#memoirs by lady trent

[shayberri789]

Underrated Book Series Recommendations

Here are some recommendations for series I think don't get half as much hype or attention as they deserve. The first page has book details, the second has a summary and my review/opinion of it!

I've created plain text versions - these with image descriptions in the ALT - of the reviews below the cut for legibility.

#shay posts #I have another series to add but I first need to reread it since its been a while #also gotta get my hands on the rest of the series #its so under-appreciated that trying to find it is difficult lol #book recommendation #book rec #super powereds #a natural history of dragons #memoirs by lady trent #cradle #cradle series #wei shi lindon arelius #wei shi lindon #my hero acedamia #boku no hero academia #bnha

[terapsina]

#2 for the book worm ask game!

(ask game)

2. Favorite fantasy book(s).

(Eeeeexcellent, I do love fantasy books. Though how I'm gonna narrow it to only a few I've got no idea. Okay. I'm going to remove the very obvious choices like Lord of the Rings (though it is one of my faves)).

---

Monstrous Regiment. I love the entire Discworld series (especially The Witches) but I've also got a huge soft spot in my heart for Terry Pratchett's take on 'a girl dresses like a boy to go to war' (and thinks of everything except some spare socks in- erm... the right place). Along with Polly, the squad consists of a vampire, a troll, an Igor, a religious fanatic and two very, very close "friends" (and yes, the official summary put the friends in quotes too). And everyone has their own secret.

I love basically everything about this book and I can't tell you guys any of it because it would spoil all the fun.

The Goblin Emperor. This one's a story filled with light. Maia the half goblin son of the elven Emperor was never supposed to take the throne (or to ever even be at court. because racism). And then everyone ahead of him dies in a single "accident" and suddenly he's the new Emperor. Maia is a good person, and a kind one, and despite everything that gets thrown at him he keeps hold of that understanding of right and wrong and refuses to bend.

(I have to mention that the language of the writing is kinda hard to get into in the beginning, and the characters's have very complicated and long names, but once you get into it it really did enhance the story for me).

Good Omens. An Angel and a Demon try to stop the apocalypse and instead lose the Antichrist. I've loved that book for like a decade now and if I don't put it on a list of my faves that list would be a lie.

The King of Attolia. Third in The Queen's Thief series and my favorite one out of all of them. I've always enjoyed Outsider POV in fics. And here is a book that just... proves why. We've got Eugenides and Irene, the Thief and the Queen, and we know them from the two previous books. And adore them. But the story isn't from their POV, it's from the POV of Costis, a Queen's guard who's suddenly gotten assigned to the King. The useless, weak, undeserving king that as far as Costis is concerned doesn't deserve to even kiss the Queen's boots. And it's hilarious to read the story from the eyes of someone who knows so much less than us. And so satisfying, as he begins to understand.

(I recommend the whole series and am personally glad to have read them in the published order but Megan Whalen Turner has stated that she wrote them in a way that allows you to jump in at any point you want).

The Raven Tower. The story is from the viewpoint of a sentient, omniscient rock whose name is Strength and Patience of the Hill and it is the GREATEST THING EVER. The gods are real and must be very careful with their words, because if they speak a lie the reality will alter to make that lie the truth but if the lie is bigger than the power of the god... well. Inspired by Hamlet.

(the book also has a trans man as the main character; the other main character? The sentient rock is the narrator but the largest part of the story focuses on Eolo).

A Natural History of Dragons. The first book from The Memoirs of Lady Trent (and honestly it would probably be more honest to say that every single book from this series fits the category of fave but I'm putting up the first here because this isn't a series where you should skip ahead). The book focuses on the life of Isabella as narrated by her older self. This is the story how a Scirland lady bucked all tradition and became a world renowned expert on the Natural History of Dragons.

(this series has a piece of my heart and always will).

---

(and finally, here's some more of my favorite fantasy books that I also adore and would totally ramble about but I got tired of typing).

