** spoiler alert ** 
 This book was incredibly difficult to get through because of the all of the smothering politics and little focus on Temeraire. 
 I'm noticing this series' tendency to do excellent build-up but very sloppy climaxes that usually move too quickly to stay on top of the real action and more than not are solved via Deus ex machina rather than actual actions of the characters. I still like, but just something I note. I was also disappointed Lien never even spoke. To tell the truth, aside from the cool dragon society, I didn't particularly enjoy this book as much as the first. The China parts really dragged and the political aspect became way too heavy. Also, the significant cutbacks in Temeraire's page space toward the end