Book #68

Throne of Jade
by Naomi Novik

The second Temeraire novel, this one is both slower-paced and more interesting than His Majesty's Dragon. The first book is so exploratory, going through the basic details of living with dragons and being a dragon, that not a lot else happens; this one moves on from there and has much more action, but at the same time, there is almost no dragon action in this book at all. So I can almost see being disappointed by the lack of flying combat -- though it does have a scene or two of that, definitely -- but I felt the opposite. I was impressed that the author could change gears so smoothly, and still stay true to the character and the basic feel of the first book. This is not a one-dimensional series, it seems, and I was very glad to see that.

In this one, the Chinese try to get Temeraire back, because as a Celestial dragon, he is the rarest and finest type of dragon in the world, and they cannot abide the thought of him living beneath his station, being treated as an animal, used in warfare, and partnered with a lowly military officer. So right from the get-go, these people suck. The simplest answer is that Temeraire should be given his own freedom to choose what life he prefers, as allowing freedom of choice is the highest honor you can bestow; since they do not want him simply to choose, but want him to choose the life they want him to have, their whole argument rings hollow -- and it is hollow, as we find out by the end. But the bad part is that the British government, fearing China's power as a potential ally of Napoleon, gives in to whatever demand the Chinese envoy makes, up to and including separating Temeraire from Laurence and shipping the dragon back to China, bowing and scraping and apologizing all the way. So the British government sucks, too.

Luckily, though, Temeraire and Laurence don't suck, and so they act as they should -- Laurence determined to give Temeraire the chance to see all of his options, and the freedom to choose once he understands the choice before him, and Temeraire determined to stay with his dearest companion regardless of any blandishments or criticisms leveled at him -- and that makes the book a joy to read, as you keep nodding fiercely for Temeraire and Laurence, and shaking a fist at everyone else. The depictions of the historical peoples and societies were, to my unprofessional eyes, outstanding, and so this book has much more of the feel of an alternate history, or even just a historical novel, with the dragons interwoven seamlessly into the past of our world. It was great, and I can't wait to read the next book.