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Mar 19, 2009

Jim rated it:

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 b More...

1 comment like (13 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2008

Kit rated it:

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1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Apr 27, 2007

Abby rated it:

I've read reviews that say this second book in the Temeraire series is boring... I would have to disagree. There are sea monsters, battles, assassination attemps, intrigue, and an allusion to dragon sex. What's not to love???

In this second book in the Temeraire series, Laurence and Temeraire must travel to China. In the first book it was discovered that Temeraire was a Chinese dragon meant as a gift to the French. Now, the Chinese apparently want their dragon back and they will stop More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Jul 29, 2008

Jamie rated it:

This second book in the series is very entertaining. I'm impressed with Novik's writing. The plot is much less predictable this time around and the action scenes are nicely timed. Novik is a fan of Patrick O'Brian and Jane Austen, and her love for this period is obvious.

I do have to say that her portrayal of dragons isn't my ideal. The dragons in this series think and act almost exactly like humans, whereas I would expect them to have a less fathomable intelligence and a vastly diffe More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 21, 2009

Elizabeth rated it:

It is a talented and subtle author who makes a strong political statement in a fantasy/sci-fi novel. Some of my favorites include: Remnant Population, Brave New World, The Gate to Women's Country, and Orlando. Some authors who aren't subtle enough, dragging down their books, include Stephenie Meyer, P.C. Cast, Larry Dixon (oh, is he bad), and, I am sorry to report, Naomi Novik.

I really liked the first book. It had lots of things going for it, including dragons, and very little time s More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 13, 2009

Logan rated it:

It's a decent enough sequel. This time around Laurence and his dragon must return to Temeraire's homeland of China to see if Laurence is appropriate enough to be the caretaker of such a regal dragon. Much talk of the inscrutability of the Chinese, much Anglophilia, very little action. It reminded me a lot of the second book in Neil Stephenson's Baroque Cycle, The Confusion, in which Stephenson gets so excited with fleshing out the entire 18th Century globe that his characters seem like stand- More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 06, 2012

Sofia rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 18, 2009

ScottK rated it:

This book was good, it was not as good as His Majesty's Dragon. But I think that is a risk that you take with series. Not ALL of the books in EVERY series are going to be GREAT. Some are even barely readable, but I have yet to read a series that did not redeem itself somewhere down the line. And it is not like I went from 5 stars with HMD to 1 star with ToJ. It only went down 1 whole star point. Why? Because it did what a second of a series book is supposed to do. It got a little further into th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 14, 2010

Matimate rated it:

The IRC chatting is poison. I learnt from my friend about alternative history book concerning Napoleonic Wars. I had no idea how it would work with all those dragons, but I gave a try. I was surprised how good the book was. Author set up the world in war crowded with dragons and various issues concerning them. The plot is very catching and characters are developing steadily. Capt. Will Laurence went trough 180 degree flip flop as he was chosen by hatchiling Temeraire to be his rider at the firs More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 12, 2008

Kati rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 07, 2007

Alex rated it:

This book is simply a dredge through nothingness. It has no reason to exist. Where the original book, His Majesty's Dragon, was amazing in detail, and a sort of plasability. This book fails to deliever the same sense of action and enjoyability that the first one did. As mentioned about the other book there was a long training scene; I guess the author just wanted to go ahead and fill in some pages there. Yet in this one its a over bearing ride on an , "Air Craft Carrier" with a bu More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 09, 2011

Jessica rated it:

"This book picks up shortly after the other one left off. Laurence and Tameraire are being sent to China in order to work out the details. They had tried to convince Tameraire to take another ""more suitable"" captain from China but he refused. So they begin their long and perilous journey. Along the way they go under attack Tameraire gets his first cold and first really bad injury go under attack again arrive in China get attacked again and finally come to a sort of agr More...

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Feb 17, 2009

Flourish rated it:

Well, to start off with: I don't know how to judge anything Novik says about China here. If there are errors (beyond those that are naturally created by inserting, well, dragons into a story) I couldn't identify them.

I spent the first chunk of this book made uncomfortable by the way that Temeraire (or - perhaps I should say Lung Tien Xiang) and Laurence are set opposite Yongxing. I was preparing myself for a plot that embraced the worst of East/West stereotyping.

I wasn't More...

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Dec 22, 2008

Angela rated it:

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0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 13, 2011

Katharine rated it:

Horatio Hornblower meets dragons. This novel, the second in the Temeraire series, offers us an alternative timeline where the British Empire has an Aerial Corps made up of dragons and the men and women (yes, women!) who crew and serve them. Our time is the early 1800s, or Regency, and our heroes are a navel captain named Will Lawrence and a black dragon named Temeraire.

The first novel, His Majesty's Dragon, tells how the two of them found each other, their training in the aerial corps, More...

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Oct 16, 2011

Megan rated it:

(Re-posted from http://theturnedbrain.blogspot.com)

Did I enjoy Throne of Jade as much as its predecessor, Temeraire? If anything, I enjoyed it more. I loved it so much that yesterday I made my ever patient boyfriend drive me to a city nearly two hours away so I could purchase the next two books for twice the price than if I got them from Book Depository, because I want to read them right now, not in 7-15 days!

Reviews of those two will be forthcoming, I'm sure, but for now let More...

0 comments like

Sep 19, 2011

Jen rated it:

It would have been so easy for this series to carry on with the war in Europe as though the fact that Temeraire is a Chinese dragon was incidental. There’s plenty going on, after all (Patrick O’Brian once complained that he needed to create an 1813a and an 1813b just to get everything to happen). And I probably would never have noticed if Novik had gone that way, focusing on the famous Europeans and completely ignoring an entire civilization except for the odd trade ship or draconic line. I am More...

