Speed-Dating All Nine "Temeraire" Novels
The Napoleonic Wars, but with dragons
In 2006 an exciting piece of news hit the Internet: Peter Jackson’s next big film project would be another book adaptation featuring dragons and England and stuff. This time he wasn’t working off of Tolkien, though; the series in question was “Temeraire” from newcomer Naomi Novik, set in a world with sentient dragons during the Napoleonic Wars.
After watching Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, I was all-in on this new series and immediately picked up the first three, as they were all released in quick succession. I was gobbling up just about any dragon-related book at the time, and I read these shortly after I finished ERAGON and ELDEST. They were different in scope, focus, and execution, and to my delight I couldn’t put them down.
My hopes for a film adaptation obviously didn’t come to light. The 2006 article stated that the first film would hit theaters in 2009 but like a lot of announcements, that got punted later. It’s a shame because this would have been a great fit for Jackson’s skillset and I’m not sure who would do the concept justice right now.
Fortunately we still have the books, the series is finished, and as long as it continues to find new readers we may yet receive a big screen treatment. Just keep it out of the hands of any major streaming platform, they have only the power to destroy.
Since my summary video of Eragon and its sequels did rather well, here’s one for Temeraire, covering all nine books in quick succession. Spoiler warning if you haven’t read them. I’m gonna go light on the details though, so even if you do watch this, you’ll still enjoy reading them yourself. Buckle up and let’s ride.
Book 1: HIS MAJESTY’S DRAGON
The first book in the series is a quintessential “training camp novel,” wherein the main character and the reader are both treated to an explanation of the world, usually in some kind of school or camp setting. Our protagonist is Captain Will Laurence, a British naval officer in 1804, fighting against Napoleon. Novik is on the record stating that she based Laurence off of Russell Crowe’s Jack Aubrey in Master & Commander, so picture him and you’ve got a great idea of his looks and character.
Laurence’s ship overtakes a French vessel that has a dragon egg in the cargo hold. The egg hatches and the dragon immediately imprints on Laurence, meaning his career in the Navy is over; English dragons are scarce, and though their aviators are the best, the French outnumber them two to one, so if you’re imprinted, you’re drafted, and that’s it. This is a big deal for an English officer and it changes the plans he’d made for his life.
Laurence decides to name the dragon “Temeraire,” originally a French word meaning “reckless” or “fearless.” Ironically both the British and the French used this name for ships in their navies. In this world, dragons are born with the ability to speak, as they can hear and learn through the shell of their egg before they hatch, and they are extremely intelligent, though they lack the natural self-determination that mankind enjoys. This will change over the course of the series, which spans about ten years in-world.
Laurence and Temeraire report to a training camp in Scotland where he meets other captains and their dragons, all of different breeds. Some dragons will only imprint on female handlers, so again the English desperation for aviators wins out over societal gender norms, and the Aerial Corps is the only sex-integrated branch of the military. While in training, Laurence makes friends and enemies with other characters, and even uncovers a French spy in the camp who was sent to steal Temeraire. Laurence learns that Temeraire was on a French ship because he was a gift from the Chinese; he’s a rare breed of dragon that is only fit for emperors, and since China’s emperor already had one, they sent the egg to Napoleon. Now he’s a military dragon for the English.
The story concludes with Napoleon attempting a bold invasion at Dover, using dragons to haul transport vessels full of troops. During the battle, Temeraire instinctively uses a special attack that he didn’t know he had; some dragons spit fire, others spit acid or poison, most don’t spit anything, but Temeraire has the power to draw in huge amounts of air and release it all at once in a “divine wind.” This superweapon allows the British to repel the French and win the day.
Book 2: THRONE OF JADE
There are obvious political ramifications for having a Chinese dragon doing military work among the English when he’s supposed to be a French companion, at least as far as the Chinese are concerned. In order to mollify the Chinese, Laurence is sent with a bunch of other dragons to the Orient so they can resolve the situation, much to his chagrin.
They sail on a huge transport ship, since going overland would make them vulnerable to Napoleon’s forces across Europe and the Middle East. The sea voyage is long and they encounter various difficulties; a nocturnal French dragon attacks the ship, a sea serpent also attacks the ship, and Laurence has a growing contention with the ship’s captain named Riley, who is pro-slavery, while Laurence is an abolitionist. (Historically, England settled their issues with slavery well in advance of the United States, and through legal means without a civil war. Sissies.)
When they finally arrive in China, they learn the diplomatic landscape is even more complex then they thought; since Temeraire was a twin, he was sent to Napoleon so that he wouldn’t cause a succession crisis by imprinting on the wrong heir to the Chinese throne. The Chinese don’t actually care about Napoleon, they cared about their own internal stability. Still, certain parties in China’s court want their dragon back, and they attempt to assassinate Laurence in order to make Temeraire choose a new master.
