Today, the blog is joining in with Effing Rainbow’s Temeraire Read-Along. Temeraire is part of the His Majesty’s Dragon series, which centers around one important (and super cool) question: What would The Napoleonic Wars have been like if the countries involved fought them with dragons?
I’ve been meaning to read this for ages, and I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in. I’ll be tweeting about the readalong, as will our host, using hashtag #Temeraire and reading along on the following schedule:
- Week 1: Sunday 15th May – chapters 1 to 3
- Week 2: Sunday 22nd May – chapters 4 to 6
- Week 3: Sunday 29th May – chapters 7 to 9
- Week 4: Sunday 5th June – chapters 10 to Epilogue
The Twitter readalong starts right now! Come join us!
And if I haven’t tempted you enough already, here’s the back cover blurb…
Captain Will Laurence has been at sea since he was just twelve years old; finding a warmer berth in Nelson’s navy than any he enjoyed as the youngest, least important son of Lord Allendale. Rising on merit to captain his own vessel, Laurence has earned himself a beautiful fiancee, society’s esteem and a golden future. But the war is not going well. It seems Britain can only wait as Napoleon plans to overrun her shores.
After a skirmish with a French ship, Laurence finds himself in charge of a rare cargo: a dragon egg bound for the Emperor himself. Dragons are much prized: properly trained, they can mount a fearsome attack from the skies.
One of Laurence’s men must take the beast in hand and join the aviators’ cause, thus relinquishing all hope of a normal life. But when the newly-hatched dragon ignores the young midshipman Laurence chose as its keeper and decides to imprint itself on the horrified captain instead, Laurence’s world falls apart. Gone is his golden future: gone his social standing, and soon his beautiful fiancee, as he is consigned to be the constant companion and trainer of the fighting dragon Temeraire.