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1 of 1 copy available
When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes its precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Capt. Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future–and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarefied world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France’s own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte’s boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into their own baptism of fire.
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Release date
June 26, 2007 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781415940167
- File size: 286677 KB
- Duration: 09:57:14
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- Lexile® Measure: 1030
- Text Difficulty: 6-8
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Reviews
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In a world that combines fantasy and history, humans and dragons have lived side by side for thousands of years. Now it is the early 1800s, and the powers are feuding. Captain Will Laurence's impressive career on the high seas comes to an end when a dragon hatchling bonds to him. He must be trained as a dragon-rider to fight for England against an aggressive Napoleonic France. Simon Vance executes Laurence's stern yet compassionate personality flawlessly. Vance keeps a steady rhythm in delivering the narrative while also executing various vocal shifts for different characters. Additionally, he incorporates the story's action when performing voices so that Laurence's voice, for example, turns into a deliberate shout when he rides his dragon, Temeraire. L.E. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine -
January 23, 2006
In this delightful first novel, the opening salvo of a trilogy, Novik seamlessly blends fantasy into the history of the Napoleonic wars. Here be dragons, beasts that can speak and reason, bred for strength and speed and used for aerial support in battle. Each nation has its own breeds, but none are so jealously guarded as the mysterious dragons of China. Veteran Capt. Will Laurence of the British Navy is therefore taken aback after his crew captures an egg from a French ship and it hatches a Chinese dragon, which Laurence names Temeraire. When Temeraire bonds with the captain, the two leave the navy to sign on with His Majesty's sadly understaffed Aerial Corps, which takes on the French in sprawling, detailed battles that Novik renders with admirable attention to 19th-century military tactics. Though the dragons they encounter are often more fully fleshed-out than the stereotypical human characters, the author's palpable love for her subject and a story rich with international, interpersonal and internal struggles more than compensate. -
June 25, 2007
This engaging debut from newcomer Novik takes the swashbuckling nautical adventure of Horatio Hornblower and adds dragons to the mix, resulting in an enchanting medley of history and fantasy. During the height of the Napoleonic Wars, Capt. Will Laurence of His Majesty's Navy captures a French man-o'-war-an already valuable prize made invaluable when the crew discovers an unhatched dragon egg aboard. Laurence finds himself taking up the duty of being the dragon's captain, forcing him to leave his beloved navy and enter into the unknown world of Britain's dragon-riding Aerial Corp. Thorn accurately captures the sound of 19th-century British dialects, and he varies his voice considerably (occasionally going too far) to differentiate between characters. One odd choice of Thorn's was his decision to give all dragons in the book a rather high, somewhat stilted voice-at odds with the booming speech one would expect from a creature of that gargantuan size. This quibble aside, Thorn does an excellent job of transporting the listener to the historical setting of the novel and brings Novik's richly imagined world vividly to life. A Del Rey paperback (Reviews, Jan. 23, 2006).
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