Mogsy’s Fall Reading List + WWEnd Reading Challenge Update
Posted on September 30, 2014 10 Comments
As ever, I’m going to keep doing seasonal reading lists because they’ve become something of a tradition, but I’ll be tackling them somewhat differently this time around. I still have a lot of personal reading/purchased books to get to and a bunch more to read towards my Worlds Without End Reading Challenge goals, but until I get caught up a bit on review books, making these ambitious reading lists that are 10+ to dozens of titles long is going to be futile (I only managed to polish off a paltry 7 out of 19 books on my Summer Reading List)!
I’m going to take a page from Wendy this time around and keep Fall’s list short, sweet and manageable. I sense a theme coming on here. I call this my “Countdown to…” list:
Care to guess why? If you answered they’re all books related to major TV or video games releases this fall, you’d be correct. It’s my way of tiding myself over while counting down the days to some great things in the next couple of months. A New Dawn is the prequel for the television series Star Wars Rebels that I’m really looking forward to check out. I also need to catch up with the latest World of Warcraft novel before the next expansion Warlords of Draenor comes out. Same goes for the Dragon Age novels, before DA: Inquisition hits shelves this fall.
So, I should have plenty of time to fit those in before the end of December rolls around. If you’re curious about what my reading list looks like for the more immediate future though, behold my October Priority TBR:
I expect to be getting to most of these this month (I’m not so delusional as to believe I’ll get to ALL of them…but I can try!) so keep an eye out for the reviews.
Now for the WWEnd Reading Challenge updates. At the beginning of the year, my co-bloggers and I decided to participate in their Roll-Your-Own Challenge and I chose to do three: the Women of Genre Fiction Challenge, the Young Adult Reading Challenge, and the Read the Sequel challenge.
The titles I’ve chosen towards these goals have changed somewhat, due to various factors like new releases, availability of the books at the library, and of course, WWEnd updating their database so that a lot more options are open to me now, and I was able to redo my lists using a lot of the books I’ve reviewed earlier this year.
Technically, I’m pretty sure I’ve completed all the challenges already. In spite of the expansion to their database, it’s still not comprehensive and there are a bunch of titles I would have liked to put on that aren’t up there. But the way I see it, 2014’s still far from over, and that just keeps giving me something to work towards.
Angry Robot Backlist Boost: An Interview with Cassandra Rose Clarke
Posted on September 29, 2014 18 Comments
Earlier this year I got an email from Angry Robot about their Backlist Boost, and I loved the idea. After all, we always hear so much about the new and upcoming books, it can be easy to forget there’s a whole trove of wonderful preceding titles that deserve more attention too.
A book and author that came to mind immediately was The Mad Scientist’s Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke. I read this wonderful novel earlier this year, and in case you missed it, here’s my review. So much has happened since its publication, including a nomination for the Philip K. Dick Award as well as new books and deals for Cassandra, so it’s great to be able to catch up. Without further ado, please join me in welcoming her to The BiblioSanctum and I hope you enjoy the interview!
* * *
Mogsy: Hello, Cassandra! Welcome to the BiblioSanctum and thanks for joining us today!
Cassandra Rose Clarke: Glad to be here!
M: As part of Angry Robot’s Backlist Boost feature, I’d love to talk to you about The Mad Scientist’s Daughter, a book I read and enjoyed earlier this year – and one that I feel is deserving of a lot more attention! For those not familiar with it, can you tell us a bit more about the book?
CRC: The Mad Scientist’s Daughter is a science fiction fairy tale that follows the relationship between Cat, a human woman, and Finn, a life-like android her father brings home when she’s a child. They grow up together, but when Cat becomes an adult, she’s forced to confront what her relationship with Finn really means.
M: From Romeo and Juliet to Cat and Finn, I have a weakness for tales of forbidden love. What made you want to explore this theme?
CRC: I’ve always loved forbidden love, too! In particular I like forbidden love that comes from the characters themselves, where they’re sabotaging their own happiness because of their own biases and misperceptions (as opposed to the sort where the relationship is challenged from the outside). That was one of the big things I wanted to explore with MSD—what are the emotional and moral considerations of being in love with an android?