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Aug 01, 2011

Jennifer rated it:

almost as good as the first one. i liked the story in this one, as well, though i've discovered that there are some dragons in the story i like better. there's a cameo, for lack of a better description, in this book that made me smile more than anything else in the entire novel. it involved a dragon landing, saying two words (one of which was a hopeful "cow?"), and i was smiling for the rest of the day. it tends to be the side characters that stick with me, and for some reason voll More...

0 comments like

Jun 22, 2011

AnEyeSpy rated it:

***** "Throne of Jade" (Temeraire 2) by Naomi Novik has both Chinese and British asking the imperial-breed dragon to leave Laurence and return to his egg's birth (egg-pop/drop) country. Continuing are the formal archaic style, violent bloody fights, deaths from storms, sea-monsters, bandits, assassins (no worse than a video game), and one restrained mention of "courting". Temeraire gets a girlfriend. Separated for weeks from his Captain, lied to, he finally loses his temper a More...

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Apr 07, 2011

Gus rated it:

Throne of Jade is the second book in the Temeraire series and the sequel to His Majesty’s Dragon. It is a much different story than His Majesty’s Dragon. Rather than get off to a exciting start this book begins with sadness. Will Lawrence, the captain and companion of Temeraire the Celestial dragon, has been separated from the dragon in question. Also the Chinese (represented by Prince Yongzing) have found out that Europe has gotten its hands on a Celestial and may go to war over him. Lawrence j More...

0 comments like

Apr 05, 2011

Glee rated it:

I’m beginning to think of this series as sort of eating M&M’s. That are good for you. I kinda want to give them 5-stars, and maybe I should, but reading them tires me in some way. Maybe that is because I stay up late into the wee hours reading them. I really like inserting dragons into history, and this series does it well. But it is much more than just making sense (and fun) of Victorian sensibilities. Actually, the author does a very good job of putting you inside the head of someone who More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 23, 2011

harryknuckles rated it:

Throne of Jade, the second installment of the adventures of Celestial Dragon Temeraire and his British 'Captain' Laurence is a satisfying continuation to the story introduced in Naomi Novik's debut 'Temeraire'.

Picking up a few months after the conclusion of the previous novel, Throne of Jade finds Laurence and Temeraire threatened with being separated when a delegation from China (where Temeraire's egg originated) arrives in Britain demanding the now fully grown dragon's retur More...

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Jan 26, 2011

Lindsay rated it:

This was another great installment in the Temeraire series. I purchased it on my Kindle when I was delayed by weather over the holidays, and it did a delightful job of transporting me to a warmer clime.

Premise: Captain Laurence and the dragon Temeraire, introduced in His Majesty's Dragon, travel to China. It is unclear whether the Chinese government will allow Temeraire, who is a Celestial (a special and rare Chinese breed) to remain in company with Laurence, or ever to return to Brita More...

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Jan 05, 2011

Natalie rated it:

TOJ is the sophomore novel in Naomi Novik's Temeraire Series is appropriately continues with the dragon Temeraire's maturation. The novel opens with the Chinese attempting to reclaim Temeraire, who was originally meant for Emperor Napoleon but was seized unwittingly by a former Navy captain, William Laurence. Without giving too much away, the two with their faithful groundcrew set off on a ship to China.
The plot is overambitious and the narrative is at time badly paced and unwieldly. Parts More...

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Sep 20, 2010

Jeremy rated it:

Dragons have never really been of high interest to me, but throw dragons in with the Napoleonic Wars, and you have some very interesting stories to tell. Naomi Novik continues her series centered around Temeraire, a rare Chinese Celestial dragon taken from the French by Captain Laurence, and brought into service with His Majesty's Air Corps. But now, he must return home at the request of the Emperor's brother, who demands all Celestials, originally only companions of the Imperial Family, be re More...

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Aug 12, 2010

astried rated it:

A total let down.... :(

I began this book full of excitement after loving the 1st one immensely, I thought I might storm through the whole series in a marathon session, then this book put a damp on it to the extent that I need to take a break from the series.

What was wrong with it:
-Laurence's hollier-than-thou and stuck-up stance plus his jealousy
-Xenophobia, bigotry and double standard shown by the whole British Aviator and Navy on board of Allegiance, I don' More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 06, 2010

Zachary rated it:

"Throne of Jade" is a very interesting historical fantasy novle. It is an entertaining book that I will admit, from time to time seems to drag which makes it difficult to follow, but that happens so infrequently that it is hardly a problem. The novle follows Capt. Laurence on his journy to stop the forces of the French emperor Napolean from conquering the world. While a historical book including many true historical facts, there is a piece of fantasy aobut it due to the fact that th More...

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Nov 08, 2009

Emily rated it:

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Oct 27, 2009

Amanda rated it:

I'm starting to really like this series. While this book was a lot of travel and seemed to take a little while to get going, Temeraire further endears himself to readers. There are mention of a lot of practicalities, like why wouldn't a dragon liked seasoned dishes? Answer? He does. Or dragon reproduction and what happens to the eggs after their laid, blah blah blah. All the little things that you wonder about are neatly explained in this book without seeming boring. Novik shows a deft hand at b More...

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Oct 08, 2009

David rated it:

Although I thought this book was a bit uneven, overall it was pretty satisfying. There were some very exciting moments and some slow moments. Novik manages to capture the monotony of slow sailing ship traveling for months around the world quite well. However, just about the time you think she's going to bore you with this monotony, something intersting happens.

There are some great action scenes in this novel. However, I found the most interesting part was Temeraire's intellectual More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)