Marie Brennan

Everyone knows Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world's preeminent dragon naturalist. Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, prospects, and her life to satisfy scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love despite her lamentable eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the mountains of Vystrana, where she made discoveries that would change the world.

Memoir By Lady Trent

A Natural History Of Dragons

It felt more like a book for kids. It was missing deeper meanings and deeper topics. The made up science and the made up scientific therms aren't something I see any value in. If it were about dinosaurs and their different species, so the reader would get an actual education, then it could have captured my interest more. Compared to other steampunk novels or historical novels it certainly lacked good dialogue. This one took me months therefore to finish, mostly because I really did not care about any of the characters. 

Enya Atrium 

Lindy

The part of me that is still eight years old and obsessed with Mary Anning loved this book. The part of me that is currently twenty one years old and thinks fantasy novels should be anthropological thought experiments was a bit disappointed.

It was a good book over all, but perhaps not the first book I would think of to recommend to someone wanting to read a thrilling fantasy book with dragons. The story was a bit slow in the beginning but got better towards the end. I went into this book eith the expectations that there would be multiple adventures of researching dragons, but the "memoir" only focused on one. I enjoyed the relationship between Isabella and her husband and the reflections older Isabella had about her younger self. Also dragons but would've wanted more.

Moa Mattbäck

Nikki Milton

Loved the direction of this novel written as if it was a non-fiction autobiography. A fascinating historical piece in a fantasy setting about a bright and determined young woman in a male-dominated culture... plus dragons!

Mikaela Iturregui

I love so many aspects of this book. This book reflects so much of what women have had to go through to be accepted in academia, and many of Isabella's experiences remind me of things that I still face in male-dominated areas today. I love that we get the story of a young woman who will one day achieve greatness while also getting the reflection of that same woman once she is great. It made many of the more frustrating aspects of the book much easier to read knowing that the main character would someday in the future be able to look back and reflect on the hardships as minor obstacles. So often in life and in books we only get the current perspective without the benefit of the hindsight and realizations achieved only with distance from the inciting events.

I also think the relationship between Isabella and the men she keeps company with to be absolutely brilliant. I really appreciate that despite being a woman, she isn't taken by romantic ideals. It is very obvious by the end of the book that she loves her husband a great deal, and yet, the author never forces their relationship upon the readers. It's such an organic and beautifully written relationship and takes up exactly the right amount of attention for a story. I love that Isabella is a woman defined by her own accomplishments rather than her relationships and the writing of the novel does a wonderful job of paralleling this.

As a woman in science, I found this novel to be a brilliant marriage of my enjoyment for reading and fantasy with my experiences and interests in academia. I am looking forward to the arrival of the second book which I have ordered.

Laura Kehoe

This book was so lovely! It was a refreshing combination of Pride and Prejudice and Indiana Jones, with dragons thrown in for good measure. I found myself completely drawn into this book. The characters were well-developed, the plot was engaging, and the setting was fascinating.

Hannah Derzanovich

This is the kind of book I wished I'd found soon - not because I don't appreciate it as an adult, but because it's exactly the kind of story I loved as a child.

Rina

An alternate history with dragons and a lady scientist who’d do everything to get the chance to study them. I liked the Victorian-esque atmosphere, told in memoir format to boot. Isabella was a likable character in my opinion, and has enough self-awareness to call out her (younger) self whenever she recounts something she said or did that wasn’t very smart or well-informed in her opinion. It was admirable of her to pursue her interest in the sciences (studying dragons) despite it being dominated by men. Despite these, I had trouble keeping interested at some points in the book but it took off towards the end for me. It didn’t have any mind blowing or “whoa” moments in my case but it was a good read overall. I liked it enough to continue the series!

Judy McClure

I love an author who takes the mundane world we live in and recreates its countries, governments, rulers, religions, gods etc using the magic of their imaginations to weave a new reality. Well written, fully realized characters and a strong, female heroine. I am starting book two now!

dead line

It was good.

It felt oddly lacking in dragons though.

I liked the candid tone, but I think I'd like this a lot more were it not framed as a memoir. As is, we're limited to one perspective, and the other characters felt too distant.

I love fake science stuff, and discovering relics. I wish there was more of that, and maybe fewer human matters.

Overall good.

Olivera Mitić

Ovu knjigu sam kupila maltene na slepo kad sam je u Delfiju našla za 600 dinara. Naslov me je baš privukao i poleđina knjige mi je delovala kao nešto najoriginalnije na šta sam naišla u poslednje vreme, uz dodatni bonus da unutra ima zmajeva. Realno nisam imala prevelika očekivanja, ali su sve ove malopre pomenute stavke stvorile prostor da mi A Natural History of Dragons potencijalno bude prijatno iznenađenje. 

Ovaj roman to na kraju i jeste i nije bio. Ne mogu da kažem da mi se nije dopalo, jer je definitivno bilo momenata koji su mi se jako dopali (posebno sam početak), ali sam gubila interesovanje što sam više napredovala sa čitanjem. Glavni problem je bio taj što prosto nije bilo dovoljno zmajeva u knjizi čija je premisa bukvalno istraživanje zmajeva. Doslovno najprotraćenija prilika na svetu, računajući da je moglo tolikoooo toga da se uradi sa ovom idejom. Delom razumem da je to zato što je koncept taj da ledi Trent izlaže svoje memoare i da, logično, na početku svoje karijere ni sama nije znala šta radi, ali opet - meni mlako. Znam da ima nastavaka koji možda ispravljaju ovu grešku, ali nisam toliko sigurna da ću da nastavim sa serijalom. 

Ono drugo što me je kopkalo jeste to da je knjiga prosto malo dosadna. Nema toliko radnje koliko ima strana, a i ona radnja koja postoji nije toliko zanimljiva jer nije bila nužno vezana za životinje koje Izabela proučava (opet ponavljam- kako imaš knjigu o istraživanju zmajeva, a da ne ubaciš zmajeve???) Pritom je pisano u duhu romana iz perioda Džejn Ostin, što i jeste poenta knjige, ali je samo po sebi vuklo i dosta spor tempo uz gomilu stereotipa i bez previše mogućnosti da se glavni ženski lik nađe u srži akcije. 

Treća stvar je da je ubacivano mnogo sporednih i epizodnih likova koji su se često spominjali, ali nisu bili od sušte važnosti za radnju, pa sam ih u jednom trenutku samo pomešala i odustala od pokušaja da se podsetim ko je beše ko. Možda je to više do mene nego do knjige, ali to je što je sad. 

Mislim da bi pogodnija publika za ovaj roman bila ona grupa ljudi koja voli klasike iz perioda 18. veka ili istorijske romane smeštene u ovom vremenu, a koja pritom ima želju da polako počne da čita fantastiku. Za tako nekog čitaoca je A Natural History of Dragons idealna odskočna daska i verujem da bi u njoj mnogo više uživali nego ja. Ako ste, s druge strane, tražili pandan romanu Euphoria Lili King, samo u drugom periodu i sa drugom naučnom oblasti u centru priče, onda ovo možda i nije knjiga za vas.

Jade Flynn

Do not go into this book expecting to be whisked away on a thrilling dragon fantasy adventure because you will be sorely disappointed. I'd describe it more as a literary fantasy or dragon academics which I genuinely enjoyed.

Ben Nathan

Highly enjoyable. Really cool idea and I have a feeling that the rest of the series will be very entertaining indeed. Well defined characters that interact well and a story that flows really smoothly. High recommend for those that like a little science bend in their fantasy-esque reading

Bryan Alexander

Natural History of Dragons is a gentle fantasy novel about an aristocratic woman who builds a career studying dragons.

It's a cozy story, a cross between steampunk Victoriana and elite feminism. The former means plenty of charming, 19th-century-ish dialog and the comforts of Downton Abbey's lords and ladies. The elite yields a feel-good gender empowerment tale.

Alas.

This is also a geek's tale, in that we follow someone else's obsession. Like meeting someone who's crazed with love of (say) Japanese swords or historical wood-stacking techniques, the story is interesting only if you're amenable to that obsession. And Natural History of Dragons' titular focus is only amenable to the subset of fantasy readers who really get into detailed, ruthlessly described differences between these mock-saurians. I found myself drifting off and forcing my eyes to skim.

The empowerment tale also fails to engage since, from the start, we are confined in the situation of an enormously privileged person. The heroine has money uncounted, servants endless, and no hints of material discomfort... until she talks herself into voyaging around the world, tromping with other Victorian-ish characters as they tromp through other nations. The novel is drenched with aristocratic arrogance, and then demands our perpetual sympathy.

One thought: this novel reminds me of a theory I've been developing concerning the sociology of America in the 21st century. Stories like this are a way for us to make peace with escalating inequality. Such narratives give us an elite who isn't terrible, but contains people that are interesting and good. They have fine taste, follow habits the reader enjoys, and aren't awful tyrants to the rest of us.

Natural History of Dragons is like Downton Abbey. The elite are fascinating and decent - at least the ones we follow. We can vicariously spend time with them and enjoy the frocks, the finely appointed mansions, the servants (to various degrees of invisibility)... before we return to our own lives, which are, in reality, much closer to being the nobles' servants.

A Natural History Of Dragons Memoir By Lady Trent

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