via
https://ift.tt/2DShne4themonsterblogofmonsters:
Previously - Monsterblog Recommends: Discworld
Before I start you should all go and yell at @theload for this post, because they got me into this series. This is a series set in not-our-world in a time period roughly equivalent to the Victorian era, where in the main character, the eponymous Lady Trent, goes against societal expectations to study her first love:
Dragons.
Marie Brennan’s Lady Trent Series [a… probably slightly spoilery rec]
[this is how the books start out. DRAGONS FOR EVERYONE]
1. WHAT IS THE LADY TRENT SERIES?
The story is set in a fantasy world where certain countries and cultures map to our world. The big differences are thus: the predominant religion seems to be based firmly on Judaism and there are dragons.
So many dragons, it’s awesome. Now, I’ve gone into this a little before over on @hapennydreams while rather drunk, which you may read Here, though warning for minor spoilers. The story starts with On the Natural History of Dragons, and details the childhood of Lady Trent - when she was but Isabella Hendemore, obsessed with the sparklings in the garden and the drake-wolf terrorising the local farmers - to her first marriage, making her Isabella Camherst, after she impressed her eventual spouse with her knowledge of dragons at an exhibit in town. This eventually leads to the two of them and some friends going on an expedition to study winged dragons in Vystrana (which maps to Eastern Europe, culturally and linguistically).
Later stories detail her adventures in Eriga (mapping to Africa, with Isabella herself interacting with multiple characters), on a round-the-world trip to observe Sea Serpents and collect some other specimens and incidentally the book wherein she meets her eventual second husband, in Akhia (something akin to the Arab states and the Ottoman Empire) where she is part of a Scirling (Scirland maps to Britain) study to try to breed dragons in captivity, and lastly going through Yelang (mapping to China and a few other areas of East Asia) to the eponymous Sanctuary of Wings in order to study a new specimen of dragon found frozen in the ice…. that may be a specimen of the gods ancient Draconeans (a combo of Ancient Egypt and Atlanteans, but dragon-centric).
Throughout this you get not only the personal story if Isabella, but her interactions with her son, her friends, her colleagues, a myriad cultures (where we see both her biases regarding them as a young woman, and her admission as an older woman that she did not act as well as she could), so many dragon types, you get to see the world build around her as you learn about the nature of dragons, you get to see her facing sexism in a realistic fashion and having to contend with what she wants vs. what is expected of her and the fact she cannot simply do all the things she wants because it reflects on her entire gender.
It also has some really interesting stuff regarding possible autism (both Isabella and her friend Natalie have very specific focussed interests that they obsess over sometimes to the exclusion of all else. For Isabella it’s dragons, for Natalie it’s mathematics and engineering), asexuality (it’s not stated as such explicitly in the books but it is strongly suggested and confirmed in an author interview that Natalie does not feel attraction to men and did not finds such interactions with women to hold her attention), gender issues (both gender politics and feminism but also how other cultures view gender; in Voyage of the Basilisk we interact with a trans character) and cultural differences.
We also have a very interesting on-going plot regarding the frangibility of dragonbone (in this universe it crumbles relatively quickly after death), the trouble of trying to preserve it, the risks to dragons on it’s preservation, as it’s light and flexible and thus ideal for caeligers (something between a zeppelin and a hot air balloon), the struggle to synthesise dragon bone, and how a conservationist releasing the knowledge of how to create synthesised dragonbone is treated as treason - because science and politics are forever intertwined, even if we wish it were otherwise.
It’s a damn good series.
2. Why I’m recommending it.
Well let’s start with this passage:
[img src, thank you @bookphile for posting these images]
In the Lady Trent books it’s not symbolic feminism or exceptional feminism, it’s just straight-up a woman wanting to pursue her interests and being painfully aware that her successes will result in her being raised above other women, while her failings will speak for every woman. Isabella refuses exceptionalism, because she knows it’s a lie.
