Novik, Naomi (Empire of Ivory)

In this episode, we go to Africa! While it was a thrilling adventure, as Novik normally crafts, and especially it was thrilling to view the Cape of Good Hope in an alternate reality, it really felt like Novik was crafting her Politically Correct Novel, in and among the rest of the novels in this series.

That's being unfair to Novik's writing, and especially to her description of the homebase (and intricate workings) of the African dragonlords and their civilization. But she pushed a bit too hard on the slavery vs. anti-slavery theme (again, fairly, a real conflict within the British empire at this time), and the evils of colonialism. We got it, really we did. Again, the African homebase description was brilliantly and inventively described, but the novel came with a lot of extra killing and death (yes, even the dragons are among those) in service to this novel's plot.

At least she ends it on a high note. (Joke. It's downright upsetting and I would like to find out what happens sooner than later, except I have 20 other books in my "to-read" list in front of this one.)