Victory of Eagles is the fifth novel in the Temeraire alternate history/fantasy series by American author Naomi Novik. The series follows the actions of William Laurence and his dragon, Temeraire. The book was released in hardcover in North America and the United Kingdom by Voyager Books on July 8, 2008. Plot details As the novel begins, William Laurence is gaoled aboard , imprisoned against Temeraire's good behavior. Whilst aboardship, he joins the crew in fighting off the Grande Armée, who supported by the Armée d'Air are attempting to invade Great Britain. They succeed, and Laurence is reported to have been killed in action when Goliath is sunk. Temeraire, languishing at the breeding grounds at Pen y Fan, receives this intelligence and loses any desire to remain quiet and well-behaved. Instead, fired partially by patriotism and partially by vengeance, he organizes the many unharnessed dragons of the breeding ground into a militia, using promises of prizes as an enticement. Enlisting the breeding grounds' (human) supervisory staff as logistical support, he and the other dragons strike south to do what they can against Napoleon Bonaparte. This, of course, results in a merry chase: Laurence, who did not perish aboard Goliath, is mustered by Tharkay, now commissioned in the Aerial Corps, to bring Temeraire back under harness, and he arrives at Pen y Fan perhaps half a day after the dragons move out. The two are reunited outside of Harlesden, where Temeraire has already staged and won a decisive victory against a group of Marshal Lefebvre; in fact, Laurence is intercepted by a courier who is seeking out the commander of the militia (that is, Temeraire) with a colonel's commission. Laurence, Temeraire, and Temeraire's militia, almost instantly supplemented by Iskierka and her flock of Turkish ferals, regroup with the British Army at Harpenden, accepting his commission. General Arthur Wellesley, more freewheeling than most of the British high command, accepts the idea of Temeraire as an officer in his own right, treating Temeraire thereafter with all the rights and responsibilities of any colonel (including chewing him out when his command goes wrong, which to Temeraire's credit he takes to heart). Sir Hew Dalrymple Ross commands the defense of London, though Wellesley dismisses the effort as a lost cause, now that Horatio Nelson and his twenty ships have been sent to Copenhagen. Regardless, the effort is made, augmented by tactics created by Temeraire and Perscitia,