The Temeraire series answers one of the best questions in alternate history: what would the Napoleonic Wars look like if every major power had an air force made of dragons? Naomi Novik’s answer, across nine novels, is so thoroughly imagined and so warmly written that it has earned a devoted following since the first book appeared in 2006. This is an alternate history with genuine emotional depth, grounded in real history and real stakes.
The series follows Captain William Laurence and his dragon, Temeraire, a partnership formed when Laurence captures a French ship carrying a rare dragon egg that hatches in his hands. What begins as a story of aerial combat amid the threat of a French invasion expands across nine books to encompass China, the Ottoman Empire, southern Africa, Australia, South America, feudal Japan, and the French invasion of Russia. Every new continent brings a different vision of how humans and dragons have arranged their lives together, and every comparison reflects uncomfortably on Britain.
Naomi Novik is a New York Times bestselling author who has also won the Nebula Award, the Locus Award, and the Mythopoeic Award for her standalone fantasy novels. The Temeraire series remains her defining achievement in alternate history fiction.
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Quick Series Facts
| Author | Naomi Novik |
| Number of Books | 9 novels (complete) |
| First Book | His Majesty’s Dragon (2006) |
| Latest Book | League of Dragons (2016) |
| Setting | Napoleonic Wars era, 1805-1815, spanning Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas |
| Genre | Alternate History / Historical Fantasy |
Temeraire Books in Publication Order
Publication order is the recommended reading order for the Temeraire series. The books follow a continuous narrative arc, with character development and consequences that build steadily from book to book. Temeraire and Laurence grow and change in ways that depend entirely on what has come before. Starting anywhere other than the first book will mean major spoilers for earlier volumes.
1. His Majesty’s Dragon (2006)
Published in the UK as: Temeraire
Setting: Britain and the English Channel, 1805, as Napoleon prepares his invasion
Summary: Captain William Laurence is a Royal Navy officer with an ordered, respectable career when his ship captures a French frigate. The prize includes an extraordinary cargo: a dragon egg, already close to hatching. When the egg hatches and the Chinese Celestial dragon inside bonds with Laurence rather than the midshipman assigned to it, his life is transformed. He is pulled from the prestigious Navy into the Aerial Corps, a disreputable branch of the military that keeps dragons, and must learn airborne warfare while Temeraire grows at an alarming rate. The book establishes the central partnership and the world, and builds to the defense of Britain against a French aerial assault. An outstanding debut that earned a Hugo nomination and set the template for everything that follows.
2. Throne of Jade (2006)
Setting: A sea voyage from Britain to China, and the Imperial Chinese court
Summary: The Chinese government has discovered that a Celestial dragon, the highest rank in China’s dragon hierarchy, is bonded to a mere British sea captain. They want Temeraire returned. Faced with a diplomatic crisis, the British government sends Laurence and Temeraire on the long voyage to China to argue their case before the Emperor. The journey is beset by assassination attempts and political intrigue, but arrival in China is even more challenging. Laurence discovers a world where dragons and humans live together as near-equals, with radical implications for how Britain treats its own dragons. A slower book than the first, but essential for the themes that drive the rest of the series.
3. Black Powder War (2006)
Setting: Overland from China through the Ottoman Empire to Prussia, during Napoleon’s campaigns in Central Europe
Summary: Recalled urgently from China, Laurence and Temeraire face the long and dangerous overland trek home. The route takes them through Istanbul and across Central Europe, where Napoleon’s forces are advancing rapidly against Prussia. They arrive to find the military situation deteriorating and are drawn into desperate rearguard fighting. The book ends with one of the most devastating sequences in the series. Darker in tone than the first two, Black Powder War marks the point where the series commits to genuine historical stakes.
4. Empire of Ivory (2007)
Setting: Britain and southern Africa
Summary: A mysterious and contagious disease is killing Britain’s dragons, leaving the country almost defenseless against France. Laurence and Temeraire, who appear immune, are sent to southern Africa to seek a cure. What they find there confronts them with the realities of empire and the Atlantic slave trade in ways they cannot ignore. The solution to the plague has catastrophic consequences for Laurence’s standing, and the book ends with both protagonists condemned as traitors. A pivotal entry in the series that considerably deepens its ethical complexity.