But at the same time, I also just wanted to tell an epic, angsty love story. One of the big inspirations for this book was actually gothic romances like Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights—I wanted to capture the feel of those books in a science fiction milieu.
M: Finn is an interesting character, being a completely sentient robot that looks and acts human, but at the same time he is specifically programmed to help perform duties for his owners. Did you draw inspiration from anywhere when writing his character?
CRC: Probably my biggest inspiration for Finn was Data, from Star Trek: The Next Generation. I was rewatching the series during the same period that I was working on the book, and it got me thinking about the idea of robots wanting to be human, or wanting to experience human emotion. Part of me wonders why they would want to experience such a thing—it seems like human hubris to assume that a robot, our creation, is automatically going to want to be like us. (Our flesh and blood children don’t turn out like us most of the time.) So with Finn, I was interested in writing a character who did not want to be human but instead had humanity foisted on him by the people around him, including people that he loved and cared for—it wasn’t enough for him to love them as a robot, but he had to love them as a person, too. It ties back into my wanting to look at the implications of falling in love with a robot.
M: Cat ends up in a pretty tough place, torn between her feelings for Finn and knowing that their future together is uncertain. There are a lot of intense, heart-wrenching emotions involved on all sides. Did that present any interesting writing challenges?
CRC: I loooooove writing emotional scenes like that. I find most people, when they’re writing, have certain scenes they write toward, “candy” scenes that help them get through the connecting scenes they may not be as excited about. The heart-wrenching scenes were my candy scenes. I tend to get really emotionally invested in my books and in my characters, and there’s something so cathartic about throwing characters together and having them bounce off each other the way they do in The Mad Scientist’s Daughter. It’s like watching a sad movie. Sometimes you just want to cry at the end of something.
A pic of one of Mogsy’s favorite shirts (sorry, it just seemed so perfect to include it here): Know Your Android ABCs
M: What are your favorite books, movies, shows, stories, etc. about robots, androids, cyborgs and automatons?
CRC: I really like Data on Star Trek, as I talked about above. I also love the synthetics in the Alien movies. There are four of them total and they all have different personalities, different motivations, different levels of self-awareness, and different ways of interacting with the humans around them. I think it’s interesting how what’s essentially a twist in the first movie (“He’s a damn robot!”) became an integral part of the mythology of the series later on. In terms of written robots, one of the best robot stories I’ve ever read is a story called “The Robot’s Twilight Companion,” by Tony Daniels. It’s about a robot-robot, as opposed to an android, and it’s absolutely harrowing and heart-breaking.
M: Of course, you have written a lot of other works, including several Young Adult novels that were published by Strange Chemistry. Briefly can you tell us about those books?
CRC: The YA books are considerably different from Mad Scientist’s Daughter! They’re a series of YA adventure fantasies, the first of which is called The Assassin’s Curse. The book follows the adventures of a pirate named Ananna as she gets tangled up with an accursed assassin named Naji. It is another love story, though!
The first two books in the series form a duology. The third book in the series, The Wizard’s Promise, is the start of a new duology about Hanna, a young fisherman’s apprentice who was named after Ananna and seeks to live up to her namesake. She gets thrown into her own adventure, too! Sadly, plans for completing the duology are up in the air due to the closing of Strange Chemistry this year, although I do hope to finish the series eventually. I really love the characters and the world and want to return to it soon.
M: I’m an avid reader of adult speculative fiction but I’m also a firm believer that the Young Adult genre should not be overlooked. What are some great things about writing YA? You bio also states The Mad Scientist’s Daughter was your first adult novel. Were there any interesting new experiences?
CRC: I actually wrote The Mad Scientist’s Daughter before I wrote my YA series! I began the YA series as a challenge to myself—not to write YA specifically (I wasn’t really thinking about the age group) but to write something plot-driven and centered around adventure and general awesomeness. Having gone through a graduate creative writing program, I was most comfortable with interior-driven literary fiction. Writing The Assassin’s Curse was definitely interesting. One of the biggest differences was that I had to do a lot more rewriting and re-outlining than I did with The Mad Scientist’s Daughter, which more or less came to me wholesale. But it was so satisfying to see The Assassin’s Curse finally come together in the end.
