His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire, Book 1)

Throne of Jade (Temeraire, Book 2)

Black Powder War (Temeraire, Book 3)

As a testement to the quality of these book, I would like to mentioned that I read all three between firday 18:00 and sunday 05:30. I truely enjoy fantasy / science fiction / alternative history books, and this trilogy hits all the right spots.

The story takes place in the beginning of the 19th century, and tells of a world different than ours only by the existance of dragons. No magic, no mambo jumbo, just dragons. Of course, you can't say "just" dragons, and Naomi Novik does an excellent job in creating more than a story, but creating a full, living, breathing world.

I read quite a bit about that time in history (the Napolean Wars are the background for the books, by the way), and the way they are portraited in the books are very close to what really happened, and likely to stick with me more than the real history.

The dragons are fitted into the story with marvelous care, seamlessly woven into the fabric of the world. I liked the first book the most, since it had the  most action, but the other two are very good as well.

The only half way annoying thing about the books is that the third one ends with a lot more stuff that I want to know about this world. How would the war end? Will the heroes be able to escape the clutches of the beauricrats, etc...

I surely hope that there is going to be more books in this world.

Highly recommended.