Throne of Jade (Temeraire, Book 2) Paperback – April 25, 2006

I throughly enjoyed this second novel in Novak’s Temeraire series. A bit slower overall than the first. But also very interesting to read the differing treatment of dragons.

The mystery of what a Celestial dragon egg was doing on a French ship is solved when a massive Chinese delegation, headed up by the Emperor's brother, comes to England demanding Temeraire's return because in their opinion Celestials are only suitable for pairing with royalty, and as  Throne of Jade  begins, the British government has happily acceded to the Chinese demands. The only problem is that Temeraire refuses to leave Laurence, and Laurence refuses to lie to Temeraire. Mutiny, battle, and chaos ensue.The problem is that readers will have more difficulty believing this than ANYTHING Ms. Novik has presented us with so far. Napoleonic warfare with dragons? That's easy to swallow compared to the idea that England, involved in a death struggle with Napoleon, desperate to breed or acquire fire-breathing dragons, would give up with barely a whimper a far superior Celestial, who SINGLEHANDEDLY saved England from aerial invasion and conquest in  His Majesty's Dragon , something no fire-breather could POSSIBLY have done, out of fears that an angry China might disrupt their TRADE in retaliation? POPPYCOCK!Unfortunately, for reasons I guessed at in my review of  His Majesty's Dragon , Ms. Novik seems to feel the need to send our heroes to the periphery of the Napoleonic Wars in order to make their NOT changing history more plausible; I just wish she had come up with a less hopelessly unrealistic excuse. Nevertheless, once you succeed in swallowing the un-swallowable, you are in for quite a ride.Making the best out of a total fiasco, it is agreed by all concerned to send BOTH Laurence and Temeraire, and a portion of their crew, to China by sea aboard a colossal dragon transport and see what develops. Admiral Lenten warns Laurence that he is "in for a hellishly long trip"; he doesn't know the half of it!The middle part of the book covers this truly hellish voyage in which everything that can go wrong does go wrong: French attack, foul weather, spoiled supplies, sickness in man and beast, interservice rivalry, crippling superstition, differing agendas, murder attempts, and sea monster attack. Seriously.In the process Laurence suffers the tortures of the damned at the thought of losing Temeraire forever, for as Temeraire learns Chinese: speaking, reading, AND writing, discovers a love for Chinese cuisine, and expresses excitement, even joy about seeing his native land and meeting his relatives, Laurence fears that Temeraire WILL choose China over England... and some Chinese prince over him. Or worse perhaps Temeraire might truly WANT to do so but feel honor bound to Laurence, leaving Laurence with a terrible choice. Then upon arrival in China, they find odd (and deadly) things beginning to happen as the real reasons behind Temeraire's forced homecoming and his original gifting to Napoleon become clear.All in all a worthy sequel; amidst all the catastrophes, both Laurence and Temeraire grow and change in fascinating ways. I look forward to reading the rest:  Black Powder War , Empire of Ivory , Victory of Eagles , and  Tongues of Serpents . It will be interesting to see how Ms. Novik manages the alternate history implications going forward. The China of this world is tremendously more powerful than the China of our world because of its incomparably superlative, if untested in modern warfare, dragon air force; it is hard to imagine it EVER being subjectable to comparable treatment by Europeans in a couple or three quarters of a century. The entirely female makeup of the Chinese dragon corps must eventually play havoc with Chinese paternalism, and the fact that dragons are much more free but humans much less free in China than in England has implications for the future and maybe even lessons for us. (WHY are dragons so free in so absolute a dictatorship? Because they are too well-armed to safely bully.)Note: if you find yourself intrigued by the idea of Napoleonic warfare with dragons, how about American Revolutionary warfare with dragons? Dragon America Or American Civil War naval action...with magic? Land of Mist and Snow

This book is the second of the Temeraire series that began with His Majesty’s Dragon and the series is improving. The dragons were always great, but the human characters and the story line were secondary to the dragons. Now we have the addition of politics and intrigue to add to the dragons and massive naval battles. The result is a book with more depth and complexity. The reader plunges right back into the world that the author so carefully built in the first book, so you do need to have read that book first. In book one, Commander Will Lawrence of the British Navy captured one of Napoleon’s ships carrying a dragon’s egg as its precious cargo. The Celestial Dragon’s egg was a rare prize. Now the Chinese government is insisting that Temeraire return to China. Lawrence and Temeraire are both pressured to separate as a team, but neither is inclined to do so. The journey is a big undertaking filled with danger and adventure. Their time is China is more of the same. The difference in status for dragons in China as opposed to the status of dragons in the Western World is interesting. My sons would have enjoyed this series as young adult readers. The only caveat is that if you find gruesome deaths by sword, cannon, or mythical creatures to be disturbing then this series is not for you. The battles are not glorified as epic struggles with no casualties. The deaths are distressing, but so far I am willing to continue with the story. It is not my favorite Naomi Novik book, but the series is improving. Still not to five stars.

