Empire of Ivory

Naomi Novik was born in New York in 1973, a first-generation American, and raised on Polish fairy tales, Baba Yaga, and Tolkien. She studied English Literature at Brown University and Computer Science at Columbia University before leaving to work in the games industry. Over the course of a brief winter sojourn working on a game in Canada, she realized she preferred the writing to the programming, and, on returning to New York, decided to try her hand at novels. Temeraire is her first.

‘These are beautifully written novels, not only fresh, original and fast-paced, but full of wonderful characters with real heart’Peter Jackson‘Novik won me over with her first novel. the combination of military history, sympathetic characters, and engaging style makes this series great, intelligent fun’The Times‘Plenty of intrigue, swordplay, exotic locations, plausible invention. In short a treat’The Telegraph'In the best tradition of fantasy, historical fiction and nautical novels'Guardian