5. Victory of Eagles (2008)
Setting: Britain during Napoleon’s invasion, Scotland
Summary: Napoleon has invaded and occupied much of Britain. Laurence, awaiting trial for treason, and Temeraire, in a dragon breeding ground, are separated and struggling. Both eventually join the desperate British resistance, fighting to drive out the French even as the government that condemned them offers no pardon. The book explores what loyalty to country means when the country has betrayed you, and is widely regarded as one of the strongest in the series. The scenes of a partially occupied Britain are striking, and the personal consequences for both protagonists are significant.
6. Tongues of Serpents (2010)
Setting: The penal colony of New South Wales, Australia
Summary: Convicted of treason despite their defense of Britain, Laurence and Temeraire are transported to the convict colony of New South Wales. Their death sentences have been commuted, but exile to Australia is its own kind of punishment. They are assigned to establish a route through the Blue Mountains into the interior, but colonial politics and the theft of a dragon egg complicate matters. This is the quietest and most contemplative book in the series, and some readers find its pace challenging, but it introduces important elements and relationships that pay off in later volumes.
7. Crucible of Gold (2012)
Setting: South America, including the Inca Empire and the Portuguese court in exile
Summary: Restored to service, Laurence and Temeraire are sent from Australia to South America to prevent France from winning the Inca Empire as an ally. The mission requires them to navigate extraordinarily complex politics: the Inca, who have retained their independence in this alternate timeline; the powerful Tswana empire, whose dragons are a force in their own right; and the Portuguese court, which has relocated to Brazil. A globe-trotting book that expands the world further and has some of the most inventive world-building in the series.
8. Blood of Tyrants (2013)
Setting: Feudal Japan, Imperial China, and the early stages of Napoleon’s Russian campaign
Summary: A shipwreck on the Japanese coast leaves Laurence with no memory of Temeraire or his years in the Aerial Corps. He still believes himself to be a Navy captain, with no knowledge of his dragon. Temeraire, distressed, pushes on through Japan and China, where new alliances and old conflicts take shape. The book builds toward Russia and the confrontation with Napoleon’s invasion that has been looming for several volumes. Laurence’s amnesia is handled with care, and the chapters following Temeraire alone are some of Novik’s most imaginative.
9. League of Dragons (2016)
Setting: Russia and Western Europe, 1812-1815, the final campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars
Summary: The Russian campaign has broken Napoleon’s power, but he refuses to concede. Laurence and Temeraire pursue the retreating French army westward, racing to stop Napoleon from building a new coalition of dragon-allied nations. The stolen egg of Temeraire and Iskierka adds personal stakes to the final campaign. The book brings the series to a genuinely satisfying conclusion, honoring the long character arcs of both Laurence and Temeraire and resolving the question of dragon rights in Britain that has been building since Throne of Jade.
Upcoming/Announced Books
The Temeraire series concluded with League of Dragons in 2016. Novik has not announced any plans to return to this world as of early 2026. The series tells a complete story with a definitive ending.
Chronological Order vs. Publication Order
The Temeraire series follows a strictly linear timeline from 1805 to approximately 1815, tracking the actual progression of the Napoleonic Wars with Laurence and Temeraire involved at each stage. The publication order and the chronological order are identical.
Our recommendation: Read in publication order. The books were written to be read sequentially, and the pacing of revelation, particularly around the dragon rights themes and the long-term consequences of earlier choices, is carefully controlled. There is no benefit to rearranging the order.
Companion Novels and Short Stories
The Temeraire universe includes several companion pieces beyond the main nine novels.
Temeraire: In the Service of the King (2006) — An omnibus collecting the first three novels, published by the Science Fiction Book Club. Won the Locus Award for Best First Novel in 2007.
In His Majesty’s Service: Three Novels of Temeraire (2009) — A second omnibus of the first three novels published by Del Rey, which includes the short story “In Autumn, A White Dragon Looks Over the Wide River,” in which Temeraire’s rival dragon Lien arrives in Paris and meets Napoleon Bonaparte.
Golden Age and Other Stories (2017) — A collection of Temeraire short fiction, including stories inspired by fan art of the series. Covers multiple points in the timeline and includes some alternative-version stories alongside canonical ones.