To answer your first question, one of the great things about writing YA, particularly speculative YA, is that you don’t feel as beholden to certain tropes and expectations they way you might in adult science fiction. There’s a lot more rule-breaking that goes in YA that’s a lot of fun to write.
M: I saw recently on your site that you had signed a new book deal with Saga Press. Congratulations! What’s the new book or other projects can we look forward to from you in the future?
CRC: Thank you so much! The new book is another adult novel about robots, although it’s much different in its scope and approach than The Mad Scientist’s Daughter. Its called Our Lady of the Ice and it follows four people living in a domed Argentine colony in Antarctica as various factions—robots, humans in favor of Independence, gangsters—struggle for control of the city. I had a lot of fun writing this one and I can’t wait until its out in the world, which should be fall of next year.
M: I also saw that you were a NaNoWriMo participant! Wrapping things up here, are there any parting words of wisdom you want to share with those (including myself and my co-bloggers!) who will be heading into NaNo this November, or any writing advice in general?
CRC: NaNo is great! The funny thing is that, while I have written 50K on one project in a month (Mad Science Daughter was such a project), I’ve never officially “won” NaNo. Yet I still join up every year, because I love the community that builds up around it! I think anyone interested in writing should participate in NaNo at least once. For those of you who already planning to participate, I think the best thing to remember is that even if you “lose,” you really didn’t. I mean, you still got some words down, right? Whether it’s 50K or 50, you’ve got started on a story, and that’s what counts.
Thanks so much again, Cassandra! It was awesome chatting with you! For more information about Cassandra Rose Clarke and her books, please visit her website at:
Wendy’s Fall Reading List
Posted on September 28, 2014 11 Comments
I’m just finishing up the last book on my Summer Reading List, but since the outdoors currently look like this:
It’s about time I get started on my Fall Reading List. I’m still working on that to-read pile beside my bed, with a focus on my various Worlds Without End Roll-Your-Own Reading Challenges. But with life getting busier and busier with all my commitments, I’m going to keep this list short and sweet and manageable.
Emperor of Thorns continues my obsession with Mark Lawrence’s Jorg of Ancrath, while Parable of the Sower continues my obsession with the works of the incredible Octavia E. Butler. I really enjoyed book one of Fred Warrington’s Aetherial Tales, so it’s time for me to read the sequel for my challenge. My Soul to Keep fulfills several challenges.
My Goodreads challenge says I’m about eight books behind on my 150 book goal, but that’s okay. I think I’ve done pretty well this year, considering all of my other commitments. And the year’s not over yet!
Lootz: Mogsy’s Book Haul
Posted on September 27, 2014 18 Comments
Welcome to this biweekly feature where I showcase all the books I bought/won/received for review in the past fortnight. First, the physical pile:
Fiend – Requested from Blogging for Books because I wanted to give their program a try, plus I found out recently that this is a zombie book! I love zombie books, but they tend to be hit or miss with me, so I hope this one will be good.
Silverblind – Last year one of the first books Tor ever sent me unsolicited was Copperhead, and even though it was the second in a series and I hadn’t read Ironskin, I gave it a shot. To my delight, it was pretty enjoyable! This year Tor once again surprised me when they sent Silverblind, book three. Since I was able to jump on board book two with no problems, I may just check out this follow-up.
Falling Sky – My thanks to Pyr for sending the finished copy of this along, and I’m reminded I should probably read this one soon!
The Free – Two surprises from Orbit Books landed on my doorstep a couple weeks ago, the first being The Free, a title that that had previously escaped my notice until it popped up on NetGalley last month. At the time, I knew too little about the book to put it on my to-read list, but now my interest is piqued and I just might fit it in if I have time.
War Dogs – The second surprise from Orbit, this book might prove to be too “hard sci-fi” for me, but I’ve never read Greg Bear and I’ve always been curious. We actually own a boatload of Bear’s books because my husband was apparently quite a fan of his before we got married, and I know he’s already eyeing my ARC.
