The [Hugo Award](http://www.worldcon.org/hugos.html) [nominations for 2007](http://www.nippon2007.us/hugo_nominees.php) were just
announced this week. I’m going to be reading all of them over the next few weeks, starting
with *Temeraire* by Naomi Novik.
The novel is set in 1795, and Captain William Laurence has just captured a French frigate carrying
precious cargo – a dragons egg, about to hatch. Weeks out to sea, someone has to harness the freshly
hatched dragon and begin a new life.
This is obviously not a novel for everyone. It’s solidly aimed at that valuable crossover Napoleonic
War/Dragon market. Which I think, at last count, had about 12 people in it. I know a lot of people
prefer fantasy to be nicely ahistorical. Actually, tone-wise I thought that this book was actually
a lot closer to steampunk than most modern fantasy.
Naomi Novik is a first time author (and also nominated for the John W. Campbell award for best new writer),
and this is a very impressive book. The writing is strong, the characterisation good, and the plot
fast moving. It’s a very enjoyable read, but I did come away with a slight feeling of a little bit
of shallowness overall. There’s also just a little bit too much of the cliches of period English drama –
the aloof father, the gruff but kind commander, the strong woman in a man’s world, and so on.
I think this is a good book, very enjoyable. But I’ll be surprised (not having read the other books
yet) if it does win the Hugo this year – there’s just not enough to it to win.