Feast or Famine — A short story set between His Majesty’s Dragon and Throne of Jade, in which Temeraire and other dragons learn to manage their feeding pens. Available on Novik’s official website.
Do you need to read these? The short fiction is optional and works best as supplementary reading after completing the main series. The “In Autumn” story in the In His Majesty’s Service omnibus is probably the most worthwhile to seek out, as it provides Lien’s perspective on events that affect the main plot.
About the Temeraire Series
Series Overview
The Temeraire series takes the Napoleonic Wars as its historical backbone and asks what would change if dragons existed. The answer Novik arrives at is: almost everything, and almost nothing. The wars are still fought over the same political questions, the same imperial ambitions still drive nations, and the same human beings still make their flawed decisions. But the addition of intelligent dragons as a military force, and as people capable of forming their own political opinions, adds a layer of ethical complexity that gives the series its distinctive character.
The series begins in Britain, which treats its dragons as military assets with limited rights and no formal standing. As Laurence and Temeraire travel further from home, they encounter radically different models: China, where dragons are educated and integrated into society; the Tswana, whose dragons live as members of the community; and the Inca, whose relationship with dragons is different again. Each encounter deepens Temeraire’s growing conviction that the British system is unjust, and his willingness to say so causes Laurence considerable difficulty.
The central relationship between Laurence and Temeraire is the engine of the series. Laurence is a man of the eighteenth century, formed by duty, honour, and a class-bound sense of proper conduct. Temeraire is curious, opinionated, and increasingly political. Their friendship is repeatedly tested by circumstances that force Laurence to choose among his duty, his conscience, and Temeraire’s absolute loyalty. That neither of them ever fully betrays the other is what makes the series emotionally satisfying across nine long books.
Novik’s research into the Napoleonic period is rigorous. Real figures such as Napoleon, Wellington, and the Chinese Emperor appear; real battles are fought; real political crises play out. The divergences she introduces are the product of careful thinking about how dragons would actually change military strategy, logistics, and diplomacy. This gives the alternate history a consistency that rewards careful readers.
What Makes the Temeraire Series Special
- Rigorous world-building: Every culture has its own dragon traditions, and Novik thinks through the full implications of each. The series is unusually consistent in how its speculative premise plays out.
- Ethical depth: The question of dragon rights runs through all nine books, moving from Temeraire’s initial puzzlement to a genuine political crisis by the final volume.
- A globe-spanning scope: China, Africa, Australia, South America, Japan, Russia — few alternate history series take readers to as many places while maintaining narrative coherence.
- The central partnership: Laurence and Temeraire are one of the great companion relationships in modern fantasy fiction, deeply felt and consistently rendered across nine books.
- Historical fidelity within the premise: The Napoleonic Wars are treated with real care. Readers will come away with a stronger sense of the period than many straightforward historical novels provide.
Where to Start with the Temeraire Series
New to the Series?
Start here: His Majesty’s Dragon
There is no alternative starting point for the Temeraire series. The first book introduces Laurence, establishes Temeraire’s character, builds the world, and tells a complete story (the defense of Britain against French invasion) while setting up everything that follows. It is also simply very good: exciting, warm, and immediately engaging. Readers who finish it will not need encouraging to pick up the second.
Can You Start Elsewhere?
No. The Temeraire series is a continuous narrative with significant ongoing plot threads, character development across all nine books, and consequences that build from each volume into the next. Starting anywhere other than the beginning means major spoilers and a confusing entry point into a story already well underway.
About the Author: Naomi Novik
Naomi Novik was born in New York City in 1973 and grew up on Long Island. She studied English literature at Brown University and computer science at Columbia University before working in game development. She wrote His Majesty’s Dragon while working on Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide, realising during the process that she preferred fiction to programming.
The Temeraire series was her debut. The first three books were published in the same year (2006), an unusual release schedule that gave the series immediate momentum. His Majesty’s Dragon won the Compton Crook Award and was nominated for the Hugo, and the first three books won the Locus Award for Best First Novel as a collected omnibus. Novik continued the series with nine novels while also building a parallel career as a writer of fairy-tale retellings and dark fantasy.
