Man, I really have to dig more into alternative history books, especially if it includes dragons, because that was amazing!

Novik completely won me over with Laurence, who took one look at Temeraire not a minute out of his shell and went "Well, I suppose I'm a father now." And really, that's the kind of relationship I love to see between a dragon and its rider. It called me back to my days of reading Eragon, which really endeared me to the human/dragon bond and I think Novik does a fantastic job portraying dragons as loving, loyal creatures. Temeraire is now up there with my favorite dragons alongside Toothless, who shares that wonderful quality of being an absolute menace if gone unchecked. He's wonderfully curious, innocent, but, really, if Laurence had less of an influence on him, there would have been some dragon anarchy real quick.

Honestly, as someone just getting into the series, I'm predicting some kind of dragon revolt or something because, gee Temeraire you sure do have a lot of thoughts and a great deal of free will going on there.

Having read some of Novik's other works, this one felt a little different stylistically. I don't know if it's because of the plot or simply because this was her first book, but it didn't carry the usual verbosity or weight I normally I expect with her. Still, that didn't keep me from finding it absolutely charming. Sure, the logistics of just plopping dragons into the Napoleonic Wars without changing much of day to day society and the history of this world is a bit iffy and I wonder why aviators are not respected more in society because they, you know, have dragons,  but I'm willing to suspend my disbelief. 

I really can't wait to dive more into this series and see what's coming next!