Book Review
Title: The Tropic of Serpents (The Memoirs of Lady Trent Book 2) by Marie Brennan
Genre: Historical, Fantasy
Rating: 4.5 Stars
It has been a little while since I read A Natural History of Dragons but I absolutely loved it aside from some minor pacing issues and I couldn’t wait to jump into this book since the audiobooks are great too. The opening of The Tropic of Serpents reintroduces is to Isabella after the devastating ending of A Natural History of Dragons and she is organising another expedition this time to the wilds of Eriga. However, she is facing some backlash since her family don’t want her to go as an unmarried woman mirrored by Natalie’s family and her mother is concerned by her lack of a bond with her son and it is because Isabella isn’t the maternal sort and she does understand baby Jacob. There also seems to be some interest in Eriga particularly close to the place they are traveling but this biggest concern for everyone involved right now is that fact that Mr. Kemble’s laboratory was broken into and a lot of his bless on preserving dragon bones were stolen. The latest research was with him at the time and he manage to copy most of what was in the older notebooks from memory but it seems that time of running out to find an alternative material and none wants the senseless slaughter of the dragons on their mind.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Isabella is given the task of talking to Natalie since her family wants her remain behind and look for a husband. Natalie makes it clear to Isabella that she has no intention of getting married or the acts associated with marriage and encourages her to find a way to join them and she does although much to the displeasure of her father. Now the group begin their journey to Nsebu, and the many things they have to study there. After a month spent at sea they finally arrive only to learn that the king there or Oba has invited to stay at the Palace and they can’t refuse even with their unease after what happened last time they stayed with local royals. Their escort is a man named Faj Rawango and Isabella notices some odd things about him like how he speaks their language and is obviously a foreigner to the land like them but doesn’t take about it. When they arrive at the Palace the men and women are immediately split up which seems alarm bells ringing for Isabella but there’s is nothing she can do but for and wait for their audience. In this series the early parts of the book are quite slow but pick up fairly quickly and they are very easy to read.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, this is turning out to be a wild ride but not in the way I expected as Isabella is dealing with more personal issues than professional ones so far. The first thing she has to deal with is being isolated during her period as this is a time when women are considering unclean in Nsebu which is a problem for the expedition since they can’t get much work done when Natalie and Isabella are locked away for a week each month. However, she does come to learn more about the political state and climate of Nsebu from some of the women there. Upon her release Mr. Wilker introduced her to Mr. Gregoire Vellion, a hunter of beasts and dragons which immediately gets Isabella’s back up but Mr. Wilker assures her that he is intended to make use of Vellion’s skills and steal quite a few of his trophies for their research. By the time they go out on their first hunt, Isabella attracts the attention of Okweme, the Olori’s son making him a Prince and he seems to be viewing her as a marriage prospect which Isabella has no interest in since she already has a son at home and it has only been three years since Jacob died but she did mention at the beginning meeting her second husband during this book and I wonder whether it could be Okweme since they are close in age. However, this poses some problems since Isabella can’t simply tell him she isn’t interested because of his status which means she can’t dissuade him either but luckily for them Vellion happens upon Isabella and Mr. Wilker arguing and mistakes it for them being intimate which causes some tension between Mr. Wilker and Okweme and I think a romance between Isabella and Mr. Wilker would be interesting given that he is of low birth by their standards but challenges her mentally in a way no one else ever has.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, the trio continue their work and Isabella manages to learn that Okweme is interested in her because of the way the inheritance works in her country as it is through the father’s line rather than the mother’s as it is in Nsebu. However, things come to a halt when Natalie contracts malaria and for a moment they are unsure whether she is going to survive which infuriates Lord Denbow who is demanding the return of his daughter. By the time she recovers, Isabella and Mr. Wilker are summoned before the Oba who has had no interest in them up until now. In that meeting they learn that he wants they to retrieve dragon eggs from Mouleen so he might tame them and use them as guards for the Palace and potential weapons against his enemies which Isabella isn’t happy with but it does give them permission to enter Mouleen. He also adds that he will prevent Natalie from being taken home by her father if they agree to the mission but it is potentially going to be deadly and they are going to have to work with the locals in order to find, study and retrieve what the Oba wants which isn’t going to be easy but Faj Rawango is going to be their guide during this. After discussing the situation with Natalie since everything revolves around her they decide to accept the Oba’s offer and head into the swamps of Mouleen where they make an alliance with the locals to travel with them since they know the swamps better than anyone and might have some unique insight into the dragon’s habits in the area.