Marie Brennan

“You, dear reader, continue at your own risk. It is not for the faint of heart—no more so than the study of dragons itself...” From Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, Isabella, Lady Trent is known to be the world’s preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning and natural history defied the stifling conventions of her day. Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects and her fragile flesh to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her lamentable eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the perilous mountains of Vystrana, where she made the first of many historic discoveries that would change the world forever.

A Memoir by Lady Trent

A Natural History of Dragons

Marie Brennan begins a thrilling new fantasy series in A Natural History of Dragons, combining adventure with the inquisitive spirit of the Victorian Age. You, dear reader, continue at your own risk. It is not for the faint of heart—no more so than the study of dragons itself. But such study offers rewards beyond compare: to stand in a dragon's presence, even for the briefest of moments—even at the risk of one's life—is a delight that, once experienced, can never be forgotten. . . . All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world's preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day. Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her lamentable eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the perilous mountains of Vystrana, where she made the first of many historic discoveries that would change the world forever. "Saturated with the joy and urgency of discovery and scientific curiosity."—Publishers Weekly (starred review) on A Natural History of Dragons An NPR Best Book of 2013 The Lady Trent Memoirs 1. A Natural History of Dragons 2. The Tropic of Serpents 3. Voyage of the Basilisk 4. In the Labyrinth of Drakes 5. Within the Sanctuary of Wings

Colleen

1.5 Stars

*This review contains some spoilers.*

I picked up A Natural History of Dragons because of the cover. It is a gorgeous cover! And a book about a young woman defying conventions to run off and study dragons sounded awesome. Sadly, the end results were completely unsatisfying, and the only thing I liked about this book was the cover.

For a book about traveling to a foreign country to study dragons, this book is shockingly lacking in any adventure. How on Earth do you make a dragon attack sound outright boring?!? Well, having a conceited, tedious, and selfish narrator goes a long way towards that. It also kills any sparks of interest. Instead of a feminist journey of discovery, the result was a meandering, long-winded dissertation of a boring, narcissistic character. The characters were flat. The writing was dry. The plot was drawn out and boring. Absolutely nothing brought this story to life. 

This is not a magical story in any sense of the world. It is very much earth based history but with dragons in existence. The story starts in their equivalent of somewhere in Victorian through Edwardian England. The main character and narrator of this mock-memoir is Isabella, the only daughter of a minor English-equivalent nobility. 

The set up was long. There was a lot more information about her childhood than I expected. The actual journey did not start until quite a ways into the book. And it was even later before real dragons appeared. Other than being strongly based on Europe, the world building was lacking. Most that was because the narrator assumes you know all about this made-up world. I don't see how considering this is the first book in the series. (More on that later.)

After the beautiful cover, the illustrations in the book were bad by comparison. And they were not that helpful. The map was also practically useless and not aesthetically pleasing. 

For someone allegedly smart, Isabella frequently did very idiotic, irresponsible things and always shrugged them off with complete lack of guilt. She displayed psychopathic tendencies but not in an interesting way. Some authors can write crazy, morally ambiguous character very well. Brennan sadly is not one of them. Frankly, Isabella was cold, uncaring, and boring. And a selfish snob. She was a lousy character and an even worse narrator. It killed the whole story.

Since A Natural History of Dragons is written as if the main character were an old woman reflecting back on her younger years, the narrator has a tendency to skip around and drop random tidbits. Sometimes they had nothing to do with the main story. Sometimes they were spoilers for events that had not been covered yet in the "memoir." Even worse was the way the author talks as if assuming that everyone MUST be familiar with her and her work. There are lots of references along the lines of, "Of course, you probably know all about my famous exploits with such and such dragons," or, "you have probably already read my other books on dragons." But obviously the real readers are not. Because we are not from her world. It was extremely frustrating and off-putting to be told so many times that you should already know something you had no way of knowing. 

Her poor husband did not deserve everything she put him through. She was a complete bitch to him. While it was true that in that time period (and its fictional equivalent of it), women had no control over their lives, he loved Isabella and treated her well. In return she was cold and manipulative and constantly emasculating him for worrying about her safety. (view spoiler)[He was the only character I liked, so what he suffers at her hands was unpleasant to read to say the least. I never liked Isabella to begin with, but that pushed me over into hating her. (hide spoiler)]

The excerpt of the sequel absolutely convinced me not to continue on with the series. She seems to only grow colder and more selfish. (view spoiler)[Despite her excuses, she clearly is a terrible mother. (hide spoiler)] I definitely will not read the sequel. 


RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 3 Stars
Writing Style: 2 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 1 Star
Plot Structure and Development: 2 Stars
Level of Captivation: 2 Stars
Originality: 2 Stars

It was a simple easy read, there is not much more to say about it. 

As someone who obsessively watched Dragon Dokumentaries as a child and teenager I enjoy this book as a young woman very much! I am not a scientist so I can not much say to the accuracy of the books featured science but I enjoyed it nonetheless. 

