Staff Picks: A combination of classic fantasy and historical fiction, who doesn’t love the idea of dragons in the Napoleonic wars? I certainly do. Picked by Patrick.

British flyer Will Laurence and his extraordinary Celestial dragon, Temeraire, gratefully anticipate their voyage home from China. But before they set sail, they are waylaid by urgent new orders. The British Government, having purchased three valuable dragon eggs from the Ottoman Empire - one of a rare fire-breathing Kazilik dragon, one of the most deadly breeds in existence - now require Laurence and Temeraire to make a more perilous overland journey...

From one of the best-loved and bestselling authors of all time comes and irresistible tale of swashbuckling pirates in the New World - a classic story of adventure and betrayal. Jamaica, in 1665 a lone outpost of British power amid Spanish waters in the sunbaked Caribbean. Its capital, Port Royal, a cuthroat town of taverns, grog shops and bawdy houses - the last place imaginable from which to launch an unthinkable attack on a nearby Spanish stronghold....

Naomi Novik's stunning series of novels follow the adventures of Cpt Laurence and his dragon Temeraire as they travel from the shores of Britain to China and Africa.

Shipwrecked and cast ashore in Japan with no memory of Temeraire or his own experiences as an English aviator, Laurence finds himself tangled in deadly political intrigues that threaten not only his own life but England?s already precarious position in the Far East. Age-old enmities and suspicions have turned the entire region into a powder keg ready to erupt at the slightest spark - a spark that Laurence and Temeraire may unwittingly provide, leaving...

Laurence and Temeraire have been banished from the country they?ve fought so hard to protect - and the friends they have made in the British Aerial Corps. Found guilty of treason, man and dragon have been deported to Australia to start a new life and many new adventures.