As quick as the others in the series, but less fun, in (sort of) both good and bad ways. The good way that this is less fun is the seriousness of the moral issue (which involves biological warfare); and the bad way is that the series just seems to be bumbling along--a book on China, a book on Africa. It seems sort of like a roleplaying gazetteer, making sure we hit all the places that the players would like to adventure in. One could argue that we're watching characters develop and that's the important narrative arc of the series, but I don't quite see it: the heroic captain is still heroic here, just as he was in the first book, and the troublesome but well-meaning dragon is still blah blah blah.