His Majesty's Dragon

Temeraire is a Celestial, an exceptionally rare Chinese Imperial dragon breed — the egg Laurence's ship captures from a French vessel turns out to be far more valuable than the British initially realize.

It won the 2007 Compton Crook Award for best science fiction/fantasy debut novel, was part of the Temeraire trilogy that won the 2007 Locus Award for Best First Novel, and was a finalist for the 2007 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

It's set during an alternate-history version of the Napoleonic Wars in which dragons have always existed alongside humans and serve as a staple of aerial warfare for Britain, France, and other nations — the historical war is real, the dragons are the fantasy element layered onto it.