Enjoyable, fun book. More for the fantasy bits than the alternate history bits, but most importantly for the richly painted main character Laurence. His transition from starched-shirt British Navy captain to empathetic, flexible dragon aviator is really well painted. The specific story of him navigating the social order with the aviators was really poignant. Laurence's transformation is the most adult part of the book, and my favorite.

The rest of the book though is too much like young adult writing. The story is simplistic. So are most of the characters. The Big Plot Twist among the aviators is completely deus ex machina and unsatisfying. (Although the denouement is heartbreakingly written, and sympathetic.) So it's light reading, which is fine, but I wanted more.

What I specifically wanted was more from the dragons' point of view. Here we have a whole separate species of sentient creatures, some intellectuals. And they're mostly reduced to pets, completely dependent on their bonded humans for their entire lives and world experience. It's really kind of creepy, the way the dragons have no personal agency in their lives. Perhaps the rest of the books address this better? I'm not sure I'm moved to read more of them, other than as light entertainment.