesn't offer much of any innovation, but it works so masterfully that I didn't care about that. I have put the next book in the Temeraire series, Throne of Jade, on my wishlist, aware that it probably won't arrive this Christmas.


In the meantime, I'm starting on Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology. Yes, I realize that American Gods plays fast and loose with it, but I want to see how he does in presenting what little we have of the original legends.

Light My Fire

Traditional dragons in western mythologies
Seem to have come from the depths of our dread:
Carnivorous, most likely man-eating giants
That breathe balls of flame as they fly overhead,
With wings webbed like bats and impervious scales
And the voice for a mighty stentorian roar.
Additionally, they may sport horns and claws
And impressive intelligence. Need I say more?
In spite of these aspects, the dragons in half
Of the wide realm of fantasy works that I’ve known
Turn out to be friendly or even heroic,
And thusly their place in my heart sure has grown.