Book #65 of 2018:
A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan (The Memoirs of Lady Trent #1)
This is a very well-crafted story that, while not quite my cup of tea, seems likely to be the perfect book / series for plenty of other readers. Set in a Victorian-style era of a world much like our own, it follows a lady who pushes against the confines of her society to chase her passion and make a study of dragons. The story is presented as the heroine’s memoirs, written when she’s an established scientific expert later in life, and it’s a joy to see her younger self grow in confidence and expertise as she embarks on her first major excursion in this initial novel. Following in the footsteps of Terry Pratchett’s Sybil Ramkin and Robin Hobb’s Alise Kincarron — to say nothing of real-life scientist pioneers like Jane Goodall — our dragon naturalist refuses to let other people’s ideas about her gender prevent her from going out into the wilderness to study the creatures that she loves.
What didn’t quite work for me was the novel’s plot, which revolves primarily around some drama with the villagers who live near the study’s base camp. There’s not much of a narrative arc here, and although I enjoyed the time spent with the protagonist and her notebooks, I kept wanting there to be more at stake than just the present state of scientific knowledge on dragons. As with Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series, of which I similarly read only the first book, I like the characters yet don’t really feel compelled to read any further into their non-adventures. But if a minimal plot is less of a problem for you, I highly recommend checking out Lady Trent.
★★★☆☆
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