Earthsea and 9 more epic sci-fi and fantasy series to read in lockdown

8. Temeraire by Naomi Novik

If all these made-up locales and fantastical races are a bit too much, then perhaps some historical fiction is just the ticket. Temeraire is a series of nine books by Naomi Novik, and they take place in our world…except with dragons! The first book, His Majesty’s Dragon, takes place during the Napoleonic War, but with the winged lizards as a staple of aerial warfare.

Captain Will Laurence fights for the British Royal Navy. At the outset of the story, he and his crew seize a French ship…only to discover that the dragon egg in the ship’s hold is about to hatch. In Novik’s world, dragons imprint upon hatching. In this case, that means that the young black dragon that comes out of the egg bonds with Will. After being initially reluctant to leave the life he’s known behind and join the Aerial Corp, Will accepts his new path and his new winged partner, whom he names Temeraire.

The bond between Will and Temeraire is at the center of these books, and it is both heartwarming and fascinating by turns. Novik’s dragons are sentient creatures who can communicate with their handlers, and the scaled beasts are incredibly memorable characters. Over the course of nine books, Will and Temeraire go on globetrotting adventures that see them visit all sorts of far-off places, from China to Africa to South America. For each locale, Novik does an amazing job of fleshing out the beliefs and practices of different cultures as they exist in a world populated by dragons.

Temeraire and Will’s journey finished in 2016’s League of Dragons…but Novik has left the possibility open of returning to the world. Whether we see more Temeraire or not, these books stand as an epic achievement and one of the only fantasy series to seamlessly weave together history and draconic dogfights.