Here’s also something different this week that I want to feature. Obviously I’m a avid reader, but I’m also an artist and a gamer, so it probably won’t be a surprise to know I’m a collector of art books, especially from video games. My friend Brian sent me these beauties that he was originally going to toss or bring to the used bookstore, and I was more than happy to take them in and give them a good home! I have played/do play Warcraft and World of Warcraft, and I have to say the art team at Blizzard are always phenomenal.
Not too much to see in the digital pile this week, because I didn’t request or buy anything. The NetGalley TBR is starting to grow out of hand again and let’s face it, it’s not even October but I’ve already put together my reading list for the month and I’d be lucky to get through it as it is. But I did finally get approved for this one book:
Broken Monsters – after sitting as “pending” for weeks, my request finally got approved one day before the book’s release date, but Mulholland also gave me auto-approval! I’ve been looking forward to this for a while, so I’m excited – and I think it will be a great horror/suspense book to read closer to Halloween.
Book Review: Age of Iron by Angus Watson
Posted on September 26, 2014 18 Comments
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of Iron Age
Publisher: Orbit (September 9, 2014)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Age of Iron ended up surprising me in many delightful ways, but what I didn’t expect at all was how addicting it was. It simply grabbed me by the throat and wouldn’t let go. It’s dark, brutal, violent and gritty, and yet I was completely immersed in its harsh, war-torn world.
We begin the story with an introduction to Dug Sealskinner, a mercenary on his way to join up with King Zadar’s grand army at Maidun Castle, hoping for a way to earn some steady coin. But then he is waylaid at Barton, a town that gets attacked and annihilated by the very same people Dug had wished to join. In the aftermath, he meets up with a strange young girl named Spring, and together they encounter Lowa Flynn, formerly one of Zadar’s favored fighters who now finds herself on the run and seeking revenge on the king for her murdered band of warrior women.
King Zadar is a tyrant like no other with his twisted sense of how the world should be. His betrayal of Lowa and failure to capture her has earned him a dangerous enemy, but his killing and pillaging across the country has also made him the target of a young druid named Ragnall, who too seeks to make his way to Maidun to rescue his kidnapped fiancée. Ragnall and his mentor Drustan end up joining with our trio, and together the five make up a rather motley party of unlikely adventurers, all with a common foe.
Very little is known about life in Iron Age Britain; that the book began with this fact and a “this is what really happened” kind of statement in its foreword made me wonder what I’ll be in for. Large swaths of the book filled with history lessons, perhaps? But no, while we do indeed get a torrent of rich, scintillating details about the world, all of it no doubt painstakingly researched and cross checked and checked again by the author, none of it felt blatant or overtly shoved down my throat.
In fact, Watson placed storytelling and characters first, which is what I think made the book’s pacing so successful. He gave backstories to even the more minor characters, in a way that didn’t bog down the story but instead enhanced it, as every detail seems purposely placed to provide insight into the people and life at the time. The plot is also constantly driving forward, and there aren’t many places where it loses steam. History clearly has a role in this book, but the ultimate goal here is epic adventure, and we certainly don’t sacrifice storytelling or momentum.
It also wouldn’t feel complete without a bit of magic, which brings us to the druids. I admit I was very much drawn to the mention of them in the book’s description, as I’ve always been interested in the subject. And the druids of Age of Iron are fascinating indeed. There are all kinds of druids – healers, soothsayers, magicians, some who are benevolent and others who are bloodthirsty and depraved. This latter sort of druid seems to get the most attention, in the form of Felix, the druid who serves King Zadar. As cruel and wicked Zadar is, Felix makes him look like a snuffling choir boy. Some of the druid’s deeds are hard to read about, described in all its gruesome, gory details, and Watson doesn’t spare his readers one bit in this area.
I guess here’s where I should mention that no one is safe in this book – men, women, children and animals are all subjected to some horrific, violent fates, and it can get quite graphic – disturbingly so. If you’re squeamish or turned off about that kind of stuff, here’s a caveat: you might want to stay far away.