#monstrous regiment #the goblin emperor #good omens #the king of attolia #the raven tower #a natural history of dragons #discworld #terry pratchett #katherine addison #neil gaiman #the queen's thief #megan whalen turner #ann leckie #the memoirs of lady trent #marie brennan #fantasy books #book rec #book recs #book asks #ask game #ask meme #answers #tinynavajo #terapsina rambles #terapsina's book rambles

[maddiesbookshelves]

A Natural History of Dragons, by Marie Brennan

The memoirs of Lady Trent narrate the life and research of Isabella Trent, world-renowned naturalist now an old woman, whose wit and humor are merciless towards imbeciles. In the first tome, Isabella, first as a young girl and then a young woman, challenges class and period conventions to satisfy her scientific curiosity and accompany her husband on an expedition in search for dragons in Vystrana...

I was scared that the memoirs format was going to be boring to read, but it was actually the best way to tell the life story of a woman who has lived so many adventures, I really liked it. The good thing about memoirs is that it allowed Isabella's personality to shine, especially her humor, and to have some hindsight on what happened. The teases about future events that she reveals later in the series really make you want to read what's next

Volume 1 introduces themes and ideas that I thought were fleshed out better later in the series, and what I considered as small flaws (a lot of things were repeated so many times I started thinking "yeah, okay, I get it") are way less prominent

As for Brennan's worldbuilding, it's deceptively simple at first glance (Victorian era but make it fantasy), but actually had so many details that make it extremely rich. Everything is inspired by countries/cultures from the real world, but Brennan mixed a lot of them and I thought it was really well executed. And the further along you get in the series, the more details sprinkled in the first 3 books come together to form the final picture. When I got to the end of book 4, I wanted to scream because of how delightful and well put together the reveals were

French version under the cut

Les mémoires de lady Trent racontent la vie et les recherches d'Isabelle Trent, naturaliste mondialement connue et désormais vieille dame, dont l'esprit et le style empreints d'humour s'avèrent sans pitié pour les imbéciles. Dans le premier volume, Isabelle, petite fille puis jeune femme, brave les conventions de sa classe et de son temps pour satisfaire sa curiosité scientifique et accompagner son mari lors d'une expédition à la recherche des dragons de Vystranie...

J'avais peur que le format des mémoires soit un peu ennuyant à lire, mais en fait c'était la meilleure façon de raconter la vie d’une femme qui a vécu autant d’aventures, j’ai beaucoup apprécié. L'avantage des mémoires c'est que ça permettait au personnage d'Isabelle de nous dévoiler sa personnalité, notamment son humour, et d'avoir du recul sur certains évènements. Les références à des évènements qu'elle nous dévoile plus tard dans la série donnait vraiment envie de lire la suite

Le tome 1 introduit des thèmes et des idées que j’ai trouvées mieux développées dans les tomes suivants, et ce que je considérais comme de petits défauts (pas mal de choses sont répétées de nombreuses fois donc au bout d’un moment je me disais "oui, c’est bon, j’ai compris") sont beaucoup moins présents

En ce qui concerne le monde créé par Brennan, il paraît relativement simple au premier abord (époque victorienne mais version fantasy), mais en réalité, énormément de détails le rendent extrêmement riche. Tout est inspiré de pays/cultures du monde réel, mais mélange pas mal de trucs et j’ai trouvé que c’était très bien fait. Et au plus on avance dans la série, au plus les détails disséminés dans les ~3 premiers tomes s'emboîtent et le tableau final se précise. Quand je suis arrivée à la fin du tome 4 j'avais envie de hurler tellement les révélations étaient croustillantes et bien amenées

#the memoirs of lady trent #lady trent #a natural history of dragons #memoirs of lady trent #marie brennan #books #book series #book reviews #booklr #booklr community #book recs #book recommendations

[haveyoureadthisfantasybook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

#fantasy #books #A Natural History of Dragons #The Memoirs of Lady Trent #Marie Brennan #poll #result: no #l: English

[bookishfae]

i understand isabella camherst bc i too would marry a man who had a library and shared my hyperfixation

#lady trent #isabella camherst #a natural history of dragons #marie brennan #jacob camherst #a memoir by lady trent

[logictoinsanity]

Isabella Camherst is the most autistic, aro ace bitch I've ever heard of, and while I will not be accepting questions at this time, I am only on the second book, so im open to growth and fluidity. she's 100% autistic and queer though, I'll fight u on that

#lady trent #a natural history of dragons #memoirs of lady trent #tropic of serpents #marie brennan

