A Natural History of Dragons

i expected more dragons....

and more science and more feminism, honestly. in the end, this was an okay historical fantasy, just not what i wished it to be.

Spannender Zugang zur Materie und in gutem Tempo geschrieben.

Brennan schreibt in diesem Roman auf eine sehr eigenwillige Art über Drachen. "Lady Trent" ist die Erzählerin und Protagonistin der Geschichte. Seit ihrer Kindheit hat sich die junge Dame edler Geburt für Drachen interessiert, und sie schreckt vor keinem Abenteuer zurück dieser Passion nachzugehen. Obwohl es sich für Damen edler Abstammung nicht ziemt sich mit solchen Dingen zu beschäftigen - geschweige denn sich dabei in Gefahr zu begeben - tut sie es dennoch wiederholt. Sie hat später das Glück eine Mann zu heiraten, der in Anbetracht der gesellschaftlichen Erwartungen ihrer Passion gegenüber sehr tolerant ist, und ihr sogar ermöglicht bei einer Expedition zur Erforschung von Drachen teilzunehmen. Auch wenn diese Expedition in vielerlei Hinsicht erfolgreich verläuft, so tut sie dies nicht ohne Gefahren und einen hohen Preis. Das Buch ist echt sehr eigen, entwickelt aber einen sehr starken sog. Die sehr wissenschaftliche Art an die Thematik der Drachen heranzugehen macht sie sehr viel nahbarer als in vielen anderen Fantasy-Settings. Dazu kommt auch der Humor und die Action nicht zu kurz. Werde mir sicherlich alle Bände der Serie zu Gemüte führen!

If dragons were real

I liked the scientific approach and the writing style, although I quite lacked the necessary vocab. The book was written so realistically, at times I found myself wondering if dragons could have once existed but have gone extinct.

A 4.5 star read because I was promised dragons and although there were dragons there were just not enough dragons

Ich hatte durchaus damit gerechnet, dass es mehr um Drachen gehen wird in diesem Buch, doch es sind deutlich mehr die Memoiren von Lady Trent. Zunächst war ich darüber leicht enttäuscht, aber mir hat die Geschichte und vor allem die Protagonistin dermaßen gut gefallen, dass das bald vergessen war und ich werde auf jeden Fall die weiteren Bände lesen. Lady Trent ist eine wahnsinnig sympathische Protagonistin für mich, mit ihren Ecken, Kanten und Fehlern, aber auch in vielen Punkten sehr gut nachvollziehbar. Vor allem auch der Schreibstil ist sehr angenehm und passt hervorragend zu der Geschichte.

I'm too giddy with excitement to write a proper review just now. [prtf]

This book is what I wished Emily Wildes Encyclopedia to be. This book is Lady Trent telling us her life story of how she came to be one of the leading researchers in the field of dragons. We get lots of facts about the dragons in this world and actually see how they came to their findings and did the research but this is a memoir in its core so it also lets us live through Lady Trents life, which is hard and tragic in many ways and really lets you feel for the character. This was overall really good and I liked the writing and narrative voice of Lady Trent but it did go a little too slow for me at times. I'm looking forward to continue this series and hear more about Lady Trents life and I just know it will be satisfying finally seeing her succeed and being recognized by the world.

I liked the scientific approach that was displayed throughout parts of the book, but ultimately got super bored over the last 100 pages. I had little to no interest in the human affairs when I picked this up and that whole smuggler adventure just wasn't for me

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.

Dragon research and victorian influences sounded awesome and the book embraced it, though both aspect could have been even stronger for me. The book is mostly an adventurous good time. The best aspect is probably Lady Trent herself and her narration. She has a very strong narrative voice and I loved listening to it. I never felt like I wholly got to know the other characters and in the later parts the story focused more in the mystery aspects, which I wasn't expecting and didn't seem like the most interesting direction for me. However, I really enjoyed both the English inspired and the foreign culture in this and how Isabella reflects on things in the furure. Everything concerning the research was delightful and was positively surprised how the book avoided some historical fiction pet peves of mine. Lady Trent felt like a person of her time but could still comment on some problematic elements with hindsight, without making the setting less fun. It was a nice read but I probably won't continue the series.

Still coming to terms with why I didnt like it even though it sounds like something right up my alley...

I was really excited for a science-based plot about the scientific discovery of how dragons work, but the actual discovery scenes were few in number and seemed forced in to give the marketing team an extra bullet point. Under the casual use of scientific terms, short monologues about science, and one or two discoveries/explanations, this is just an adventure book. Its focus is firmly in standard adventure. I was looking forward to reading a natural history of dragons, and learning - as the character does - about how their anatomy works, their behaviours and why they display them, and so on. I thought it would be a sort of fictional work of ethology. But instead of that, I got a plot about stopping a smuggling plot.

3.5/5 I really enjoyed this! I would've preferred if the story was more about Isabella becoming the acclaimed scholar she is later known for. Oh well that's hopefully what the sequels will be about.

4.5

This is really not what I expected but I loved it! I thought it would be a lot more about the anatomy and behavior of dragons but that’s only a little part. It’s the story of Lady Trent told from her perspective and there’s love, action and dragons. What more do you want?!

This was a great book, it wasn’t perfect as there were a few spots where I just wanted more but I really enjoyed it. To me it felt like a mix of a historical fiction or classic in a fantasy world with Dragons. The main Character Isabella is not the kind of girl that wants to learn how to be a perfect lady and find the perfect husband. From her early childhood she is fascinated by Dragons and just wants to learn more about them. The way Marie Brennan describes Isabella’s Passion about Dragons and Nature really resonated with me (as I am a Biologist myself). I don’t think I ever read a book where I could understand a character’s motives and personality as well as I did with this! In this part of the series we learn about her first expedition to another country to assist the research group with filing information and making drawings. I would have loved a bit more background info about the world it is set in as I had to look at the map a lot for reference and there were different seasons in this world that I am still not sure what part of the year they represent. It was a bit of slower book for me but that did not take away from my enjoyment. I am definitely curious to read the rest of the series. If you have any interest in Animal Biology and Natural History and like fantasy books I would definitively recommend this book.