3,5/5
What if Napolean wars were fought with dragons? Intelligent, speaking dragons that can completely change the outcome of battles. This is a vision that Naomi Novik puts into words.

His Majesty’s Dragon sets off when an English ship gets hold of a French one, which is carrying a dragon egg as cargo. Said egg hatches and gets attached to the ship’s captain. What follows is a detailed description of the journey this duo goes through in training and eventually fighting for his majesty - the king of England.

My favorite part by far is the dynamic between Laurence (the captain) and Temeraire (the dragon). Reading how Temeraire starts to understand the world in Laurence’s guidance and in turn, how Temeraire helps Laurence see himself and his surrounding society differently, is just delightful. When the actual war became central I started to lose interest. I’m sure I would get more lovely Laurence x Temeraire moments if I continued with the series, but I have a feeling the next installments are going to be more war-heavy and I’m not too into that.