Review of 'A Natural History Of Dragons A Memoir By Lady Trent' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I actually didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. It's set in a pseudo-Victorian fantasy world that's basically Europe with dragons. Our protagonist is the young Isabella Camherst, 19 years old and obsessed with dragons and natural sciences. It's written in first person, as the memoirs of a much older Isabella who turned out to be the most important dragon scientist known.
It must be a long road there though, because in this part of her memoirs, Isabella is 19, it's pseudo-Victorian society, strongly set in patriarchy and so women aren't supposed to have any interest in sciences whatsoever. With the help of her young husband who allows her interest a bit grudgingly after she miscarries, she gets to travel to pseudo-Romania to study rock-wyrms. Something has made those drakes much more aggressive than they usually are, and Isabella is tossed into finding out what happened, …
I actually didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. It's set in a pseudo-Victorian fantasy world that's basically Europe with dragons. Our protagonist is the young Isabella Camherst, 19 years old and obsessed with dragons and natural sciences. It's written in first person, as the memoirs of a much older Isabella who turned out to be the most important dragon scientist known.
It must be a long road there though, because in this part of her memoirs, Isabella is 19, it's pseudo-Victorian society, strongly set in patriarchy and so women aren't supposed to have any interest in sciences whatsoever. With the help of her young husband who allows her interest a bit grudgingly after she miscarries, she gets to travel to pseudo-Romania to study rock-wyrms. Something has made those drakes much more aggressive than they usually are, and Isabella is tossed into finding out what happened, while surrounded by hostile villagers and superstition.
I thought this book was charming, surprisingly feminist in tone, and the plot was pretty interesting. The book is also full of adorable drawings of dragons and other such things, as Isabella draws them. If you enjoy travel journal style, it's quite interesting.
