My life in books

The final volume in Marie Brennan’s Lady Trent’s memoirs recounts perhaps the most adventurous, and certainly the most fantastical, of all of the famous naturalist’s expeditions. In Within the Sanctuary of Wings, Lady Trent takes on the virtually impassable Mrtyahaima mountain range which separates Antiope - this secondary world’s version of Europe - from the Asian-inspired Yelang and its neighbouring countries, in her quest for new species of dragons.

The political situation is volatile. While full-scale hostilities have not broken out, there have been an increasing number of clashes between Scirlander and Yelangese forces around the world, and both sides are scouting their respective sides of the Mrtyahaimas, looking for ways of moving troops across the mountains and launching a formal attack.

Lady Trent is drawn into this when Thu Phim-la, formerly a scout for the Yelang army in the Mrtyahaima region, arrives at a lecture being given by Suhail in Scirland. He tells her that he has seen the remains of a hitherto unknown dragon species in the mountains, and promises to lead her to the region if she will argue the case of the Khiam Siu, a dissident movement within Yelang, who are seeking Scirland’s aid in deposing the current emperor and placing their own candidate on the throne. As it happens, the Queen of Scirland is somewhat in sympathy with the Yelangese dissidents, and after some political wrangling, the deal is struck. Scirland will support the Yelangese dissidents, in return for peace with Yelang, and as thanks for her involvement, Lady Trent will have the aid of the Scirland army, in the form of air transport - three of the zeppelin-like craft referred to as caerligers - and pilots, to transport her group into the mountains, and the guidance of Thu Phim-la, to pursue her quest in the highest mountains of the known world. Accompanying Isabella and Thu are her long-time associate Tom Wilkers, her husband Suhail, and Lieutenant Chendley, a military attache and mountaineering expert.

Naturally, things do not go well. They encounter winds that blow them off course, and are forced to land, but one of the caerligers misses the emergency landing and crashes, and must be destroyed to prevent it from falling into Yelangese hands. With only two airships, the full expedition can travel no further by air, so the army men proceed on their own covert mission, leaving Isabella and her companions to travel on to their destination on foot.

Thu leads them to a village not far from the site where he found the unusual specimen, but due to various delays, they have arrived in the wrong season for climbing into the high mountains, and are forced to wait. But eventually, they set off to climb to the point where Thu found the first specimen, and where he believes ha saw evidence of a second. The climb is perilous, but they are finally rewarded, with the discovery of the fully preserved body of a draconic species unlike anything any of them have seen before - except in the murals and other artwork depicting, it was believed, the gods of the ancient Draconean civilisation.

Before they have a chance to move the frozen remains, a massive avalanche separates the party, leaving Isabella alone, injured, and lost in the snow, not knowing if any of the others have survived. But then three of the beings long thought to be the Draconean gods rescue her from certain death and take her to their village. By the time her injuries have started to heal, winter is beginning, and even if the Draconeand were inclined to let her go - which they are not, though she is well treated - travel would be impossible.

Though she is deeply worried about the fate of her husband and companions, Isabella does what any scientist would do - she observes, collects data, and attempt to find a means if communication. A large part of the book is devoted to her experiences during the winter spent in the area that Isabella calls the Sanctuary, cared for, and guarded, by her three rescuers - Kahhe, Ruzt and Zam, sisters who are tending the yak herds belonging to their village while the other villagers spend the winter in hibernation. During this time, she learns their language, and a great deal about their ancient history, and current ways of life.

Eventually, Isabella meets the leaders of the Draconeans, and convinces them that she is not a threat to them, and they agree to let her go, knowing that eventually humans, who destroyed their ancestors, will find them. Isabella hopes to find a way to prepare humanity for the knowledge that they are not the only intelligent species on the planet, and to create a measure of sympathy toward this small community of survivors - but neither she nor the Draconean elders are confident that she can.

