His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novik

What I drank prior: I’ve had all of the wine. AS soon as Thanksgiving is over, Ginny and I turn on the Hallmark channel and that’s it. We drink all the wine and get sappy drunk. We had guest appearances by Linz and Alena too. Fun friday =)

Spoiler-free Overview: Ok so this is World War 1 but with dragons. Our main character Lawrence is a naval captain, takes a ship hostage, finds a dragon egg, it hatches, they become a pair, rider and dragon. Dragon is named Temeraire. He talks. There’s war. Things happen.

Spoiler-free Thoughts: I am so sad that I’ve only just now found these. I love it so much. Lawrence and Temeraire are adorable together. The story is great. I listened on audio and the narrator is great. I loved it.

Characters: Lawrence and Temeraire are fucking adorable together. Temeraire is just precious and curious. Lawrence is so prim and proper and very Downton Abbey and i LOVE it. The supporting cast are also amazing. They are well rounded when necessary and I became quite attached to a few of them (see: his first mate)

Plot: Dragon-riding school. Literally all you need to know. Ok fine, not all you need ot know, but just learning about the world through the school setting is awesome, and it seemed very organic the way it came through. It built up slowly and then the climax of the story seemed inevitable. I love it when that hapens.

Writing Style: I really liked it! Like I said, it seemed very Downton Abbey with dragons and world war 1. pretty fricken neat.

World Building: It was so awesome to re-interpret a time that we all know so well but with this fantasy element. i loved that the dragons didn’t have just one rider, they had a crew like a ship. I loved that the dragons can talk and that they’re treated like ships that can think. It was just really really well don.

All in all, I literally cna’t wait for the next one. It’s on hold from my library (I think I’m going to continue with the audiobooks) and I’m VERY excited.

What to pair it with: A port wine. They talk about it a lot…

Rating: 4.5/5 Shots

COMMENT DOWN BELOW: WHY AM I SO LATE TO THIS PARTY?! Who loves Temeraire as much sa i do?

Until next time, we remain forever drunkenly yours,
Sam