After capturing a French ship, Will Laurence accidentally becomes the keeper of a dragon, an unknown species at that. Because of his status as a naval man, he is not entirely welcome in the air force, but Temeraire will have no other handlers, so Laurence gives up his ship and enters the ranks of His Majesty's Aviators, with only Temeraire's friendship and enthusiasm to comfort him on the loss of his social, political, and military status. 
 While this wasn't quite what I expected going in--I expected something more like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell in terms of structure and focus--I deeply enjoyed the prose, as well as the relationship between Laurence and Temeraire. Novik's worldbuilding is also well-done, with believable changes to the historical record due to the dragons. The military structure of the aviators is much more like a modern airplane crew and much less like traditional dragon stories such as, say, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern. Thus, Novik's tale is different enough to be interesting yet familiar enough for a reader to settle in comfortably.