Black Powder War

Maybe 2 1/2 stars...but I READ this a year ago and when I picked it off my shelf not only had I FORGOTTEN that I'd read it, but it took me till the end of chapter 2 to resurect any memory of having already read it! So, an action/adventure book that I forget in a year, despite characters I already cared about and epic settings and historically-researched contet? Maybe I'll stick at 2 stars.
I will also stick with Novik because I LOVED Uprooted, and I'm intrigued by the “dragons in the Napoleonic Wars” concept, but this book shouldn't have been called the Black Powder War, but “The Silk Road Journey/The Sojourn in Istanbul/The Black Powder War” since it is in 3 distinct episodes, and feels more like “and then lots of plot happened” rather than “and then more character development happened”.