I've recently discovered a new paperback series worth checking out if you're into fantasy at all (I grew up on it but have since dropped out, leaning more towards magical realism these days).

My stepfather, the original Peter Gibbons, is forever burning through fantasy, sci-fi, and WWII books, and after failing to completely immerse me in Battlestar Galactica, (I just can't stand that blond lady), his next project was to get me into Naomi Novik's Temeraire series.

And this one hooked me.

I've only read the first novel so far, His Majesty's Dragon, but it's highly entertaining. You can see why Peter Jackson snapped up the rights for a movie series.

Once you get past the occasional stilted dialogue (I've never understood why fantasy authors feel like they can't use contractions of any kind), the story rolls along with the satisfying pace of a Harry Potter book. The story is the key - Novik has created an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars, where not only do dragons exist, but they are also bred as aircraft for the Aerial Corp. Naval Captain Will Laurence is sucked into this world once his ship seizes a dragon egg from an enemy vessel and it hatches onboard.

In Novik's world, dragons claim their handlers from birth (and they can apparently be quite fussy about it), and when the creature hatches, he takes a liking to Laurence, a decision which forces Laurence to abandon the Navy for the unruly Aerial Corp, giving up any hopes for a place in society.

Laurence and his dragon, named Temeraire after a ship (while Corp-born dragons all boast hilarious Latin names), make excellent fish-out-of-water. Laurence is the Will Turner type, but with more of a sense of humor, in the midst of the wild and rough dragon-handlers, and he's ignorant of the fact that Temeraire's extraordinarily intelligence and agility aren't actually normal for dragons. Plot twists give a nice explanation for this, and Novik's detailed world of dragon breeds is pretty convincing.

Temeraire himself is the most likeable character, with his delight in math and music, un-dragon-like love for swimming, and opinions on human trifles like "honor". (My imagination kept defaulting to Dragonheart, despite the description, but I'm sure Jackson can make him stand on his own.) It's a good read. I'm off to start the next one.