Laurence survives the attempts and during one intense conflict, the man leading the attempt dies, resolving an internal political problem in China. The Emperor then adopts Laurence through a legal mechanism, kind of like getting an honorary Ph.D, thus resolving any customs issues with Temeraire having a “non-royal” human companion. As for Temeraire, his main takeaway from the experience is that dragons in China enjoy better rights than in England, and he wants to change that.
Book 3: BLACK POWDER WAR
On their way back to England, Laurence and Temeraire (along with the other dragons in their group) have to stop off in the Ottoman Empire to pick up three dragon eggs that England has purchased. They’ll be guided by Tharkay, a mixed-race man whose parents were from England and Nepal. He’s a good character and he’ll pop in and out for the rest of the series.
When Laurence arrives in Istanbul, the Sultan has changed his mind about the eggs, having allied his Empire with Napoleon. It turns out that one of the casualties in China was a prince named Yongxing, and his dragon Lien went off in search of a new royal master who could help her get revenge on Laurence and Temeraire. She picked Napoleon, and now she’s advising him on courses of action that will help him and hurt Laurence.
After being stonewalled and lied to in Istanbul, Laurence gets tired of waiting on a resolution; England has paid for the eggs, so he takes what’s rightfully theirs, effectively stealing them from the hatchery. They’re attacked but they escape, heading west and stopping along the way in Prussia. Again they’re bogged down by local politics and the goings-on of the war with Napoleon; Prussia has allied against Napoleon and the British promised them support, but it never arrived. Laurence and Temeraire join up under Prussian command but their tactics are outdated and Napoleon beats them, taking several of their dragons hostage as a result.
It turns out that once again the Chinese dragon Lien is involved, teaching Napoleon new tactics and providing him with critical intelligence. Laurence and his allies retreat to Northern Poland, which is besieged by Napoleon. They’re only able to escape when Tharkay arrives with a command of feral dragons, something very cool that we’re introduced to in this novel, as they have their own language and Tharkay speaks it. The ferals help to evacuate the city, and Laurence can finally return with Temeraire to England.
Book 4: EMPIRE OF IVORY
Laurence learns the devastating reason why England never sent dragons to its allies in Prussia: there’s a dragon plague going around, and it’s killing them off at an alarming rate. It doesn’t appear to have hit the French yet but its mortality rate is horrifying. Unless they can find a cure, England will lose its entire air force in a matter of years.
Once Laurence and Temeraire see the symptoms of this plague, they realize that Temeraire briefly had the same sickness while on the transport ship to China; they thought it was just a cold, and he was treated with a rare and pungent mushroom from Africa. If they can find more of it, they can cure the plague. Laurence and Co. head down to the Dark Continent to find this miracle cure.
While there, they see how Africans interact with dragons, and how their tribal relations play out. It takes a lot of trial-and-error as the aviators look for other ways to treat the plague symptoms; to their chagrin, all of the other dragons have fallen ill except for Temeraire, who is now immune.
When they stumble upon a huge cave full of the rare species of mushroom—cultivated in the dark with dragon manure—they’re ambushed by the local tribe of Tswana, who are aggressive and hostile toward the British over the slave trade. Like many exchanges in this series, the goings-on between the African tribes and the British military will be of greater entertainment to the reader with a knowledge of actual history. Be sure to take some time and find good articles on the various slave revolts and African uprisings in the early 1800s. Naomi Novik is a history student and that largely informs her work here.
To keep things short, the dragons escape with several mushroom samples so they can take the cure back to England, then they rescue their crew from the Tswana. When Laurence returns to England he finds out that the Admiralty has allowed an infected dragon to return to France, hoping to spread the plague and kill off their air force. Appalled by this, Laurence—who is developing his own philosophy of dragon rights and independence, alongside Temeraire—steals some of the mushrooms and takes them directly to Napoleon.
Napoleon offers him the chance to defect, but Laurence is a man of honor. He’s British to the core and he doesn’t believe in dirty fighting, or genocide, and the Admiralty’s actions constituted both. Napoleon has his own honor and he allows Laurence to return to England, knowing he’ll most likely be executed for treason.
Book 5: VICTORY OF EAGLES
They changed the cover art starting with book five, and I didn’t care for it. Not that it’s bad but I like consistency. Anyways…
Laurence is stripped of all rank and status because of what he did in the last book. Now he’s on a prison ship, and Temeraire is stuck in a breeding ground with other dragons who have lost their handlers or have been captured from enemy fleets. As long as Temeraire behaves, Laurence won’t be executed.
