voodoocactus's review of His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, #1)

4/5: It’s regency and it has dragons, therefore, it’s most pleasing! I enjoyed Laurence and Temeraire’s relationship (even though they’re basically a pair of Gary Stus) and how they tried to change how things were done. The plot twist-betrayal was obvious from the moon but hey, it fit the narrative. All in all, this was good. What I wasn’t a fan of was the clear abuse of a sweet, kind dragon, and I don’t buy that there wasn’t a way Laurence could’ve interfered. In the end, the dragons are tools (sentient, yes, but tools anyway) and mistreating a tool to the point of endangering its functioning ...