Her later work includes the Nebula Award-winning Uprooted (2015), the Locus Award-winning Spinning Silver (2018), the Scholomance trilogy (2020-2022), and The Summer War (2025). She is also a founding board member of the Organization for Transformative Works, which created the Archive of Our Own.
More by Naomi Novik:
Historical Context: The Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815) were one of the most consequential conflicts in European history, reshaping the political map of the continent and extending the reach of France under Napoleon Bonaparte across much of Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. They were also a genuinely global conflict, with fighting taking place in the Americas, Africa, India, and at sea across every ocean, which is why the Temeraire series can credibly take Laurence and Temeraire to so many different locations while remaining historically grounded.
The wars emerged from the earlier French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleon’s seizure of power in 1799. At their peak, Napoleon controlled or allied with most of Western and Central Europe. Britain was his most persistent and ultimately decisive opponent, relying on naval supremacy and a network of alliances while funding coalitions of European powers against France. The conflict ended with Napoleon’s final defeat at Waterloo in 1815 and his exile to St. Helena.
For fiction writers, the Napoleonic period offers extraordinary material: a conflict of genuinely global scale, a cast of historical figures of unusual vividness, and a set of political and moral questions about empire, liberty, and nationalism that were being answered in real time. Novik uses this material faithfully, incorporating real battles, real figures, and real turning points while exploring how dragons would have changed each element.
Novik’s treatment of the period is notably honest about British imperialism. The same Britain that is fighting for liberty in Europe is maintaining slavery and colonial rule elsewhere, and Temeraire’s growing awareness of this contradiction is one of the series’ most interesting threads. For readers who want their Napoleonic Wars fiction to engage with the full complexity of the era, Temeraire does this more thoroughly than most.
Learn more: Patrick O’Brian: Complete Guide to Books & Series
Similar Series You’ll Love
If you’re enjoying the Temeraire series, these offer comparable appeal:
1. Southern Victory Series by Harry Turtledove
If you love the alternate history depth of Temeraire, Turtledove’s Southern Victory saga is the natural next step. It explores what happens if the Confederacy wins the American Civil War, following the consequences through to a Second World War fought across a divided North America. Where Novik focuses tightly on two characters, Turtledove takes a panoramic view of entire societies. Both are rigorous in thinking through their alternate history premises.
2. Aubrey-Maturin Series by Patrick O’Brian
Novik has cited O’Brian as a key influence on the Temeraire series. The Aubrey-Maturin books share the Napoleonic Wars setting, the focus on a central male partnership tested by war and circumstance, and an extraordinary depth of period detail. If you love the historical grounding of Temeraire, O’Brian’s twenty-one novels will keep you busy for a long time. Start with Master and Commander.
3. The Traitor Baru Cormorant series by Seth Dickinson
For readers drawn to Temeraire’s ethical complexity and its examination of empire, Dickinson’s series about a young woman who uses the tools of empire against its masters offers similar moral weight in a secondary world setting.
4. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
Clarke’s novel shares the Napoleonic Wars setting and the question of what magic (or dragons) would mean to a society that has to accommodate them. Darker and stranger than Novik, but essential reading for anyone who loves Temeraire’s blend of historical fiction and the fantastic.
5. Best Alternate History Books
For more recommendations in the alternate history genre, including the essential reading list spanning from classic novels to recent releases.
Adaptations
Peter Jackson (director of The Lord of the Rings) optioned the Temeraire series in 2006 for a potential film adaptation, describing it as a combination of two genres he loved: fantasy and historical epic. In 2009, he indicated he was considering a television mini-series format instead, concerned that a single film might not do justice to the full story.
In 2016, Novik confirmed on Reddit that the film rights had reverted to her and that there is no current plan for a Temeraire film or television adaptation. As of early 2026, the series remains unfilmed, though fan interest in a potential adaptation remains high.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many books are in the Temeraire series?
There are nine novels in the Temeraire series. The series is complete, concluding with League of Dragons in 2016. There are also two omnibus volumes collecting the first three books, a short story collection (Golden Age and Other Stories), and a broader story collection (Buried Deep and Other Stories) that includes some Temeraire content.
Do I need to read the Temeraire series in order?
Yes, publication order is essential. The Temeraire series tells a continuous story across nine books, with ongoing character arcs, plot threads, and consequences that accumulate from book to book. Starting anywhere other than His Majesty’s Dragon will result in significant spoilers and missing context important to later events.
