On His Majesty's Dragon

If Masi Oka is the geek boy made good, moving from developing visual special effects in Industrial Light & Magic to becoming a small screen hero in "Heroes," then Naomi Novik is, as the New York Times calls her, the "geek girl made good." With a masters degree in computer science from Columbia, she was part of the team that designed and developed the computer game Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide. Her first degree, though, from Brown University, was in English. (Incidentally, Oka, a year younger, got his first degrees in mathematics and computer science from Brown University.)

After reading that Peter Jackson had optioned the rights to the first three books in Novik's Temeraire series (there are two more forthcoming), I was interested to learn what had hooked Jackson. I've certainly enjoyed his choices in adaptations so far. There is the biggie, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and then the wrenching Alice Sebold work, The Lovely Bones, which can't arrive soon enough. From epic fantasy to literary drama/thriller, Jackson's eye for literary works is fantastic.

So I purchased the fairly inexpensive paperbacks by Novik and started reading one weekend in a bid to keep myself from thinking about a recent dismal haircut I had. I was a little hesitant about the novels at first, never having been a dragon fiction fan and not being able to recall what was the last grown-up fantasy novel I read, unless you count Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell as fantasy fiction. Still, I knew that Novik was partly inspired by the works of Patrick O'Brian and Jane Austen, weighty names that lent some worth to her reputation. By the middle of the first novel, the well wrought combination of dragons, Napoleonic wars, and Regency propriety sealed Novik's reputation for me. And it's a good one.

The best thing about the series is the friendship between a Jack-Aubrey-styled hero, Will Laurence, and the Chinese-by-nature and British-by-nurture Imperial dragon, Temeraire, named for a French ship captured by the English at the Battle of Lagos in 1759. (Temeraire's egg was taken from a French ship that Laurence had won.) After finishing the first book, I wanted my own dragon friend, much like Temeraire who is curious, polite, brave, eager for knowledge and action, and harbors revolutionary inclinations. I wanted a dragon with an insatiable thirst for books and overlarge claws that render him incapable of flipping pages so that I can read to him in the shade of a hill and then watch over him as he walks around to examine rocks and clouds.

Since I have no room for a dragon - even if they did exist - I will content myself with reading more of Novik's books and waiting patiently for Peter Jackson to bring the dragons to life on screen, not just for me but for everyone who's read the books and wants a dragon friend too. And if any of the toy companies are smart, they'll be approaching Weta for merchandising rights. The descriptions of each dragon character and the various breeds are specific, detailed, and very ready for toy adaptation. McFarlane is already well-known for its on-going dragon series, so why not another, which would be based on a series of films?

On the other hand, I also hope no dragon action figures will be made, then I can save my money for the other Temeraire books that will surely be written and the DVDs in lush collectors' editions that will surely be produced.

Posted by Monoceros at September 16, 2007 10:59 PM