The story takes place in an alternate history where several different breeds of dragon exist. The dragons are mostly intelligent, they are able to converse and are at least as intelligent as humans.
A British naval officer’s ship captures a French ship. It turns out that the ship is transporting a dragon’s egg which is just about to hatch. Dragons imprint permanently to a person who is near them after the hatching. It turns out that the newly-hatched dragon accepts only the captain as his companion. The captain is at first pretty devastated, as this will ruin his naval career and plans of marrying. The dragon is extremely valuable, as the Brits try to defend themselves against Napoleon’s continuing attacks and the dragons are irreplaceable as flying fortresses, so there is no way to get out of the responsibility. The pilots who fly the dragons are considered to be a strange and socially awkward bunch who rarely marry, as their close bond to dragons and the time they demand are far too much for real social life. It turns out that all that is true, but it isn’t so bad after all. And bonding with a dragon isn’t so bad either, as there is a real comradeship between ”animal” and human, and between human handlers, also. This book is the first part of the series, and it is pretty good in itself.
The book was mostly an introduction to its world and characters, but it did its job very well. The personalities of the dragons and the humans were both well-rounded and complete. The language was enjoyable to read. The only downside was that I couldn't really grasp the size of the dragons and how and where they were able to carry so many people around.
I need to think about reading the other books in the series. Anyway, my reading queue is so long that it might take a while before I do that, if I do.
356 pp.
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