The plot had a nice clearance at the end and a good hook for the next book. 

The one thing I did not enjoy was Jacobs death. It worked very well with the story but I was very frustrated after his death. 

Neele Knolle

It was a simple easy read, there is not much more to say about it. 

As someone who obsessively watched Dragon Dokumentaries as a child and teenager I enjoy this book as a young woman very much! I am not a scientist so I can not much say to the accuracy of the books featured science but I enjoyed it nonetheless. 

The plot had a nice clearance at the end and a good hook for the next book. 

The one thing I did not enjoy was Jacobs death. It worked very well with the story but I was very frustrated after his death. 

I'm pretty disappointed with this one. I love dragons, stories that feature dragons, and I was so excited for a book that talked about many different kinds of dragons in a 'scientific' way. But instead I got a half-decent story about one type of dragon in one location that was not very exciting nor science-like apart from a page or two. Ultimately I was bored, and can't imagine trying to drag myself through an entire series of these books when it would have been much more engaging to have multiple shorter stories/adventures with time skips, which is the impression I got in the first quarter, but which was lost for the remainder of the book. 

Another aspect that I didn't like was that it felt like the world building was trying too hard. Why did we need to have different made up words for the different seasons? No idea, but it just didn't work for me or make me feel like it was a world much different to my own. It would have interested me more if this was an alternate timeline of earth that dragons just happened to exist in.

I enjoyed the first 1/4, skipped a lot of the last 1/4 and struggled my way through the middle.

Emma Lechner

I'm pretty disappointed with this one. I love dragons, stories that feature dragons, and I was so excited for a book that talked about many different kinds of dragons in a 'scientific' way. But instead I got a half-decent story about one type of dragon in one location that was not very exciting nor science-like apart from a page or two. Ultimately I was bored, and can't imagine trying to drag myself through an entire series of these books when it would have been much more engaging to have multiple shorter stories/adventures with time skips, which is the impression I got in the first quarter, but which was lost for the remainder of the book. 

Another aspect that I didn't like was that it felt like the world building was trying too hard. Why did we need to have different made up words for the different seasons? No idea, but it just didn't work for me or make me feel like it was a world much different to my own. It would have interested me more if this was an alternate timeline of earth that dragons just happened to exist in.

I enjoyed the first 1/4, skipped a lot of the last 1/4 and struggled my way through the middle.

Marie Brennan begins a thrilling new fantasy series in A Natural History of Dragons, combining adventure with the inquisitive spirit of the Victorian Age. You, dear reader, continue at your own risk. It is not for the faint of heart—no more so than the study of dragons itself. But such study offers rewards beyond compare: to stand in a dragon's presence, even for the briefest of moments—even at the risk of one's life—is a delight that, once experienced, can never be forgotten. . . . All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world's preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day. Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her lamentable eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the perilous mountains of Vystrana, where she made the first of many historic discoveries that would change the world forever. "Saturated with the joy and urgency of discovery and scientific curiosity."—Publishers Weekly (starred review) on A Natural History of Dragons An NPR Best Book of 2013 The Lady Trent Memoirs 1. A Natural History of Dragons 2. The Tropic of Serpents 3. Voyage of the Basilisk 4. In the Labyrinth of Drakes 5. Within the Sanctuary of Wings At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

mevi

DNF at 51%

While the premise sounded really interesting, the writing was so dry and held no suspense. I started to dread reading this and that was the moment I knew I couldn't finish the book.

Vilde

Kate Reading was a perfect Isabella. I thoroughly enjoyed the incredible witty and unapologetic narration from Isabella. I loved every single minute of this audiobook, (view spoiler)[even though Jacob's death broke my heart (hide spoiler)].

Elizabeth Garza

This was a very 1800s academic-sounding book considering it's about dragons! But I thoroughly enjoyed the audio. I have tried reading it a couple of times in print and it wasn't a great fit for me. But the audiobook is superb! Readers who enjoyed Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell will enjoy this one.

Tom Turner

A very intriguing premise

I loved the premise of this book. Set in a world equivalent to our 19th century, in the world of Darwin etc, except this world has dragons, and using a woman was as a protagonist of course highlights all the difficulties such a person might encounter. 

The idea of having it as her memoir, for me while clever, was it's major weakness. Due to the character and it's time period, there was an understandable stiltedness to the narrative, but this was not something you could get over.

However, I am tickled enough to continue with the series one day, but not enough to do so straight away.

Nickie Mohler

Every since she was a young girl, Lady Trent was fascinated by dragons. She liked to study them, read books about them, and was very curious about everything pertaining to them. This was all very inappropriate for a lady. Ladies couldn't study dragons or science, they should stick to sewing, gossip, and fashion. Fortunately, Lady Trent doesn't really care what people think. I loved this book! The end was sad, but it is still a great book. I loved the narrator as well.

ally

The story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the perilous mountains of Vystrana.

A Natural History of Dragons A Memoir by Lady Trent

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