But then Napoleon crosses the channel to invade, and Laurence’s ship is sunk. Temeraire, thinking Laurence is dead, rallies the dragons in the camp and they form their own regiment, then start proactively attacking the French. The government finds Laurence among the survivors of the ship and they send him to bring Temeraire back under control.
There’s a huge battle that once again contrasts with actual historical military movements of the Napoleonic Wars, and would resist my attempts to summarize it here. Basically the English take a bad loss and the French advance into England in this story. During this conflict, one of Laurence’s friends, Captain Granby, is captured by the French. His dragon was one of the eggs that they took from Istanbul. Her name is Iskierka, and she’s a fire-breather with a rash personality.
Laurence and Temeraire set off to rescue Granby and Iskierka. He then joins with General Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, to coordinate efforts around England and encircle the French. The military have retaken control of the English Channel so Napoleon won’t get reinforcements. The dragons get more of a say in how to carry out operations, and in helping the residents of the English countryside, they garner favor for their independence movement.
Finally the English confront Napoleon and his forces head-on at the Coast. Lord Nelson arrives with a fleet of ships from Copenhagen to help. The artillery is able to pound Napoleon’s forces and kill most of them, while Napoleon’s dragon Lien uses her “divine wind” attack to sink Nelson’s fleet. Napoleon and Lien escape back to France.
For his service, Laurence’s sentence is changed to transportation. He and Temeraire have to go to Australia and fortify the continent down under.
Book 6: TONGUES OF SERPENTS
Nice, we’re back to the good cover design. Gonna be brutally honest, this is probably the most boring book in the series. Literally half of it is Laurence & Co. walking around in the Australian Outback, finding nothing but sand monsters that kill people, which the Outback has even in our world.
The governorship of New South Wales is currently in question, as a rebellion has just happened and now they’re waiting on word from London to see what to do going forward. Laurence was sent with three eggs to help establish an aerial corps on the continent, but it’s going poorly; one egg hatched for a bad handler who abused his previous mount, and another was stolen by aborigines. This prompts the hunt across the Outback, which disadvantages Laurence and his men because they don’t know the terrain, while the aborigines are familiar with the monsters there.
When they finally track down the aborigines, the egg has already hatched and the dragon has chosen a captain from the Larrukia people. They also discover a Chinese smuggling ring; the Chinese have managed to train sea serpents to ship cargo down to Australia, despite British efforts to assert dominance on the continent. Since Temeraire is Chinese, he’s able to offer a diplomatic solution to the budding problem, but he’s unable to persuade the dragon to come back to New South Wales with them. The Chinese retain control of those waters.
Laurence and Co. return to NSW. Another man has been appointed governor and he wants to attack the smuggling operation on the other coast, which leads to another rebellion, because apparently the only people that like to fight more than Americans are Australians. The question of governorship is eventually settled, with a sane dude being left in charge. Captain Granby and the fire-breathing Iskierka are sent to South America to solve a new problem there, while Laurence decides to retire in Australia with Temeraire.
Book 7: CRUCIBLE OF GOLD
Booo, back to this cover style. Boooooo.
Okay, lots of political stuff going on in this book, here’s the skinny: the Tswana tribe from Africa, back in the fourth book, are now at the height of their power and they’re trying to reverse the slave trade. They’re focusing on Brazil, demanding that all the Africans there be sent back to the continent, and they’ve allied with Napoleon to make it happen.
This is a problem because the prince of Portugal is hiding out in Brazil, and if Napoleon’s allies capture him, Portugal will break its alliance with England. England is using Portugal to prepare a land invasion across Spain and over the Pyrenees into Southern France. Because of all this, England needs dragons in Brazil to protect the Portuguese prince.
Iskierka and Granby are already on their way. Having received a pardon and the restoration of his captaincy, Laurence and Temeraire head off with Captain Riley on the dragon transport, but the ship burns down due to a drunken crew, and the dragons are forced to fly over open ocean for as long as they can. They land on a French ship and are then dropped on an island that is still too far from the mainland, so the French can come get them later. However, Laurence finds a pirate ship after the French leave, and they use that to escape.
From here we get a cool look at this alternate version of Brazil, where the Incas largely survived smallpox and European depredations, though they aren’t the only power on the continent. The Tswana want their people back, Napoleon wants the Tswana and the Inca on his side, and the British want to fight Napoleon. We get more involved political complications combined with some exciting escapes and maneuvers, which result in Laurence convincing the Prince of Portugal to agree to terms with the Tswana and send all the slaves back to Africa. Napoleon himself also shows up in Brazil to offer the Incan Empress an alliance by marriage, after divorcing his wife in France.
