Silent Landscape at Gallipoli: The Battlefields of the Dardanelles, One Hundred Years on
Book
In our first book, we explored the impact of the fighting on the landscape of the Western Front -...
Fleet Command - Win legion war
Games and Social Networking
App
Fleet Command is a naval warfare strategy game based on real life ships and military ranks,...
Brave Faces
Book
Brave Faces is Mary Arden's story as she moves from her privileged English upbringing to dealing...
Known and Unknown: A Memoir
Book
With the same directness that defined his career in public service, Rumsfeld's memoir is filled with...
Understanding Boat Design
Book
For new boating enthusiasts - even if they've been at it awhile - there are scores of burning...
World Conqueror 3
Games
App
World Conqueror 3 is a newly-developed strategy game released in 2015 by EASYTECH! Commander! War is...
Civil War: 1863
Games and Entertainment
App
Relive iconic battles of the American Civil War. Take command of both the Union and Confederate...
Thieves' Quarry (Thieftaker Chronicles #2)
Book
Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, September 28, 1768 Autumn has come to New England, and...
The Marine Professional
Business and Magazines & Newspapers
App
Published 12 times a year, The Marine Professional is the leading technical magazine for the...
Mekkin B. (122 KP) rated His Majesty's Dragon in Books
Sep 14, 2017
Naomi Novik knows her stuff. This book is chock full of amazing worldbuilding. Her mastery of naval maneuvers, English society, and the history of the Napoleonic wars is immersive in its completeness. She wastes no time coddling the reader with infodumps or explanations, although the drawback is that it is occasionally so detailed and alien to me that my eyes would glaze over and slide completely past a paragraph filled with information about where Napoleon's forces were and what they were doing.
Laurence himself gets flack as a character for being stiff and "unprogressive", but I feel this is somewhat unwarranted. He's compelling precisely because he exhibits a mindset that would be entirely normal for a man of his station in his time, and slowly has to adjust everything he thinks about class, gender, and duty. His stiffness and reserve can seem alien at times, but we empathize completely with his love of the bright and lovely Temeraire.
This book does have some pacing problems. It is slow in places, particularly during their training and Loch Laggan, and in others cuts chapters far too early, leaving one feeling a bit of whiplash as the next chapter starts up.
Still, the premise is amazing, the dragons are glorious, and I spent an entire night reading this book cover to cover. If you like Bloody Jack, or wondered what How To Train Your Dragon would look like if it were set during the Napoleonic war, you'll definitely enjoy this one.