His Majesty's Dragon is a remarkable and very good book -- especially given that it is Naomi Novik's first novel. It avoids the usual dreaded expository lump, almost a given in setting up a new world -- and presents a story with warmth, delivered with charm and the assumption that readers are intelligent. ~Reviewed by Andi Shechter
"A completely authentic tale, brimming with all the detail and richness one looks for in military yarns as well as the impossible wonder of gilded fantasy." (Editor's Choice, Grade: A) —Entertainment Weekly
"I took a jaundiced view of "cute dragon" books until Novik won me over with her first novel. The combination of military history, sympathetic characters, and engaging style makes this series great, intelligent fun." —The Times (UK)
"Enthralling reading—it's like Jane Austen playing Dungeons & Dragons with Eragon's Christopher Paolini." —Time Magazine
Naomi Novik was born in New York in 1973, a first-generation American, and raised on Polish fairy tales, Baba Yaga, and Tolkien. She studied English Literature at Brown University and did graduate work in Computer Science at Columbia University before leaving to participate in the design and development of the computer game Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide. Over the course of a brief winter sojourn working on the game in Edmonton, Canada (accompanied by a truly alarming coat that now lives brooding in the depths of her closet), she realized she preferred the writing to the programming, and, on returning to New York, decided to try her hand at novels. His Majesty's Dragon is her first.
Naomi lives in New York City with her husband and six computers. |
