Jack Aubrey ... with dragons!

I don't get football. Or, actually, I DO get football. Especially the good old-fashioned smashmouth kind. It's just the ads that confuse the hell out of me. Does 'get back in the game' mean something? And are all those ads selling hair dye, or, you know, something else? And why would people spend gazillions on a pill that might require them to report to the hospital four hours later for ... well, Jeez, I can't even think about it without cringing!
On the other hand, there is a pill I would spend gazillions on: a pill that magically extracted all traces of Patrick O'Brian's Jack Aubrey books from my neurons so that I could read them again for the first time.
I don't think Pfeizer is working on very hard on this pill at the moment. But in the meantime, I have found something almost as good: Naomi Novik's Temeraire books.
I can't remember when I've been so swept up in a new series. I feel like a kid again. I know, I know, I sound like one of those Superbowl ads. But really. These books are the perfect prescription for kids of all ages.
The first book in the series, His Majesty's Dragon, begins when a a British Navy captain in the Napoleonic Wars captures a French ship and discovers a dragon's egg hidden in the hold. His crew is ecstatic over the anticipated prize money ... until they realize that the egg is about to hatch and one of them is going to have to harness the newborn dragon and be consigned to a pariah's life in the despised Aerial Corps. Of course, the captain turns out to be the unlucky man. And so it begins ....
Novik's writing is surefooted and accessible. Like O'Brian, she manages to evoke early 19th century prose style (largely by the artful use of semicolons) without getting tangled up in it. And, again like O'Brian, she has penned a pair of comrades-in-arms whose evolving friendship has enough emotional depth to carry readers through any number of naval (or in this case aerial) adventures.
I'm now deep into the fourth book, and I see no signs of the pace or quality level slacking off. These books are good, clean, fast-paced fun with all the joys of science fantasy and naval adventure combined. If you're feeling world-weary and jaded then take my advice and have a go at them.