Naomi Novik Return to Dragons? Historical Science Fiction sez, Return to Napolean

After slogging through many dragonnista diatribes, Ive come to the conclusion that the thing about dragon literature is thusly: it aint about the dragons. And while in the realm of fantasy and fiction its nearly a tautology that "It aint about the X, or the Y", I mean, its the story, right? Myths and all that. But beyond that, its about history. History for the most part might as well be about the future, for all that its lost to us present-time dwellers, outside of a few scattered records or burnt shreds of paper rescued from anaerobic bottles in some Spanish Galleon or other. So when I finished Naomi Noviks Temeraire series, a lot of the complexity suddenly clarified as the complexity of the era... specifically, the Napoleanic Wars. Which, being male, I am a sucker for. But Novik is a pretty qualified writer and the series, His Majesty's Dragon, Throne of Jade, and Black Powder War all have character development and plot pacing at least as complex as the era theyre set in.