A Natural History of Dragons (The Memoirs of Lady Trent, #1)

This book has a lot of things that ought to appeal to me, and yet it was like climbing up sand-dunes for the whole time. I'm not entirely sure why. It's very possible it will appeal to other people; it certainly didn't fail in any large way, or offend me. I just never engaged with the POV charachter.

So, the heroine is sort of Amelia Peabody, but not as fun. She's nineteen, fascinated by dragons, married to a similarly nerdy, but somewhat milquetoast husband, and they go to Not!Carpatha to try to observe dragons in their natural habitat. Stuff ensues.

So, I guess my failure to engage comes from my failure to engage with the protagonist. She vacillates between dashing into dangerous situations, and hanging back for fear of censure, and both are quite reasonable things for a character to do, and yet somehow it annoyed me no matter which she chose.

I think it's just that she's so very clearly on the template of Amelia Peabody, yet just doesn't have her idiotic self-confidence that makes Amelia so charming.

I think it's very possible many people will like this book, and I'm sorry I couldn't.

Written in the style of a memoir, A Natural History of Dragons is set in a world similar to Victorian England and its legacy of scientific exploration. It’s not quite steampunk, perhaps in the very early days before everything is steam powered, it could have easily been in our world but with dragons. Of course, it’s a time when ladies are supposed to act ladylike and not traipse off to heathen lands on expeditions.

The memoir style allows Lady Trent to look back on some of her thoughts and actions with hindsight. Perhaps we can’t expect a 19 year old woman from a high society background to be completely free from naivety or ignorance, and the older narrator can point out where she has since come to think otherwise. She references her other works, reminding us that the world exists outside the pages of this book.

It’s odd, the narrative voice is one I thought I wouldn’t have warmed to, but by the end I was invested in her character and moved by her honesty. She cares about dragons but she has the sense to put people first; good people at least. I loved the relationship between her and her surly ladies’ maid, Dragmira. She might be the farthest she can get from the staff at home but she ends up exactly what she needs. A Scirling maid surely wouldn’t have put up with her running after dragons and strange men.

Review copy provided by publisher.