The Voyage of the Basilisk: A Memoir by Lady Trent, Audio Edition

The Voyage of the Basilisk: A Memoir by Lady Trent, Audio Edition (2015) Marie Brennan narrated by Kate Reading

Six years after her return for Eriga, Lady Trent and her companions set out for a two year journey around the world, to study dragons.

For my own part, I found my quarters at first shockingly small, then acceptable, then unbearable, and finally as unworthy of comment as the water in which a fish swims.

As with her previous travels, it is more than just popping into places and watching dragons, but also planning, science, and far more politics than any one woman should have to deal with.

Contrary to popular assumption, going on an expedition around the world is not merely a matter of obtaining a ship and charting a course. There are visas to be considered, and bureaucracy to navigate when those visas fail to arrive in time, expire too soon, or meet with blank stares on the receiving end.

This series is so marvelous and delightful, with fantasy mixing with history and science and anthropology and making something wholly wonderful.

Yet, it doesn’t gloss over the sexism faced by female scientists in the past as well as in the modern era.

(When I finally did confront Mr. Arcott, after my return to Falchester, he had the cheek to try and argue that his intellectual thievery had been a compliment and a favor. After all, it meant my work was good enough to be accepted into ibn Khattusi’s series— but of course they never would have taken a submission from a woman, so he submitted it on my behalf. What I said in reply is not fit to be printed here, as by then I had spent a good deal of time in the company of sailors, and had at my disposal a vocabulary not commonly available to ladies of quality.

This series is SUCH a DELIGHT.

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Rating: 8.5/10

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