The Temeraire series is a wonderful set of buddy-adventures across the world, which is unfortunate because the marketing for the Temeraire series failed miserably by focusing on the Napoleonic warfare aspect. This is not military fiction, and instead captures that strange Age of Sail culture of 'civilized war' alongside a realistic treatment of dragons.

I had forgotten how amusing the scenes were where dragons caught a cold, but to see that elevated to the key threat within this novel was very satisfying. As always, I'll avoid spoilers, but both the title and the back of book makes it obvious that Empire of Ivory is an African adventure. This, similar to the last few novels, offers the reader a chance to explore Naomi Novik's deep worldbuilding through the eyes of Lawrence and Temeraire. We learn plenty of the African continent, the colonial Empires and the impact of slavery (in conjunction with dragons).

In fact, I appreciate Naomi Novik's treatment of slavery and the abolition movement. It's neither ignored, nor plastered over with modern 21st century sensibilities. I think it's a good balance of condemning the practice while accepting how fundamentally it secured European dominance.

Highly recommended.