A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent, Audio Book

A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent, Audio Book (2013) Marie Brennan narrated by Kate Reading

After Michael admitted that he hadn’t read A Natural History of Dragons, I decided that would be our next listen.

Isabella loves dragons. As a child she got into trouble trying to see one, and her fascination brought her and her first husband together.

This first book is her childhood, how she met her first husband, and her first research trip, to Vystrana.

This book is so very good.

(W)ith the hindsight brought by greater age, I see myself for the naive and inexperienced young woman I was. We all begin in such a manner, though. There is no quick route to experience.

I mean, it’s just delightful.

Young ladies are also expected to wax rhapsodic about the charms of the places they visit. Men, when they write about their travels, are permitted to complain, and to assert the natural superiority of their homelands. While I am relieved that my sex forestalled me from committing to print any sins of the latter sort, I must take this opportunity to say what I could not admit then:

I hated Drustanev.

Yes, it’s a fantasy, but the world building is amazing. So much work went into, well everything.

I often wonder what it is about dragons that makes them prefer extreme climates— or is it just that we’ve pushed them back as we’ve spread out?

Plus, it’s just fun.

(Crawling in a dress, for those gentlemen who have never had occasion to try it, is an exercise in frustration, all but guaranteed to produce feelings of homicidal annoyance in the crawler.)

It is a delight, and the audio is just as well done.

Published by Macmillan Audio
Rating: 8/10

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