Traditional Fantasy

This has to be the best dragon book since Pern. It starts out on an English navy ship in the time of the Napoleonic wars, only when they capture a French ship, they discover a dragon egg. We get a good feeling of naval protocol from the main character, Captain Laurence, but it becomes an alternative history where an air corp of dragon riders plays a part in the otherwise historic tale.

I thought it was extremely well done. The characters are strong and distinctive and several significant ones develop and grow in the telling. This includes dragon characters as well as humans. Some battle scenes add action but mostly it's about the relationships among military personnel and the details about how to sustain a fighting force of dragons. What the dragons think of the whole set up adds both humor and thoughtfulness.

The series has nine books at the time of writing and I'll be interested to see how long the whole of it can keep my attention. I have the first three books in a combined volume so I'll certainly read that far. I usually prefer a series to go three to four books. Any longer and it becomes either samey or tedious. I'll keep an open mind. For the moment I'm looking forward to reading the second book. I can't help wondering how people from countries who were on the other side of that war would like it though. It's very much an 'English are the good guys' point of view.