What is the Temeraire series about?
The Temeraire series reimagines the Napoleonic Wars with an air force of dragons. Captain William Laurence, a Royal Navy officer, unexpectedly bonds with a rare Chinese dragon named Temeraire and is pulled into the world of the Aerial Corps. The series follows them across the globe as they fight in the wars, navigate the politics of multiple civilizations, and grapple with the growing question of whether dragons, as intelligent people, deserve the same rights as humans.
Is the Temeraire series historically accurate?
The series is built on accurate research into the Napoleonic Wars. Real events, battles, and historical figures appear throughout, and the progression of the wars closely follows the historical timeline. The dragons are the speculative addition, and Novik thinks carefully about how they would change military strategy, logistics, and diplomacy. Readers will learn a great deal of genuine Napoleonic history from the series.
How long does it take to read the Temeraire series?
Each book averages roughly 350-400 pages. At an average reading pace of around 250 pages per day, a single book takes approximately 1.5 to 2 days. The complete nine-book series represents roughly 3,200 pages, or around two to three weeks of steady reading.
Is the Temeraire series appropriate for young adults?
The series is generally suitable for older teenagers and adults. There is significant battle violence throughout, including some graphic sequences. The books also address difficult historical topics, including slavery, colonial violence, and the treatment of conquered peoples, handled seriously rather than gratuitously. The romantic content is minimal. Most readers aged fourteen and above will be comfortable with the material.
Is the Temeraire series standalone or sequential?
The series is strongly sequential. Each book follows directly from the last, and the character development of both Laurence and Temeraire depends on the accumulated events of previous volumes. The books should be read in order, starting with the first.
Will there be more Temeraire books?
The series concluded definitively with League of Dragons in 2016. Novik has not announced any plans to return to the Temeraire world. The ending is satisfying and complete, with no outstanding plot thread requiring continuation.
Can I read the Temeraire series on Kindle or audiobook?
Yes. All nine Temeraire novels are available in print, ebook, and audiobook formats. The audiobooks, narrated by Simon Vance, are widely praised as an excellent way to experience the series, and Vance’s voice work on Temeraire himself is particularly well-regarded by fans.
Where should I start if I only want to read one Temeraire book?
Start with His Majesty’s Dragon. It tells a complete story and functions as a satisfying standalone while also being the necessary entry point for the rest of the series. If you enjoy it, you will almost certainly want to continue.
How does Temeraire compare to other dragon fiction?
Most dragon fiction treats dragons as animals, companions, or weapons. Novik’s dragons are people — politically aware, opinionated, and capable of forming their own views on justice and society. Temeraire himself becomes a dragon rights activist over the course of the series. This gives the books an ethical dimension and a social commentary angle that most dragon fiction lacks. Readers who want dragons with genuine interiority and dragons whose presence actually changes the political and social fabric of the world will find Temeraire uniquely satisfying.
Is the Temeraire series similar to the Outlander series?
Both series blend historical settings with speculative elements and follow characters across long arcs of personal development. However, Outlander is primarily a romance with time travel, while Temeraire is primarily an adventure and alternate history series with limited romantic content. The Napoleonic Wars setting of Temeraire bears more resemblance to the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian.
Conclusion: Your Temeraire Reading Journey
The Temeraire series is one of the great achievements of modern alternate history fiction. It takes a premise that could easily remain a diverting adventure — what if the Napoleonic Wars were set in a world of dragons — and develops it into something genuinely substantial: a meditation on loyalty, empire, justice, and what it means to be a person in a world that does not recognize your personhood. That Novik delivers all of this while also writing books that are funny, exciting, and deeply pleasurable to read is what makes the series so enduring.
The central relationship between Laurence and Temeraire is the heart of it. They are two beings from very different worlds, bound by an accident of hatching into something that becomes the most important relationship either of them has. Across nine books, through treason, exile, war, and the gradual transformation of the world around them, they never lose sight of each other. That is the kind of partnership that makes readers finish a nine-book series and immediately want to read it again.
Ready to begin? Start with His Majesty’s Dragon and settle in for one of the most satisfying alternate history series in print. With nine complete novels and a definitive ending, there is a full reading journey ahead.
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