Rosewood, I'm so glad you enjoyed the Temeraire book. I want a dragon of my own now, lol. Might be a wee bit expensive to feed him though. You'll enjoy the next two books in the series as well. Temeraire really comes into his own and starts to look at the world around him.
I just read another interesting book(s) by Storm Constantine entitled Wreaththu. This one really turns the entire idea of gender on its ear. The story is set in a post-apocalyptic(?) world where homo sapiens is on the wane and a mutation in males has given birth to a new order of beings that are hermaphrodites. Yes, hermaphrodites. Its a character driven story. I really enjoyed it.
Swordspoint is a lot of fun. Kushner's style is reminiscent of Georgette Heyer. Kinda, lol. Although it's housed in the fantasy shelves, there's not a bit of magic to be found in the story, but it does have plenty of swordplay. Richard, master swordsman and assassin for hire and his slightly psycho lover Alec, are two of my favorite literary lovers. Just last month a new installment of this series, The Privilege of the Sword, was published. It's a fun read, too.
Happy reading! 
Well, for some reason SWORDSPOINT hasn't come in at the library yet, so I think
I'm just going to go ahead and order it from B&N. And I'll take a look at your new recommendation
as well. You haven't been wrong yet....!
As for Temeraire, well, let's just say I stayed up all night reading THRONE OF JADE as well.
What is this spell that this dragon has cast over me?
Just when I thought well, how good can the second book be? The first was great, you can't top
great. Well, Naomi Novik proved me wrong.
THRONE OF JADE is superb.
Even better than the first book only because she enlarges the story. Shows us the clash of three
such vastly different worlds: the rigidity of England, life at sea on a long voyage (the stop at the slave
port was chilling), and then the fascinating world of a mystical 19th century China.
Absolutely wonderful stuff.
Why hasn't someone bought this for the movies???
Haven't read the third book yet precisely because it is the third book and once I'm done I'll
have to say goodbye to Laurence and Temeraire, at least for now.
Wanted to recommend a couple of books in return, JoeAnn.
JONATHAN STRANGE AND MR NORRELL by Susanna Clark
Quite a weighty tome, but so well worth wading through. Magicians as a matter of course,
aiding and abetting England's side during Napoleonic times.
Less thrilling than Novik and written in the kind of 19th century style that takes getting used to,
still I recommend it. Though probably NOT to be read at one sitting.
ZORRO by Isabel Allende
Not much more needs to be said, I suppose.
Old and familiar story, brilliantly recreated by a famed South American novelist.
ODD THOMAS by Dean Koontz
Though I'm not a big fan of horror, I admit I've discovered Dean Koontz late in life and fallen for
his ability to create intelligent, touching, enigmatic heroes who have the ability to tell right from wrong.
NOT an easy thing, let me tell you.
In ODD THOMAS he's created a masterpiece.
If you don't fall under his spell within the first few chapters, then stop reading.
The book isn't working for you.
This is a totally character driven piece that works precisely because Odd is so strongly conceived.
For me, it was absolutely spellbinding.
Another book that I recommend is almost impossible to find.
It is a Harlequin Historical from 1991, so you probably won't be able to get your hands on it.
(Unless you go through an old book dealer who specializes in this sort of thing.)
If you do, you're in for a real treat.
I've never read another Harlequin like it. (Well, actually, I stopped reading reading 'romances' years
ago, but, luckily discovered this one through a recommendation from a friend of mine.)
TO TOUCH THE SUN by Barbara Leigh is sword and derring do historical set during the 1300's when
England was almost continuously at war with somebody or other. The main character, Drue, is a
young woman raised to fight as a knight. She gets away with masqarading as a young man
almost until the end of the book. When she meets and defeats an enemy knight on
the battlefield, she begins to have feelings for him that she's never experienced before.
She knows that submitting to a man will bring an end her entire way of life.
He, though married, begins to feel the same towards Drue even though he thinks her a man.
Confused and angry, he imagines that he's losing his mind since he's never had this happen
to him before. What happens to both of them makes for a very unique love story, wonderfully
written and conceived. As I said, haven't read anything like this before or since, especially in the
genre category. In fact, this book, to my mind, raised genre to a new level.
Other books you might enjoy are the Thursday Next series by British writer Jasper Fforde.
Set in a kind of alternate universe where things in England and the world have developed on
different levels and realities from our own, time travel exists, and characters from novels can, not only pop
in and out of their own books, but in and out of 'reality' as well. If not curtailed, they can alter not only their own story lines (you can see where in the classics, this might cause some consternation if characters were to change not only well established endings, but to jump into other books and remain there) but the reality of the established world as well. Overseeing all this is the menacingly giant and aptly named Goliath Corporation which controls all, including the government.
Thursday Next is a literary detective in charge of tracking down recalcitrant characters and any other mysteries having to do with books and history or whatever.
Expect lots of literary puns, outrageousness, brilliant plot machinations and not too too much
sense. Fforde naturally expects his reading audience to keep up with his inventive rapid-fire mind.
Not always easy, but definitely worth it. I LOVE this series. The titles, in order, are:
THE EYRE AFFAIR
LOST IN A GOOD BOOK
WELL OF LOST PLOTS
SOMETHING ROTTEN
The books actually get better and better as they go along. Love that Thursday hangs out
with Hamlet in SOMETHING ROTTEN. He is under suspicion of being a spy and in hiding,
when all things Danish are forbidden in the new reality of Thursday's latest adventure which brings
to mind nothing less than the Nazi repression of the Jews before and during WWII.
Amazing what Fforde can do under the guise of satire.
Well, that's enough for now, I think.
Happy reading, JoeAnn.
