I'm giving this a three-star rating because the growing level of violence in the series, especially the repeated inclusion of graphic animal death to no apparent end except literary flavoring, makes me want to give zero stars, while the overall story was so compelling I want to award five. So in the middle with three it is. The speciesist treatment of animals by this series, especially when the core of the emotional story is that of growing understanding between members of two different species, has become too much for me to invest any more time in it. This was my last attempt at a full reading of the Temeraire books and I don't feel sorry to have already sold my entire collection to the used bookstore.