At last, back to the excitement of the first book. Temeraire and his crew return to England, where they find out why they have been left to fight their way from China through Istanbul to besieged Germany and back home. The whole of the dragon corps has fallen ill with a strange disease, and are one by one dying – a disaster to Britain, with Napoleon’s aerial corps likely to attack at any moment. Yet Temeraire is free of the disease. Together with a few sick dragons they set off to Africa to see if they can find a cure. The book ends off with a biological warfare twist. Very interesting.

Also of note: Temeraire and his fellow dragons are, in this world, the first to discover non-Euclidean geometry. Pretty amusing.

what a shocking ending!!! I only hope it will not come to a complete desaster in book five… :’(