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, the trip have been with the Moulish local for several months now and things are becoming strained since they believe that Isabella is cursed so they won’t tell her anything that she wants to know until she deals with the curse. Isabella obviously doesn’t believe in these things and carries on as she has been doing but there are more and more accidents from breaking her fingers, to falling into the swamp and even contracting yellow fever which almost kills her before she realises that something must be done for the Moulish people to help them with their studies. They eventually take part in a ritual where everyone airs their feelings openly in order to remove the anger from their hearts. The Moulish people have struggled with their prescence and they didn’t realise it until this moment as despite their willingness to learn they have put a lot of strain on the camp without realising it. Natalie confesses in her own tongue that she seemingly had a relationship with another woman but has realised she just isn’t interested in general which means we would label her as asexual and possibly aromantic as well. Mr. Wilker explains that despite the hostile beginning to their partnership, he has harbour resentment towards Isabella believing that she might replace him in Lord Hilford’s eyes which is something he has worked hard for and she forgives him for this. Isabella confesses that she has harboured anger towards Mr. Wilker for his privilege of being born a man and had similar feelings to his and she goes further and explains that despite loving her son, she also resents him for chaining her to him and not allowing her to truly devote herself to her craft because she knows that if she dies in the process he will feel the repercussions for the rest of his life and possibly resent her for it which is something she can’t stand. After this the “curse” had been cleansed in the eyes of the camp and they are able to return to normal but Isabella is still plagued with a decision on whether she studies the dragons and returns without an egg which is what she wants to do but she made a promise to return with one for the Oba.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, their routine continues until someone new arrives at their camp, someone that hasn’t been there before and they learn he is a priest of sorts. He offers the chance to touch the dragons to those that are pure, who haven’t killed with their own hands. Mr. Wilker is asked to leave because he has hunted and killed in the past, Isabella despite killing sparklings is allowed to stay because they are similar to insects and so is Natalie. Yeyuama explains that they are being given the opportunity to take the test that will bring them one step closer to the dragons than they have ever been before and obviously they accept. Yeyuama brings them to the point where the rivers converge into waterfalls where the lands has dropped away and there is a small island. The test is to get to the island and back without dying and then the secrets can be revealed to you and it is decided that the only one mad enough to attempt it is Isabella but there is a question of how since Yeyuama won’t give them any help. Natalie and Isabella with Tom’s help build a glider from the preserved dragon bones to get to the island and back but they don’t know whether it is going to work until Isabella tries them out. She ends up finding stone stairs that lead down to the island and abseils the final part and uncover what seems to be Draconic ruins there or something even older than that but now she has to glide down to the meeting place with Yeyuama which is easier said than done but leap she does. Honestly, at this point I thought Isabella was absolutely insane but she is amazing to follow as a protagonist especially when you are reminded that this story is being told in the past tense so she did obvious survive but whether this was without injury remains to be seen.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, everything seems to explode as Isabella learns the true secrets behind the swamp dragons and why certain things must be prevented but before all that war is knocking on their door as the Labane, elite Ikwunde warriors are trying to pass through the swamp in order to attack the port. Together, the Moulish and Isabella manage to come up with a plan to stop them and to please both the Moulish and the Oba but in doing so she damages her reputation with her own people and is seen as a traitor by some but far more are completely ensnared by her and want to know more of her time in Mouleen which gives her an idea to make more money and exploit it for more research and she begins planning a voyage around the world. Honestly, these books are really slow to get going but the endings definitely make up for that, I highly recommend this to people looking for a more relaxed fantasy novel with great historical element, wonderful characters and tons of dragons. Isabella might just be my favourite character as she is sharp, witty and at times without trying absolutely hilarious and often makes a joke at herself. Marie Brennan is an amazing writer and I love the prose, if she ever turned her attention toward high fantasy I would read it in a heartbeat and the audiobooks are amazing too if you can get one.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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