Through diplomacy and military cunning, Laurence and the British are able to secure the alliance and the manumission of the Tswana. The story ends with Laurence receiving word that he has to go back to China to secure an alliance with them and Britain.
Book 8: BLOOD OF TYRANTS
Different cover style AGAIN but I don’t hate it.
What I DO hate is stories that start with an established main character suffering from amnesia. This will automatically make me hate anything. Amnesia stories are even worse than multiverse stories. Do not do this.
Anyway, Laurence wakes up in Japan, shipwrecked and unable to remember anything. He’s arrested for being white outside of Nagasaki, the only place where that sort of thing is allowed. Kind of rough when you consider that in about 135 years, they won’t want white guys anywhere near Nagasaki, and especially not in anything that flies. But I digress.
Elsewhere, Temeraire and a British diplomat called Hammond are looking for Laurence, so it’s that kind of story where we start in the middle of things and work backward to find out what happened. Temeraire is nervous for Laurence and also nervous for his egg, which needs attention. Oh yeah, he hooked up with Iskierka, so they’re going to have a fire-breathing-divine-wind dragon baby.
That won’t be his only bit of action, though; once they’re in China he has to mate with another of his kind, because there’s a challenge to the throne and a shortage of Celestial dragons like himself. The emperor has to have one, so Temeraire does what he can to breed another. He meets up with Laurence again, whose memory loss tracks backward by eight years. He’s upset that he’s no longer in the Navy. Realizing this, his friends try not to bring up other things that would upset him, like the deaths of old friends, a beef he has with his father, or the fact that he was guilty of treason for a while.
Laurence and Temeraire discover a political plot to steal the throne, and they also run into their old friend Tharkay, and this encounter helps Laurence’s memories to return. This causes him some distress because he now knows they’ve lost a bunch of time, and Napoleon is set to invade Russia in just a few weeks. Although they’re able to muster a considerable force of Chinese dragons, when they show up in Russia, they’re outmatched by Napoleon and his cadre of allies.
The battle is complex and complicated, and on top of all that, winter is coming. The winter of 1812 was historically bad, and probably not made any better by being in Russia.
Book 9: LEAGUE OF DRAGONS
Hey kids, can I interest you in yet another cover?
Okay, Napoleon got beat in Russia, but he’s regrouping and he has a new trick up his sleeve: while Laurence and Temeraire have been going around the world and talking about dragon rights and independence, Napoleon decides to pull an Abraham Lincoln and promise freedom for all dragons if they help him win. Word spreads, and this causes problems for the British.
Things get complicated when Russian resentment of dragons leads one man to wish the plague had killed them all. Laurence duels the man and they’re both wounded, so now Laurence needs time to heal. Unfortunately for him, Temeraire finds out that Napoleon’s dragon Lien wants to kill Temeraire’s egg, so he leaves to protect his child before Laurence is ready. Some hijinks ensue, they cross paths with other characters, and finally everybody is brought together in the Alps, where they’re captured by the French. Laurence, Temeraire, Tharkay, Granby, and Iskierka discover that the French are preparing a huge army of dragon eggs up there to hatch all at once, giving them an unbeatable numerical advantage.
While the dragon plague is still going on, Napoleon has the medicine to cure it, thanks to Laurence all the way back in book four. Plus he’s taking Laurence’s ideas for dragon rights to win the sentient creatures over to his side. Nice little dagger twist for our heroes, using a good idea for a bad purpose.
Because Laurence is the protagonist though, he’s able to escape with his friends and they get back to England. He’s promoted to Admiral due to his main character energy, and he trains a new aviator corps to go to war on the Continent. We get some more signature battles with tweaked historical details, this time in Germany, as well as diplomatic developments like the dragons forming their own political coalitions, the Tswana fighting against Napoleon due to their distrust of European powers, and Napoleon’s Incan wife betraying him for similar reasons.
All in all, the good guys win, and I won’t spoil the details as to how. This book is slow in spots, but not as slow as the grinding slog through the Outback, and Novik does have a lot of threads to tie together, which she does with great satisfaction. There are weddings and victory celebrations and generally good times for people who have had a hard go of it throughout this series. I’m being intentionally vague here because even though I promised spoilers, if you haven’t read this series, I want you to give it a shot.
There’s still some part of me that hopes in the current landscape we can still get these movies, and I’d love to see the original premise of Peter Jackson at the helm. Unfortunately he’s tied up with derivative Lord of the Rings tie-ins that I don’t have high hopes for, while this highly original property is still waiting in the wings, pun intended. Maybe if it gets another surge in interest, we can make something happen.
But even if we don’t, Novik has put together something unique and special here, and I think you should check it out. Content warning for the occasional F-bomb, other than that it’s all period-accurate stuff and some battlefield brutality. Check out the Temeraire series.