And yet, Age of Iron isn’t all doom and gloom, and blood and guts. There is humor, and there are inherently good people in this book. However, none of them are so black-and-white as that either. Characters like Dug, Lowa, Spring, and Ragnall serve as good counterpoints to the depravity and viciousness of people like Zadar and Felix, but our so-called heroes aren’t without their weaknesses. They may endear themselves to you, make you laugh or make you root for them, but be prepared to despise them sometimes too, because in the end they are also flawed people and simply trying to survive a world trying to do them in. I was all the more impressed by the well-roundedness of these characters, and whether you love them or hate them, I thought they were all very developed and well written.
Needless to say, I can’t wait for the next book. Age of Iron is one hell of a novel. The polish and skill in the writing makes it hard to believe it’s his fictional debut, but you can bet Angus Watson’s got my full attention. I’ll definitely be watching for his future works as well as the progress of this series with great interest.
A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Orbit Books!
Tough Traveling: Companions
Posted on September 25, 2014 18 Comments
The Thursday feature “Tough Traveling” is the brainchild of Nathan of Review Barn, who has come up with the excellent idea of making a new list each week based on the most common tropes in fantasy, as seen in The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynn Jones. Nathan has invited anyone who is interested to come play along, so be sure to check out the first link for more information. Compulsive list-maker that I am, I’m very excited to take part!
This week’s tour topic is: COMPANIONS
You will normally meet them for the first time at the outset of the tour. They are picked from among the following: Bard, Female Mercenary, Gay mage, Imperious Female, Large Man, serious soldier, Slender Youth, Small Man, Talented Girl, Teenage Boy, Unpleasant Stranger, and Wise Old Stranger.
Wendy’s Picks
It’s probably cheating to add Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien to any of these lists…
Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines
Isaac Vainio’s ability to pull almost anything from a book is a bibliophile’s dream, but it’s his badass dryad companion, Lena, who often pulls his butt out of the fire.
Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed
This one puts an interesting spin on the companions, by starting with an enigmatic older wizard, and adding a young warrior as his companion. A young shapeshifting woman soon joins them, as well as an older couple, a mage and an alchemist.
Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
Prince Jorg refers to them as his road brothers, and each one is talented in various forms of murder and/or mayhem. His most notable companion, and my favourite of the bunch, is the Nuban.
The Barrow by Mark Smylie
Another dark twist on the companions. Stjepan Black-Heart is joined by a mercenaries, a brothel owner, a young woman disguised as a man, a scandalized noble and the sister at the centre of that scandal.
Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson
Alif is pretty hopeless, and mostly remains that way throughout the book. It’s a good thing he has companions like Vikram the jinn to guide him, and most especially, Dina, the level-headed girl next door who defies preconceived Western notions about Muslim women.
Mogsy’s Picks
I’ve been reading a lot of quest narrative fantasies as of late, so like Wendy, I’m pretty happy for the chance to talk about some of my more recent reads, which I don’t think I’ve featured in past Tough Traveling lists yet.
Gleam by Tom Fletcher
Talk about some interesting companions. It’s a wild whacky world in Gleam, so it only makes sense to have wild whacky characters. Alan enlists the help of several friends, new and old, on his quest for some magic mushrooms, including the mysterious and deadly Mapmaker called Bloody Nora.
Age of Iron by Angus Watson
Dug Sealskinner is just a simple mercenary hoping to join up with an army and make some coin, but he can’t seem to help collecting companions along the way. First a strange child named Spring, then Lowa, an exiled warrior seeking her revenge, and Ragnall, a druid trying to reunite with his kidnapped fiancee.
Scourge of the Betrayer by Jeff Salyards
Arkamondos, a young scribe finds himself hired on to chronicle the exploits of a rough band of Syldoon led by the formidable Captain Braylar Killcoin. Despite being a group of brutal, gritty warriors, every one of the Syldoon fighters display their individual quirks and qualities that made them each very memorable.
