It would be easy to slip into hyperbole about His Majesty's Dragon, so before I get to the hyperbole I want to make it clear that while I did enjoy Naomi Novik's story of dragon riding in Napoleonic Europe, it is not the most amazing book ever. Although I will probably continue in the series, it isn't at the top of my to read list.

Now for the hyperbole.

His Majesty's Dragon is very entertaining. Novik sweeps us into the world of her dragonriders and delivers action at a perfect pitch, even making the dragon training seem exciting.

I have steered fairly clear of most dragon riding fantasy (I hated McCaffrey when I first read her twenty years ago; I really need to give her another chance), so I don't know how far and in what directions dragon riding tales have developed, but Novik's take -- with her guncrews, midwingmen, carabiners and bombs -- felt like a truly unique idea, and I couldn't help being sucked in.

Even the social aspects of the Dragon Corp -- their looser hierarchies, their admission and acceptance of women into their ranks, their relaxed morality -- were fascinating, and Novik made them believable. Wartime and the necessities of war have always been catalysts of social change, and Novik's dragons necessitate a shift in the roles of women much the same way as the armaments trade changed the roles of women in WWI.

So there is much to praise in Temeraire, Book 1, and to praise highly, but something intangible felt missing, and despite everything I liked and almost loved about Novik's book, I just can't get terribly excited about His Majesty's Dragon.

I wish I could.