I hated this book! I know I said this about Bluestar's Prophecy and still gave it two stars. Well, this book committed the fatal sin of disappointing me AND boring me. Almost nothing of value happens in this book, except for (view spoiler)[the birth of two dragons, which both could have been interesting if they were given anything more than the shred of development which they received. (hide spoiler)] Sure, Novik writes lush settings and political intrigue, but when that political intrigue is drawn out over people sitting around or traipsing across Australia, I lose my ability to care. There were too many sections in this book where absolutely NOTHING happened, although the last third was slightly better than the rest, with some sense of likable plot. Then it goes and destroys that with a completely non-ending. 
 But my biggest gripe with this book is Temeraire. I don't like Temeraire at all. I used to enjoy his young idealism and natural rebellion. It made sense since he is a dragon and not subject to the same national loyalty as a human. So he can't understand concept like honor, which are so dear to Laurence. But after his reactions resulted in (view spoiler)[Laurence being branded a traitor through circumstances that clearly favor Laurence and Temeraire (hide spoiler)], Temeraire's continued ignorance of Laurence's personal feelings became outright selfish. It is made much worse by the way Laurence completely emos over it to the point that he barely has much character left, aside from brooding. Laurence is a shadow in this book, nothing more, and most of that comes from Temeraire doing nothing but putting him in perilous positions between his loyalty to the crown and his loyalty to Temeraire. If either of these aspects were lightened -- if Laurence did not persistently brood or Temeraire wasn't perpetually selfish -- I could enjoy the idea of Temeraire's idealism coming up against Laurence's pragmatism. But the way this is so heavy-handed, it has reached the level of infuriating, and has turned my initial interest of Temeraire into true dislike. 
 I hope to see an improvement in either of these aspects or at least a stronger and more prevalent plot in Novik's next venture into Temeraire's world.