And of course, nothing goes according to plan. How it all works out is a triumph of many coincidences, but history often works that way, and this is a history, albeit that of an invented world. But it is a welcome conclusion, one that provides the best possible outcome for the Draconeans, and that made me very happy indeed.

And it is with this, her most challenging expedition, her greatest discovery, and her most important involvement in the politics of her world, that the memoirs of Lady Trent come to an end.

Throughout the entire series, Brennan’s message has been that while science, the quest for knowledge, can sometimes bring about unintended consequences due to the imperfect passions of human beings, it is nonetheless a vital enterprise, that the increase of knowledge is a good in itself, and it is up to us to use our knowledge wisely and justly. As Lady Trent says at the conclusion of her memoirs:

“If there is any conclusion to my tale (apart from my death, which I hope is yet a good way off), it is that the heart of it will never truly end. Although my memoirs are of course the story of my life and career, they are also a story of discovery: of curiosity, and investigation, and learning, not only regarding dragons but many other topics. I take comfort in knowing that others will carry this tale forward, continually unfolding new secrets of the world in which we live, and hopefully using that understanding more often for good than for ill.”

Voyage of the Basilisk is the third novel in Marie Brennan’s delightful series concerning the adventures of Isabella Camhurst, Lady Trent, scholar, naturalist, explorer, and student in particular of the fascinating subject of dragons. Lady Trent’s adventures take place within a secondary world that is inspired, in some very obvious ways, by nineteenth century England and Europe, and shares in both the sexist and colonial prejudices of that time, prejudices to which Lady Trent herself is a prime source of resistance.

As the novel opens, Isabella is about to embark on an extended sea voyage on the RSS Basilisk, captained by Dione Aekinitos. Her goal is to study dragons and related species in their native habitats all around the world. Travelling with her are her assistant Tom Wilkins, her young son Jacob, and Jacob’s governess, Abby Carew.

Lady Trent’s voyages take her into the Arctic, where she and Tom necropsy a sea serpent killed by the crew of the Basilisk, attempting to determine if the arctic sea serpents are of a different species than those found in tropical climates. She observes wyverns in the mountains of northern Lezhnema. And across the ocean, in Otholé, she studies the quetzalcoatl, the feathered dragons native to that continent. And in Yelang, she swims with the dragon turtles and ventures into the interior to seek out the tê lêng dragons, one of many draconic and related species known to inhabit that part of the world. In the Broken Sea, she examines komodo dragons and fire lizards.

As she recounts the events of her voyage, through to its truly magnificent and unexpected climax in a sea battle in the Broken Sea, Lady Trent often makes side comments about what the reactions to her exploits have been, often dwelling on the impropriety of many aspects of her adventures. As a woman, unmarried and often unchaperoned (the governess Abby not being the extremely adventurous type, and some of her expeditions being unsafe for her son), Lady Trent faces a great deal of rumour and scandal. Her associate Tom is assumed to be her lover, as is almost every other man she mentions in her dispatches home to the news organisation that has partly funded her world voyage. Perhaps the most scandalous alleged liaison is her growing friendship with an archaeologist she meets in Otholé, who is studying the ruins left behind by the ancient people known as the Draconiand. Suhail is Akhian, this world’s parallel to the Middle East and Muslim cultures, the speculation among those reading her dispatches - which do not quite conceal her appreciation of Suhail’s intelligence and charm - is intense.

The charm of the Lady Trent novels is their close resemblance to the journals of the extraordinary women of our own world, the Hester Stanhopes and Gertrude Bells who explored parts of the world deemed ‘exotic’ by European standards, some if them, like the imaginary Lady Trent, scientists in search of new truths, others simply wanderers with a desire to encounter different cultures - though more often than not, doing so from the perspective of presumed European superiority.

The other aspect of the Lady Trent novels that attracts me - beyond the whole ‘woman who engages in wonderfully transgressive activities like the pursuit of knowledge and a life of adventure and discovery’ thing - is the way that Brennan depicts the way that science was conducted when in its early years. The feeling of the world as an open book with so little known, and the hands-on researches that established the foundations of methods of research and deduction, hypothesis and testing, refinement and correction of earlier theories as more facts are observed. It’s a perfectly imagined look at how the pioneers of intellectual discovery did science.

