Considering the interest here in Patrick O'Brien's books, I'd like to recommend Naomi Novik's _His Majesty's Dragon_ (_Temeraire_ in the UK) which is also about the Napoleanic Wars (plus dragons). The first 45 pages take place at sea, during which the main character hatches and bonds with a flying lizard. After that there isn't much naval action, but the dragons are treated just like small ships (with obvious parallels to Hobb's Liveship books). And like Brust's books, the deadly flying lizards have better manners than the humans. -- Konrad Gaertner - - - - - - - - - - - - - - email: gaertk at aol.com http://kgbooklog.livejournal.com/ "I don't mind hidden depths but I insist that there be a surface." -- James Nicoll