Throne of Jade: Temeraire, Book 2

Loved the book, just thought I'd point out an issue with the recording. Part 2 of the download for me started about 40 minutes from the end of the book! by trial and error I discovered that the part 'begins' about 1 hour and 9 minutes after hitting play. So, if you have no idea what's going on when you start part 2, fast forward and give it another try as this is an excellent series.

This book continues where the first one left off. The relationship between the dragon and the sailor explored further, and to the point where It start become cumbersome. This book is pedestrian and repetitive compare to the first book. There is some intrigue in the story line, but that does not take place till last few chapters of the book. If I have to read this book over again, I probably will skip few chapters in the middle and not lose much in the story line.

Narration is great as Simon does a great job and because of his work, I was able to complete the book. If you have some time to waste go for this book, but it is as good as the first one.

I verified with Audible's folks that the stream had been fixed before downloading the files. They assured me it was but I remained skeptical. I just finished listening and all is well. Thank you Audible!

The series greatest strength, it's world, is still intact here. Set in China, this expands the world to include a fake-historical look at China that feels quite well researched and believable. The weakness of the series, character depth, is not patched up very well, unfortunately. Characters are still woefully one-dimensional. Also, there is far less battle in the book, and one of these sorely strains credulity. However, the setting is so enhanced by the anglo-sino culture clash, that this book stands on equal footing with me as the first novel. Again, I'm not sorry I listened, but wouldn't highly recommend either.

This book continues the first book's excellent historically-based theme while nicely picking up the plot soon after the conclusion of the first book. I was pleasantly surprised to not only see little time lapse, but that this book did not introduce some random new plot device, but instead continues with the story of what China thinks about Temeraire's current condition, which was brought up many times near the end of the first novel.

Naomi displays once again an excellent knowledge of life at sea and the amazingly thought out logistics of her world. Wonderfully detailed descriptions of another of her world's civilizations fill the tail end of the novel.

I am still a bit annoyed with the odd time jumps that appear inside the story, but this time the beginning of important events are not cut off, which was my primary qualm with the first novel. Other than that, my only complaint are minor "conveniences" that would occasionally push the plot in favor of the good guys, such as a perfectly timed arrival or lucky not-quite-related events. Most of these, however, are things that could very well have happened and do not force you to "suspend your disbelief" much at all. Both of these complaints are minor and greatly overshadowed by the book as a whole.

From an audiobook standpoint, Simon Vance does a fantastic job portraying the various characters' voices, including very authentic-sounding accents! He also has a voice that is easy to listen to for long periods.

I give Throne of Jade 4.8 stars out of 5.

I wish there were more books like this. Will Lawrence is a terrific hero.

I was very confused at the jump in the story. Now I will follow your instructions. I love the books and the narrator is the absolute best there is.

I'd give it a 5 for the story itself but the problem with the audio being off mentioned in the previous review is quite annoying.

I doublechecked the paperback version of the book (which I would not have bought except for this problem) and there are no pieces of the story missing, just misplaced. After part one, the story continues at 1:09:05 of the second part and once you've finished, go back to the beginning and play the rest.

I've been reassured by audible's tech support that they are aware of the problem and when it is fixed, I'll be notified and a corrected version made available for download.

Definitely, it was an entertaining read and I had no problem listening to it on my drives to and from work, and my lunch break every day. It had some points that dragged, and didn't feature some of the interesting characters built up in the first book, so it was a bit lacking.

Well, the end was pretty memorable, and a long protracted battle was thrilling and had me gripped. I didn't want to pause it to go back to work!

He captures the characters voices and personalities perfectly, and his narration is always a joy to listen to. I've actually bought other books just because he was the narrator.

I loved learning more about dragons and the differences in their integration in to another culture, but I definitely missed some of the characters from the first book. If you go in to the book knowing that it will be different, I think you'll have a great time following Lawrence and Temeraire on this adventure.

In this installment, Temeraire and Captain Lawrence take a journey into what may be the end of their relationship. There is a constant threat of seperation, but also a peek into what life was like for the Chinese in the early 1800's in this alternate universe. Very interesting and compelling, I would highly reccomend this book and series.

Temerarie and Lawrence are my favorite, they are the leads and always interesting.