Beyond that, these books just suck you in. They do enough worldbuilding off the bat to give you a sense of where you start and once you’re settled they give you story and world as required. You’re not expected to grasp everything immediately, and stuff is reiterated and dealt with as need be; these stories are written as memoirs when Isabella is much older, she has the benefit of hindsight and she uses it. She talks about her attitudes towards culture, she talks about the racism experienced by the Moulish and other Erigan cultures, and how their efforts are minimised while her own is blown out of proportion. In part of her, as an older woman, pointing out her own selfishness in her interactions in that period of her life, she also points out the bullshit of how these completely autonomous and independent human beings are being dismissed so she, a privileged white woman (at least in the context of the world) may be raised up.
The study of dragons is fascinating, not just how they work, but how they’re classified and the studies on how one can truly define a dragon from the various “True” dragons and “lesser” dragons around the world. Added onto this is the study of the Draconeans and the gradual reveal of that culture (and MARIE BRENNAN IF YOU’RE READING THIS I WOULD PAY YOU AS MUCH AS I COULD MUSTER IF YOU WOULD WRITE A PIECE ABOUT ANCIENT DRACONEAN CULTURE AND HISTORY).
There’s also some pretty great stuff in the fact that… Isabella has friends both male and female and she doesn’t denigrate the women and nor does she have sexual tension with all of the men. She has perfectly functional and friendly relationships with most of them, with more romantic interactions going to her first husband and eventual second husband, and a more antagonistic interaction with her colleague Tom… with whom she eventually becomes firm friends. They grate at each other and bicker a lot, but they both face different troubles in being acknowledged for their work (Isabella as a woman, and Tom as a working class man, and both of them trying to prove themselves to a rich, upper class old boys club) and as the books go on they realise and acknowledge this, and will back one another up even if they’re in the middle of an argument.
It also introduces one character, Suhail, pectorals first as he dives shirtless off a cliff for kicks during his off-time from studying local ruins in hope of finding out more information on the Draconeans.
Pectorals first. Right into the ocean. Their boat passes him as he swims back to shore.
It’s a good scene.
3. Less Good Things / Trigger Warnings
Uhhh. I guess institutional/societal sexism is one? It’s dealt with on the regs, given the setting, and its also handled in some surprisingly interesting ways that will make you think. In the piece I wrote on hapenny I mention something that happens in the second book that really isn’t something you’d immediately consider as being an aspect of sexism - and it’s something that even the modern world can be guilty of.
There is some culture clash - and some outright expression of racism at various points - and even old Isabella may grate a bit; there’s still a slight sense of her not fully getting it, though it’s also clear that she gets it more as an older woman that she did in her youth. She’s also very headstrong, which she admits to as a fault, though she doesn’t always learn all she could from it.
There’s also pretty direct discussion of hunting dragons for study. Given when this is set it’s understandable, but if you’re a conservationist it may be uncomfortable for you to read, even with the book also discussing, in the form of old Isabella looking back, how times have changed and methods of study are now different.
4. SPOILERS and Further Points
Guuuuuys you’re gonna love the Draconeans and the study of the cultures and how the gender stuff is handled in all forms. If you like this blog and/or like dragons the dragon naturalism is gonna do so much for you I swear to the gods. If you’re sick of every fantasy story having one monolithic religion GUYS THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD THERE’S THE MAGISTERIAL FAITH WHICH IS BASICALLY FANTASY JUDAISM BUT THERE’S DIFFERENT SECTS AND ITS SO GOOOOOOOD.
Read this series guys SERIOUSLY.
And if you read it and like it, feel free to gush at me about it. Or @theload. They’re to blame for getting me into this series as well.
5. Further Reading
Not sure if you wanna spend the money to get one of these books/can’t be bothered to go to the library for it? There’s a short story available for free on tor.com which has much the same flavour as the main series, albeit told as letters published in a journal as opposed to a memoir. You may find it here: From the Editorial Page of the Falchester Weekly Review. The author’s website you may find over Here; there are excerpts and art available on individual pages for the books. Additionally, tor.com has a number of articles about it both from the author and not, you can find those Here.
As linked above Here is my drunken ramble about this series on hapenny, and I have already referenced the books on this blog in my Mokèlé-mbèmbé post.
@dragon-discourse has a fantastic collation of all of the dragon information found throughout the books, which you can read over Here.
It also has a TVTropes page, for those of you who wanna look at it from that angle, you can find that Here.
YESSSSS. I have these on my bookshelf. A+++ would recommend to any dragon fans.
(Your picture was not posted)