The Copper Promise by Jen Williams
Enter an unlikely group of diverse heroes in this fun adventure with just a touch of darkness: Lord Frith, jaded and broken and looking to avenge his murdered family. Sebastian, an exiled knight whose only crime was falling in love with another man. Last but not least, Wydrin, the cheeky mercenary girl also known as the Copper Cat, who has a scary obsession with sharp blades.
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett
Shara’s companion, the unforgettable and indomitable Sigrud is a fiercely loyal bodyguard and helper, and he can fight like no one else. Turyin Mulaghesh, the soldier turned governor, also joins up with Shara to help her uncover the mysteries of Bulikov.
Waiting on Wednesday 09/24/14
Posted on September 24, 2014 13 Comments
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets us feature upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!
Mogsy’s Pick:
The Autumn Republic by Brian McClellan: February 10, 2015 (Orbit)
The Powder Mage trilogy is one of the more interesting fantasy epics that I’ve read in recent years, I’m very much looking forward to the conclusion.
“Adopest has fallen…
Field Marshal Tamas returns to his beloved country to find that for the first time in history, the capital city of Adro lies in the hands of a foreign invader. His son is missing and his allies are indistinguishable from his foes, and reinforcements are several weeks away.
With the Kez still bearing down upon them and without clear leadership, the Adran army has turned against itself. Inspector Adamat is drawn into the very heart of this new mutiny with promises of finding his kidnapped son.
And Taniel Two-shot, hunted by men he once thought his friends, must safeguard the only chance Adro has of getting through this war without being destroyed…”
Book Review: The Godless by Ben Peek
Posted on September 23, 2014 17 Comments
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of Children
Publisher: Tor (UK: August 14, 2014), Thomas Dunne (US: August 19, 2014)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Godless caught me off guard a bit, as it ended up not being the kind of book I was expecting at all. Mainly, it doesn’t read like it was meant to have a traditional story plot, and I don’t doubt that could be the reason for the many reviews I’ve seen describing it as confusing or difficult to summarize. Books like these are generally not my cup of tea, but The Godless did manage to hold me rapt with its epic world and fascinating mythology.
Thousands of years ago, the gods warred. After their conflict, the dead or dying ended up scattered across the world, becoming part of the forests, mountains, and other features of the land. Since then, men and women have awakened with strange and spectacular powers that are derived from the fallen gods’ bodies. The Godless takes place mostly in Mirea, a city built by a massive stone wall that spans a mountain range which houses the body of one of these gods, Ger.
The book follows the lives of several characters: Ayae, the young apprentice of a cartographer who discovers she is “cursed” after emerging completely unharmed from the flames that devoured her shop; Bueralan, an exiled baron who leads a team of mercenaries hired by Mirea to sabotage Leera, a neighboring enemy kingdom; and Zaifyr, a mysterious, centuries-old mystic who teaches and advises Ayae after the emergence of her powers.
The Godless is indeed a bit difficult to describe, as I found it overall heavy on ideas and history while coming in on the lighter side when it came to plot and character development. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Even though books like this aren’t typically my taste, they are chockfull of potential if written well. To its credit, The Godless did keep me interested, but it didn’t have the momentum I desired. While the concepts of the gods and the individuals with special powers are nothing short of extraordinary, I couldn’t help but feel that something was missing from the story, a lack of a unifying thread tying it all together which would have made this one a truly engaging read.
The characters themselves are well-formed with very complete backstories, but their personalities seemed muted somehow. I felt no particular affinity towards any of them, and despite the time spent with each character, I regarded them from an emotional distance. The Godless also isn’t something I would call fast-paced or a page-turner, though it does have its moments at the beginning and towards the end. There’s a lot of detail to take in in between, meant to be absorbed and savored, so I wasn’t surprised this one ended up being a slower read.
I think I went into this expecting something akin to a heroic fantasy, but that wasn’t how it played out, and it was through no fault of the book or the author. By design, the narrative seemed more interested in emphasizing the complex philosophy and theological ideas, the political history between Miera and Leera, as well as the lore and mythology behind the gods’ war and the Cursed.
