Throne of Jade

I used the weekend to complete the second book in Naomi Novik's dragon series. Throne of Jade was a good read although since the concept wasn't as fresh and new as the first book, it suffered a tad because of that. A large part of the novel takes place during a boat trip from England all the way to China and I think the pacing that results from such a course slowed a little too much in some places. Let's face it, when you're stuck on a ship in the middle of the ocean with a huge dragon, we all get a little restless and yearn for the trip to reach it's conclusion.

On the other hand, such a trip does leave ample room for characterization and this novel went far to build up the main characters' motivations and points of view. It struck me, near the end of the novel, that the author has really developed some multi-dimensional characters here. They really stay true to their natures as they interact with each other and with their environment, especially when they reach China and find themselves with a mystery to solve. It was there that the question of how dragons are treated by different cultures really comes into play, a definite comparison to the slavery issue. Watching how different characters react to this was very realistic. In fact this series is probably the most realistic portrayl of dragons in a human society that I've ever read. The third book of the series is coming up soon, sometime in February no doubt.

Next up: Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson.