Book Review
Title: A Natural History of Dragons (The Memoirs of Lady Trent Book 1) by Marie Brennan
Genre: Fantasy, Historical
Rating: 5 Stars
The opening to A Natural History of Dragons was really interesting I would recommend the audiobook from the outset as it makes for a completely difference experience. We are introduced to Isabella who lives in Scirland, she is only daughter of six children to a wealthy family but from the tender age of 8 she proved she wasn’t going to be a traditional lady as she has hobbies and dreams that are only fitting for a man at this time. This definitely reads a lot like a period drama but I was eager to follow her on her childhood adventures even going on a hunt for a wolf-drake as a young girl. By the time she turns 14 she is pressured to act according to her role and she doesn’t this successfully for two years but her father knows how unhappy it is making her and decides when she turns 16 to help her. At 16 she begins looking for a husband and her father gives her six names of men who would entertain a bookish wife unlike so many other. We know Isabella is going to become the world’s preeminent dragon naturalist as the story is told in the past tense but I loved her relationship with her brother, Andrew and her friendship with Jacob Camherst who eventually proposes to Isabella because she doesn’t want him for his money and the pair genuinely get along well and she agrees.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, I was absolutely loved the descriptions of the different creatures and the drawing which add another layer to the story. Jacob and Isabella get married soon after this but they are still getting to know one another which makes their relationship seem realistic until tragedy strikes a year later. Isabella finds herself pregnant but has a miscarriage which leads to some distance between her and Jacob which she deals with by throwing herself into her hobbies and studying. However, when she learns that Lord Hilford, Maxwell Oscott is planning an expedition to Vystrana to see dragons and maybe capture one like he did for the King’s menagerie she begins dropping hints to Jacob that he should go too so that she can live the experience through him and he does get invited on the expedition but this does cause issues. Isabella realises that she doesn’t just want to live through Jacob but she wants to see dragons for herself in person and wants to go Vystrana but Jacob doesn’t think it is a good idea. After an argument they do end up logically discussing the reasons Isabella wants to go and the reasons she shouldn’t but Jacob can’t deny her anything and asks Lord Hilford if she can come as a secretary of sorts. He ends up paying the couple a visit and learn that Isabella is well read and has a keen interest in dragons so he accepts her on the expedition and they plan for the departure and when it eventually comes Isabella realises she isn’t going to see anything familiar for a while but she is also excited. As they board the steamship, Magnolia to head out on their adventure I can’t wait to see more of the couple and I do hope that Isabella and Jacob are blessed with children at some point during the series.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, the group arrives in Vystrana and the travelling time gives Isabella time to prepare for the hardships they are going to face. As they head to a local village they are attacked by a dragon which is usually behaviour for the rock wyrm species that inhabit the area. However, when they arrive with an injured party their local contact isn’t there to meet them because as they soon learn he was heading to the town to warn them not to come. Isabella clearly isn’t used to the hardships they are facing and even she admits she wasn’t adjusting well to this new life mainly because of the language barrier and the cold weather. They decide to being mapping the area for dragons as rock wyrms like to live in caves and Isabella helps as much as she is allowed to but she is restless. After being there for several weeks Isabella wakes in the middle of the night for no reason and decides to sit downstairs looking at the stars when she spots a man leaving one of the houses. She can see that this man clearly isn’t a local. Due to the fact that there are many foreigners in the region Isabella decides to follow the man impulsively as he is leaving the village. By the time they enter the woods she thinks it might not be such a good idea since she isn’t dressed for the weather but she has come too far to turn back when something happens. Isabella is kidnapped by the man she was following and his companion. She recognises the dialect they are speaking and learn they are smugglers that live in the mountains.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, by the time they reach the smuggler’s camp and question Isabella she explains that they are in the area studying dragons. The men have been attacked by dragons and want Isabella to stop them, so in exchange for money and the location of the dragon’s caves Isabella agrees they will stop the attacks. Isabella spends the night in the smuggler’s camp before being escorted back to the village the next morning and I hope Isabella is going to be more involved in the dragon study now. They manage to hunt a dragon which they end up killing so it can be studied for anatomy and drawn by Isabella which really brings out her true personality much to the surprise and delight of the men around her who seem to accept her without reservation even outside her societal role. The relationship between Isabella and Jacob is also the highlight of this part of the book but I have a feeling that Jacob is going to die as some point. This is because Isabella’s name in the present is Lady Trent which isn’t her married name or maiden name so she must get remarried at some point and she hasn’t mentioned any children or grandchildren yet making me think that neither she and Jacob or her new husband had any. Besides this we are learning a lot about the dragons and they believe that the dragons are eating their dead like carrion eaters which might be causing an illness which makes the dragons attack people but they are looking to get to the bottom of the mystery as soon as they can. Seeing Isabella taking on a more scientific role even finding things like a firestone was amazing and really showed her potential and how easily she converses with the men despite expectations.
As we cross the halfway mark in the novel, Isabella goes on a tour of some local ruins with Lord Hilford and here she finds the firestone and a smuggler cache but she doesn’t say anything about either thing. She claims her ankle was sprained on a large bank but upon returning to the village they are met by the local priest who prays over them and wants them to be cleansed. Over the next few days Isabella hears strange noises such as growling when she is in the sauna but there is no evidence of a creature being there and the sound of flapping wings late at night where they are burnt footprints of a creature and the locals think it is a demon. After this everyone agrees to be cleansed by Lord Hilford has headed off for the boyer’s home in order to find out what happened to their guide leaving the others behind. The cleansing isn’t a comfortable process for the group but they endure it but Isabella is beginning to think that the creature is drawn to the firestone and that it might be a dragon of some sort never before seen or studied. However, the locals want the dragons gone and while Isabella can’t support this she once again offers to get the dragons to stop attacking people but she has no idea how she is going to achieve this even with everything they are learning about the dragons as a race. I can’t wait to see in the remaining 100 or so pages how Isabella achieves this and what it amounts to as it is going to set her on the path her life is going to take.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, the group are being pressured by the villagers to leave thinking that they angered a spirit or demon in the ruins. While Lord Hilford is out meeting with the boyar, Isabella and Jacob investigate a cave at the bottom of the ravine where they find essentially a dragon graveyard but these bones are disintegrating like the others. When Mr. Wilker and Lord Hilford return they realise that there has to be something unique about the dragon’s bone or the location for them to fossilise the way they have. These musings are interrupted by a mob who want them to leave and Isabella decides this might have something to do with the firestone and wants to return it to the ruins. However, when she gets close she can see one of the boyar’s men and the smugglers all over the place and decides to return to the house instead. When she returns she has the realisation that the demon activity is all a lie and that someone has been framing them and wants them to leave but she wouldn’t suspect the young boy who took her to the ruins in the first place but she knows has to figure out why before they are kicked out of the village for good.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, everything came together in ways that I didn’t expect. It turns out I was right about Jacob dying before the end of the book but it was bittersweet to learn that Isabella was pregnant on the return journey and gave birth to a son who she named after his father. Isabella also has several ventures under with Mr. Wilker and Lord Hilford tells her he is already planning an expedition to Eriga to study the dragons there and he wants her on the expedition since he can’t go himself and gives her the chance to be true scholar as Jacob’s name was put on the book created from this expedition. Obviously as the first book in a series we know Isabella is going to go and I am eager to see more of her work but I am also eager to see if she remarries or how she becomes Lady Trent. Overall, I adored A Natural History of Dragons from its period drama setting, to the romance element and the fantasy elements that all came together in very satisfying ways for me as a reader.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Comments