Storyline: 4/5 
 Characters: 4/5 
 Writing Style: 3/5 
 World: 2/5 
 Nicely spun, Naomi Novik. This was a product of an author very much in control of her work. Everything fit together nicely, the parts complemented one another, the sentences and chapters flowed smoothly, and we get a perfectly bounded tale. Still, His Majesty's Dragon was a little too breezy, too light for me to have been wowed by it. The story poured forth from the first chapter, and in no time the reader is hurried through all the expected stages of a novel. With only 353 pages (including an encyclopedic section of notes at the end), Novik was never one to linger on a scene. We are introduced to the characters, grasp their dispositions, and then move on. We get the historical background and general context, then quickly move on. Some small psychological drama and foreshadowing, then moving on. Brief moments of success and elation, some worries and then some accomplishments, then on again. When ill does befall our protagonists, we are never left to steep, not permitted to soak up fright or remorse because Novik's got to move on. 
 Novik was a disciplined writer, putting in place just the right plot developments for the moment, but we are never allowed to indulge ourselves, never set free to explore the world or how we feel about it. The descriptions, varieties, and proficiency of dragons are eye-pleasing embellishments. The world, however, - dragons included - is neither broad nor deep. The alternate history environment is scarcely explored, and the proper nouns of real places - such as "Britain" - could have been replaced by "Ilazlea" or some other made up fantasy name, and the tale would altered little for the swap. The impact of dragons on society is hardly explored or felt, and there was a formulaic air to the construction ever holding the reader back from exulting in Novik's creations. 
 She's a talented writer, able to effectively generate warmth or sadness on demand, but there was a very young adult feel to this, which is all the more surprising since the protagonist is neither a young adult nor are the tackled themes young adult in nature. I've read similar works in other genres: from science fiction I think of John Scalzi's later Old Man's War books (The Last Colony, Zoe's Tale, The Human Division, The End of All Things) and from steam punk I thought of Cherie Priest's Clockwork Century series (Boneshaker, Dreadnought, Ganymede). I see that this Temeraire series is nine books long, but I have difficulty imagining enjoying the world for many more installments.