It’s a compelling read, and there’s no denying that. This first book is a great introduction to a series with a boatload of potential. Still, while I enjoyed reading about the world of The Godless with its diverse peoples and cultures, its rich history and politics, my own priority would be characters and story. But obviously, we all have different tastes. If the sort of world building I described in the above paragraph is something you enjoy, then this book would be perfect for you.
A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to Tor UK!
Panels: Battlefields: Night Witches
Posted on September 22, 2014 Leave a Comment
Discrimination was the least of the problems that the Night Witches of Russia would face in World War II. Learn more about these brave women here or in Garth Ennis’ Battlefields: Night Witches.
AudioBook Review: A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan
Posted on September 22, 2014 14 Comments
A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan
Genre: Fantasy, Dragons
Series: Memoirs by Lady Trent #1
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates (February 2013)
Author Info: swantower.com
Narrator Info: Facebook
Wendy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book was not exactly what I expected. That is to say, there isn’t a lot about dragons, much less their history. I was expecting something that could almost be an accompaniment to His Majesty’s Dragon, and, if I wanted to get my headcanon on, I could manage a good mash up, with this book being like a prequel where Lady Trent and her ilk are learning about the enigmatic creatures. But alas, this is actually a memoir *of* Lady Trent, by the lady herself. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if you’re looking for dragons, they be not really here.
Instead, we get a look into the life of a young woman with an insatiably curious scientific mind that takes particular interest in the insect-like sparklings in her backyard. These tiny creatures would be the instruments of her fate in many ways, first sparking her interest in dragons, and later inspiring her continued research that leads her and her husband across the world to find real live dragons.
I’ve mentioned a few times now that I am steadily growing tired of speculative media where women are the inferior of the species, but sometimes, despite my misgivings, I can appreciate a book that sticks to this concept if it is done well. Most often, such stories are written by women, with Lois McMaster Bujold, being the most prominent example that springs to mind. Actually, prior to reading this book, Bujold was the only author I consider to write underprivileged women well, by showing how they understand their role as lesser beings, and work within it to achieve their goals and prove themselves, and are respected by men who aren’t bound to their society’s close-minded views. Brennan allows Isabella Trent to speak plainly about the role of females in society, though Isabella does not necessarily rail against it. She simply realizes that her passions do not coincide with societal norms for her sex. Fortunately, she is loved and respected by men who will not simply indulge her desire for knowledge, but encourage and enable it.
A recent essay by a young girl who lauds the character of Hermoine Granger from the Harry Potter series, speaks about how Hermoine’s skill and intelligence is what is respected about the character, without her ever needing to play the damsel in distress to get the boys to help her out. Isabella has to struggle a bit to make the men in her life understand how important her study of dragons is to her, but once they do understand, they quickly respect her for her intelligence and consider her their equal in as much.
In terms of the dragons, as I mentioned, we don’t see much of them, even during the pivotal and climactic moments. But I liked the way Brennan maintained Trent’s critical and scientific mind when the dragons are present–especially at a particularly critical moment. It makes her seem emotionally detached from everything and everyone else, but this too is addressed well by Brennan, and when Isabella does allow herself emotions, I found it to be very moving. In fact, I was surprised by my reaction to the ending. I had not quite realized how deeply I had become involved.
I give some credit there to Kate Reading, whose narration, as always, is impeccable. She gives such nobility, humility, dignity and strength to the women she narrates.
I also liked Isabella’s relationship with Dagmira, the irascible maid servant assigned to her when she travels across the world to study dragons attacking Dagmira’s village. It is an atypical relationship that never quite reaches the point of friendship, though grudging respect creeps in from time to time. It is a refreshing and sometimes amusing companionship.
The political intrigue and illegal comings and goings that eventually take over the plot in the second half of the book are the story’s only flaw. It all works, and thankfully does not slow anything down, but at times, the connection to the dragons feels a bit tenuous and forced. When things turn in this direction, the lack of dragons becomes more glaring.
Still, a very enjoyable read, and an unusual take on ‘history’ and science that brings dragons to life.
The BiblioSanctum 