His Majesty's Dragon
core novel 2006 Temeraire
Record
| First published | 2006 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.07 (115,548 ratings, collected 2026-09-14) |
| Page count | 356 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9780345481283 |
| Internal chronology | 1 |
Synopsis
His Majesty's Dragon opens the Temeraire series in an alternate-history version of the Napoleonic Wars in which intelligent, sapient dragons serve alongside humans as aerial warfare mounts. Captain William Laurence of the Royal Navy vessel HMS Reliant captures a French ship carrying a valuable dragon egg, which hatches before it can be delivered to England's Aerial Corps; to keep the newly hatched dragon from going feral, Laurence steps in and forms a bond with it, naming it Temeraire. This bond forces Laurence to abandon his naval career and join the socially looked-down-upon Aerial Corps, where he and Temeraire begin training for combat against Napoleon's forces. As Temeraire grows, it becomes clear the dragon is an exceptionally rare and prized Chinese Celestial breed, a discovery that raises the stakes of Laurence and Temeraire's partnership well beyond the immediate demands of wartime service.
Where it sits
- Universe: Temeraire
- Series: Temeraire core; position 1 of 9 in the series' recorded order
- Author: Naomi Novik
Awards (verified)
- Compton Crook Award, 2007: won; Baltimore Science Fiction Society award for best first SF/F novel.
- Locus Award (Best First Novel), 2007: won; Locus reader-poll winner (1st place). Some sources credit the omnibus title form 'Temeraire: In Service of the King'; registered under the novel.
- Hugo Award (Best Novel), 2007: nominated; Lost to Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End.
Notes
- US first edition (Del Rey, March 2006) precedes the UK edition (August 2006, published as 'Temeraire'), registered under the US first-edition title, with 'Temeraire' recorded as the UK variant title.
- From the series record (Temeraire): 9-novel completed historical-fantasy sequence (2006-2016): the Napoleonic Wars in a world where an intelligent-dragon aerial corps supplements every nation's military. One continuous linear narrative; publication order equals in-story order. Unusual debut cadence: the first three novels were all published in 2006 (Del Rey rapid-succession launch).
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings, but they resolve to the exact same sequence for this book, so one combined line is shown instead of two identical ones.
- Reading order, within the series Temeraire: position 1 of 9: next Throne of Jade (2006)
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temeraire_(series)
- https://www.sfadb.com/Naomi_Novik
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His_Majesty's_Dragon
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