The Chinese Emperor objects to having their precious dragon fighting in England's aerial corps, so Temeraire and Cpt. Laurence are ordered to China to resolve the issue. The various envoys keep trying to split them up, and the dangers of the open sea and of the coasts that they follow on their four month journey come close to ending the trip before anything's resolved. Temeraire is also getting notions into his head about dragon liberty, as he sees how dragons live in other countries. This one wasn't quite as good as the first, but I still really enjoyed it, especially for the descriptions of travel by sea. I really got a sense of how dangerous life was in the early 1800's and how it moved at a slower pace, even with dragons. ( )

Basic Reason for Beginning: Read the first book, really liked it. Took me ages to get to the second. It just about works as a stand-alone, but I really wouldn't advise it.
Basic Reason for Finishing: Actually, I'm not sure. I don't think I read this at the right time.
Texture: Grainy? Something not entirely comfortable, anyway.

Full review here.

Book Rereadability: Uhm, as part of a series, yes. On its own, I'm not convinced. (I really should just to see if it's a timing issue.)
Author Rereadability: I'll probably continue on with the third book, but if it reads more like the second than the first for me, I think I'll pass on the fourth and beyond. That said, I'd be more than happy to read other books by Novik.
Recommendation: If you loved the first book, it's probably a given you'll pick up more from the series, but be warned that Throne of Jade has a vastly different pacing. ( )

A fun read, but not quite as captivating as the first book. We got an interesting look at shipboard life as they travel for a long time, which made the book drag a bit, but not too much. The story had some twists & turns, some quite unexpected. From the long build up, it seemed to end quickly & completely, much to my surprise. A bit too abruptly & neatly, perhaps. I look forward to reading the next book, which I have, but I won't be reading it next. I don't feel I HAVE to read the next book. ( )

The second in the Temeraire series, this starts off with Captain Laurence stuck in London, dealing with bureaucrats and diplomats over his dragon, Temeraire who was discovered to be a Chinese Celestial dragon at the end of book one (His Majesty's Dragon). And the Chinese are rather peeved that Temeraire is being used as a weapon against the dastardly French.

Almost immediately, Laurence and Temeraire fly off to help battle the dastardly French in the air, and then almost immediately again, they're shipped off to China to deal with the political ramifications of having a Celestial on English soil.

While voyaging, they have many adventures. And all of a sudden I realised that was about all this book was: one thrilling dash from one adventure to another. And while the adventures were exciting and action-packed (I particularly liked the sea serpent), sometimes one does crave a bit more something to a book. Maybe plot?

It does all eventually resolve quite satisfactorily in the end, but the pacing could have been a lot more even.

I shall be buying (and reading) book three in the series, but I do hope she's discovered some plot for the next one. ( )

Laurence and Temeraire take a slow boat to China--quite literally--and we go with them. The trip at sea takes easily two-thirds of the book, denying fans of the first book so many of the things that made us fall in love with the series. Rarely do we get to see Laurence as captain of Temeraire's in-flight crew. Almost never do we get to see interaction with other English dragons and their captains and crews. And the core of the series, the powerful relationship between Laurence and Temeraire, is so diluted here as to almost be non-existent. While the novel begins with Temeraire making a dashing and heart-wrenching display of affection and protectiveness toward Laurence, Novik then plays with the question of their bond for the purposes of her plot: will the influence of the Chinese and their fantastic, dragon-loving culture make Temeraire abandon Laurence? Unless we are to throw out everything she's done to prove their relationship in the previous book, and again at the beginning of book two, the answer is never really in doubt--except in the minds of her characters. Thus, the agonizingly slow trip to China, which is supposed to be fraught with will-he-leave-Laurence tension, never compells. The best part of the novel by far is when Laurence and Temeraire reach China--but by then we have only a couple of hundred pages for the politics, social issues, and intrigues to play out. Far too short a time, unfortunately. While still an enjoyable read, I hope that book three returns to more of the formula that made His Majesty's Dragon so great: Laurence and Temeraire (and their crew!) against the world... ( )