After The Black Powder War, I wasn't so sure about continuing with the Temeraire series but shortly into this one my initial excitement picked back up. This one shines with great adventures and many complex and interesting battles. Unfortunately, the beginning is rather sad, with all of the British dragons dying but the change of scene to South Africa at first seemed arbitrary, as if the author was trying deliberately to move each book to a different area of the world, but soon made sense and was a welcome change of culture while still remaining true to the British roots of the characters. I enjoyed the different perspective, and resulting outcome, of colonization on the African continent, as well as the cultural differences of the dragons from different areas. Overall, a great romping read like the other books in the series, with the exception of The Black Powder War, which is fortunately the only title to be just average.