Throne of Jade (2006)

3.5 stars

China discovers that their gift intended for Napoleon has fallen into British hands, specifically, a prized dragon has fallen into inexperienced dragon master Will Laurence's hands. China intends to get its dragon back. Though not as special as the first in the series when readers are first introduced to Temeraire, this second book adds more political intrigue and continues developing the relationship between Laurence and Temeraire. Simon Vance's narration is excellent. ( )

Audiobook narrated by Simon Vance

In Book two of this series, the Chinese have learned that the gift they were sending to Napoleon (an unhatched dragon’s egg) was intercepted by the British. Now a delegation arrives demanding the return of the Celestial dragon, which, by tradition, can only belong to a member of the royal family. But Capt Laurence is not about to turn Temeraire over; and the dragon does not want to be parted from his beloved Laurence. So the two travel to the Far East to plead their case. The voyage is long and there are several serious mishaps, but when they finally arrive at the court of the Chinese emperor, they find even more intrigue.

I was reluctant to read the first book – [His Majesty’s Dragon] – because “fantasy” is just not my preferred genre. But a friend whose opinion I trust persuaded me to give it a try, and I loved it. Now, I think I am hooked on the series.

Novik does a great job imagining a fantasy scenario where dragons are part of the Air Corps, while also keeping the reader in a (circa) 1801 time frame. The battle scenes are exciting, and the intrigue builds suspense. I really like the growing relationship between Temeraire and Capt Laurence. Temeraire is growing and maturing, and shows great loyalty to Laurence. They are truly a team, listening to one another’s point of view and weighing the pros and cons of a situation.

Simon Vance is marvelous voicing the audio book. He has great pacing and is able to “act” the scenes to heighten suspense or convey anger or compassion. And I love the voice he uses for Temeraire. ( )

http://tinyurl.com/jav3rkt

As second books often are, this one was not quite as good as the first. I forgive Novik for this because I love the world she has built. I do worry a bit that the series is 9 volumes long, and a friend who also loves sci-fi/fantasy said she got bored after about three of them. I think I should probably drag out my reading of them so I don't get bored too fast!

It's easy to see why that can happen - if only because the language of the period (the time of the Napoleonic Wars) is formal and seems quite stilted when you read it for a long while. Obviously, that's also part of the appeal. If only I could have been born in these times, when insulting someone involved long, drawn-out paragraphs said ever-so-politely, with which you had to tease the insult out of the words. It seems like an amazing thing to learn how to do (and it would slow us down a whole bunch if we did it today, which is a good thing).

In this volume, we move away from the dreaded French to the unfathomable Chinese. There's a deep mystery at the core of the book - which when revealed is not as mysterious as it seemed at first - and along the way we enjoy an extended sea journey with huge storms, sea serpents, other dragons, pretty much everything you can think of. I do, however, hope that we are not subjected to a sea journey on the return because there's only so much I want to read about a man and his dragon sailing halfway around the world.

I did actually get tetchy with Temeraire this time around! Although all his actions are explainable, I was pretty damn sure I wanted a dragon at the end of the first book. Now I'm very much less sure. ( )

I have to rate this one only 3 stars, because the story did drone on in detail, but the essential relationship still warms the center. The good surprise is that another culture treats their dragons much differently. It kind of opens up a question box of assumptions. ( )