Do you know what makes everything better? Dragons. This book takes the Napoleonic wars and adds dragons and everything is 100% more awesome. This story follows Captain Will Laurence from a Navy Captain to a dragon-riding recruit of the Air Corp in the fight against the French. I loved the interactions with his dragon, Temeraire. Another thing I loved was the historical twist that dragons add. However, I do not think that this book will be for everyone.
The relationship between Laurence and Temeraire was one of the sweetest things I have ever read in fiction. You can feel the mutual love between dragon and rider. Laurence goes out of his way to buy expensive gold chains so that Temeraire is comfortable and feels like he has a horde. Laurence also reads to Temeraire most every night. While Temeraire and Laurence’s relationship is in the forefront you can also feel the love between the other dragon rider pairs. I was joyful about the care Novik put into the novel to the relationships of rider and dragon. This book is earth’s history but with dragons added. This twist to history made me ask so many questions and to continue on with the series. My main negative point is that this not a book for everyone. Most of the book was exploring the relationship between Laurence and Temeraire and there was not a lot of “action” until the end of the novel. It was very character-driven versus plot-driven.
I very much enjoyed this novel and plan to continue on with the series. If you love dragons, brilliant relationships, and character-driven story this is a story for you. 
 Check out this and other reviews on the Fantasy Book of the Month Podcast Episode 9: Female Authors on any podcast application.