Review: Throne of Jade - Naomi Novik

Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik

Rating {★★★★☆}

We rejoin Captain William Laurence and Temeraire almost where the last book left off - with the Chinese discovering that the egg that they had sent to the French intended for Napoleon is now in the hands of the British Aerial Corps and that a rare and revered Celestial dragon is now living in a society that does not hold their dragons in nearly the same esteem as the Chinese and they have him actually fighting in their battles.

The intricacies of politics and cultural differences make this a slow read, but Novik's writing is always incredible for me and is so engaging that I enjoyed this even with the slow plot development and the overall pace of a three toed sloth.

Yes, it's THAT slow.

If you can get past the fact that it is going to be a slow one and that you will see more of the background politics of war than the actual battles themselves (although there are a couple of action scenes), you will find that dry humour and a lyrical narrative fill the pages and there's a growing intrigue of a deeply layered and very clever plot.

The friendship of Will and Temeraire is featured again and their strong interpersonal bonds and loyalty to each other is a truly beautiful aspect of this series. They are growing and learning together with Temeraire's progressive thinking leading Will to question things that he has taken for granted for most of his life. I am looking forward to reading the next book.

See more of my reviews of books in this series:

←His Majesty's Dragon (Temeraire #1)