This is the recently released fourth book in Novik’s “Temeraire” series. I had some reservations about the previous book, Black Powder War, but this one did not disappoint. It’s not perfect—the pacing could use some work, I think—and the darn thing ends on a cliff-hanger, but on the whole I was well pleased.

One of the interesting features of Novik’s world is the effect of the existence of dragons on world history. The Dutch colonists in South Africa, for example, can only settle so far north before the feral African dragons become a nuisance. Spain completely fails to dominate the Incas because of their dragons. Stuff like that. The difficulty, of course, is that under those circumstances I can’t see the Napoleonic Wars arising to begin with. But be that as it may.

My one complaint—other than the cliff-hanger—is that the centerpiece of the book, in which Laurence and Temeraire sojourn somewhat painfully in a central African kingdom, is too short.

And then there’s the cliff-hanger. Black Powder War ended on a somewhat inconclusive note, but I didn’t mind because I knew that Empire of Ivory was coming out in a month or so. But now we’ll be hanging from that cliff for at least six months, and more likely a year. Humph.