Marie Brennan returns to the world of the Onyx Court in this novella, Deeds of Men. Set between the events of Midnight Never Come and In Ashes Lie, it tells the story of how Michael Deven, human ally, lover, and eventually consort of Lune, the Elven Queen of the Onyx Court of London, comes to select his successor as Prince of the Stone and advisor to the Elven Queen.

Weaving the politics of the Elven Court into the real history of England is one of the most interesting and enjoyable things that Brennan does with this series, and the various Princes of the Stone play a crucial part in this, as the bridges between human and elven worlds. Deeds of Men is at once a character study of two of the humans to hold the title and an exciting adventure story with one murder to solve and another to prevent.

Tate Hallaway, Precinct 13

A somewhat more serious foray into urban fantasy than Hallaway's previous series, but still sparkling with the wit that marked her Garnet Lacey novels. The protagonist, Alex Connor, a recently elected coroner living in Pierre, South Dakota, soon learns that one of the local precincts doesn't exactly handle your run-of-the-mill crimes, and its cops and their methods are definietly not mundane. It's quite a turn-around for Alex, who's spent most of her life being labelled an psychologically unstable by her stepmother and various doctors because she can see thing most people can't. Suddenly, her differences are an asset. Plus, dragons. Well, one dragon, anyway. Hallaway (nom de urban fantasy plume of Lyda Morehouse) is currently serialising the sequel, Unjust Cause, here: http://www.wattpad.com/story/14069466-unjust-cause - so once you've read Precinct 13 and found out how much fun it is, go and support the sequel there. Please.



Marie Brennan, A Natural History of Dragons

Sometimes the blurb says it all:

All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world's preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day.

Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her lamentable eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the perilous mountains of Vystrana, where she made the first of many historic discoveries that would change the world forever.

Yes, it's the story of an intrepid young wonan in a world somewhat like our own, ca. 1880 or so (i.e., the height t of Victoriana) who defies gender expectations to become a natural scientist and who specialises in the study of dragons. And it's delightful. Brennan has captured the voice of the period, and presents us with a compelling heroine, an alternative Earth-like world with similarities and differences to our own history (much like Naomi Novik's Temeraire novels), and dragons. I am entranced.



Hazard Adams, The Truth About Dragons: An Anti-Romance

I've read that this is an 'underground classic' - if so, it's deservedly so.

It's the 1970s, and Firedrake the dragon lives in the hills near Santa Barabara, guarding some very important secrets, gathering treasures, and observing the progress of humankind. Finding a cassette recorder, Firedrake embarks on a project - part diary, part record of musings about many years of observing humans, and part attempt to tell the truth about dragons, from a draconic perspective. Wise and witty, and well worth reading.

Midnight Never Come, Marie Brennan.

It’s 1554 and Mary Tudor wears the English crown. Her sister Elizabeth lies in the Tower, expecting at any moment to hear the news that her death warrant has been signed. To preserve her life and gain her throne, Elizabeth makes an alliance with another would-be queen, Invidiana, who seeks rulership over all the faerie of England. They swear to help each other to their respective thrones – but where Elizabeth is the true queen of England, Invidiana is at heart a usurper. Though affairs may appear to go well in Elizabeth's court, Invidiana's Onyx court becomes a place of fear and corruption, and the pact between the two queens, which now keeps an unfit queen on her throne just as surely as it originally brought a fit queen to hers, will be challenged by a young courtier from Elizabeth’s world, and a secret agent with mixed loyalties from Invidiana’s court.

As I’ve mentioned before, there’s something that’s just so thematically right about bringing Faerie to Elizabeth’s court, and Marie Brennan has written a new and interesting variation on a theme that’s as old as Spenser and Shakespeare.