This was a good second story continuing the adventures of Laurence and Temeraire. By its very nature, being a story primarily focused on a long journey, it was by turns exciting and plodding. That said, I'm glad I stuck with it because the conclusion was worth it. I'll definitely read the next one.

Having come to Naomi Novik through her standalone novels 'Spinning Silver' and 'Uprooted', I find the 'Temeraire' series less strong. It's a good concept - a retelling of the Napoleonic Wars in a world where dragons exist and are used in combat. Her upstanding hero, William Laurence, was initially an unwilling 'aviator' in the first novel, when he was paired by chance with the newly hatched dragon Temeraire. Now the pair must travel to China, where Temeraire's egg originated, as the Chinese Emperor has demanded the return of the rare celestial dragon.The relationship between Laurence and Temeraire - and the character of Temeraire, who is still lovable and gets all the best lines - is the strongest element of the novel. It's quite readable, and moves away from the battles of the first novel to a more political theme. The cultural contrasts around how dragons are treated in Europe and in China is interesting, as Laurence's preconception that the British way must naturally be the best is challenged as his horizons broaden. However, readers who enjoyed the action of the first novel might miss it - and the climactic battle feels rather pointless.Overall, it's a second novel that has floundered a bit - it's still readable, although as a standalone it might not have made the publisher's cut. I know that Novik is a good writer, so will continue on to read the next in the series - second novels in a series are often less strong as the writer has to build on the original concept and start setting up bigger story arcs. Hopefully in the third and fourth she will find her stride again.

The second instalment in Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series has had mixed reviews from people. It had large boots to fill after the first story but I think it did a remarkably good job.Throne of Jade is predominantly set in China and allows us a look at how other cultures view and treat their dragons. There were gorgeous descriptive pieces, and enough action to keep the tension up despite the slower pace compared to the first book. Overall I thought it was a good successor to His Majesty’s Dragon, if not quite as ground-breaking.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series, “Temeraire”, so eagerly bought this second book and was looking forward to reading it. Dragons being used as flying battleships to thwart Napoleon, what is there not to like. Alas this second book is not as good. I just could not get into the characters at all, the evil prince was a very cardboard cut out villain, a lot of the supporting cast were barely sketched out as people I should care about. The major part of the book covers a 7+ month sea voyage and it did feel reading it took me 7 months. This part really needed to be cut down to make the story faster paced. It is very slow going.There are quite a few set piece action bits, which were well written, but they often felt an aside to main story as there was little after effects from the events described. (One character tries to kill another, gets pushed over board from the ship, dies. The characters left say “We will not say anything of this.” and indeed they don’t and nothing more is said. It ended so abruptly.)The actions bits were separated by a lot of the main character endlessly musing about life, the universe and everything. Far too much as far as I was concerned. I must confess I skipped some of these passages as I wanted the story not the endless thoughts of the main character going over over what seemed the same thing again and again.Not sure if I will buy the next book in the series. I am going to have to check the reviews a lot more closely.

A solid follow-up to the first scaly tail - er, tale... I was just as pleased with this story as with the first one, perhaps even more so, and this despite the wincing (unexpected and unnecessary) presence of one f-word in the dialog. The character and situational development is gratifying and progresses in surprising but consistent ways; the heroes are still heroes, the villains are sometimes hidden, and one feels a sense of shame at betrayal, as well as sadness at the consequences of such heinous acts. What a marvellous alternate fantasy history is unfolding!

2nd in the series, and not as good as the first in my opinion. I know this author has written a series currently stretching to ten books I believe. The truth is the idea was pretty much shot after book One. Here in book two, the dragon has become deeply philosophical and a metaphor for the situation of slavery which existed at the time of the Napoleonic wars due to exploitation of plundered resources by the developed nationals all over the globe.Again, just a personal opinion, but I read fantasy to escape my trying life, the Fantasy compartment of which is there for escapism from such debate as Naomi Novak seems determined to weave into the threads of these novels. I have to say I have read beyond this book in the series and these conjectures are not limited to this volume alone. While the author is determined to develop a social conscience in retrospect for her reader, Captain Lawrence, our hero, strangely becomes inactive and given the weapon he controls in the form of his magnificent dragon, allows himself to be controlled both geographically and physically by a most unlikely and I found annoying plot line, which having read on seems to be solely a mechanism to allow the Dragon to develop in a way that allows the author to discuss with herself between the two main characters her own social and political conundrums.