His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire Series #1) » (Reissue)

An avid reader of fantasy literature since age six, when she first made her way through The Lord of the Rings, Naomi Novik is also a history buff with a particular interest in the Napoleonic era and a fondness for the work of Patrick O’Brian and Jane Austen. She studied English literature at Brown University, and did graduate work in computer science at Columbia University before leaving to participate in the design and development of the computer game Neverwinter Nights: Shadow of Undrentide.

The first volume in the critically acclaimed Temeraire series.

Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors rise to Britain's defense by taking to the skies atop the mighty backs of fighting dragons. When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes its precious cargo, an un-hatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Capt. Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future and an unexpected kinship with an extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified 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.

Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors take to the skies atop the mighty backs of fighting dragons.

The Washington Post - Rachel Hartigan Shea

… all hail Naomi Novik for seizing on an entirely different set of literary conventions for her fantasy debut -- the dashing Brits-on-ships genre perfected by Patrick O'Brian. In His Majesty's Dragon , Novik plunks her scaly beasts into the Napoleonic Wars, as members of the Aerial Corps, air cover for the beleaguered Royal Navy as it fends off a French invasion.