[jewishdragon]

ok now that i re-read the first Memoirs of Lady Trent i have come to the conclusion that the two human cultures featured in Book 1 (A Natural history of dragons) are sects of judaism (in a fantasy world where xianity didnt happen??? i have only read book `1 so i dont know if there is a xianity equivalent anywhere), one representing rabbinical judaism (described as developing around scholarly debate of scripture) and one representing a judaism that retained the temple (which developed a culture of maintaining temple rituals though in their own towns). Both sharing many practices and of course source material (using noisemakers to ward off evil, mourning rituals are actually still shared, the holy scriptures are the same ones) but interpreting and interacting with it in different ways

oh and the books are about a crazy lady scientist who travels the world solving mysteries about dragonkind which is the reason i picked up the books. the fantasy judaism is like. i cant say its a bonus bc its more like the main focus of the book (natural history mysteries/science/dragons) is steak and the world culture is the garlic roasted potatoes on the side.

Oh and if you dont believe me that its fantasy judaism the actual words used to describe the religious practices are not subtle in the inspiration. The rabbinical practice mentions a purim equivalent (this is extremely obvious, they use groggers to drown out the name of an evil man), and the mourning period was straight up called shiva. a character "sat shiva". OH AND THE MAIN CHARACTER HAD TO BE CLEANSED IN "LIVING WATER" AT SOME POINT AKA DIP IN A MIKVAH !!!! anyways im on book 2 its great.

#memoirs of lady trent #a natural history of dragons

[bookwyrminspiration]

i feel the spirit of Babel and of Lady Isabella Trent beside me as I sit squinting at the screen trying resolutely to keep up with the professor’s Spanish as he explains Nahuatl while I think in English, experiencing three languages at once and understanding nothing at all anymore like god intended

#babel rf kuang #lady trent memoirs #quil’s unholy underworld #perhaps a niche overlap of books but I think of them both every time #also guys I don’t think I know how to language anymore #my brains all brained out #and i am very dehydrated #i certainly hope that’s what this headache is anyway #and not me catching whatever my dad and sister got

[two-hands-toward-the-sun]

“did you just ask for my hand in marriage?” MOMENT OF ALL TIME. ROMANCE BEGAN HERE.

#the memoirs of lady trent #lady trent #memoirs of lady trent #subella #suhail ibn ramiz #isabella trent #in the labyrinth of drakes

[derangedpracticality]

One of the most romantic moments of all time: Isabella and Suhail in the diving bell, observing tropical sea serpents for the first time ... and when Isabella looks at him she sees that he's been taking notes all this time while she was expressing her observations

#voyage of the basilisk #the memoirs of lady trent

[theravenlyn]

thinking about how isabella was just ranting away to herself in the diving bell and suhail was like 'she's gonna want this written down for future reference' aND HE DID IT

#theravenlyn.zip #theravenlyn.txt #marie brennan #memoirs of lady trent #a natural history of dragons #voyage of the basilisk #// #IT'S ABOUT THE MUTUAL SCHOLARSHIP #ACROSS DISCIPLINES #ACROSS FIELDS #THAT EVEN THOUGH THEYRE NOT SPECIFICALLY INTERESTED IN THE SAME THINGS #(EVEN THOUGH THEY DO OVERLAP BUT THATS A RANT FOR ANOTHER DAY) #THAT THEY RECOGNISE A KINDRED SPIRIT #AND KNOW HOW TO SUPPORT EACH OTHER IN THE MOST PERSONAL SPECIFIC SPECIAL WONDERFUL ENCOURAGING AMAZING WAYS #I'LL SAY IT AGAIN #IT'S MORE THAN THE ROMANCE #IT'S A CONNECTION ON A LEVEL THAT TRANSCENDS

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2023: DRIFTWOOD by Marie Brennan.

This is another one I picked for the Driscoll Vibes, but make it Fantasy and turn the Melancholy Dial all the way up (instead of Most Of The Way Up, which is the setting for Driscoll): Driftwood is where worlds go to die in the wake of their own personal apocalypses. Featuring snow drifting through the woods from our cabin trip last weekend.

#books of 2023 #books #book photography #driftwood #marie brennan #hocking hills #it was a delightful little trip!! #Just Enough snow for me haha #(aesthetic but easy on my poor car) #in btw #driscoll #the worldbuilding is fascinating so far and it's a little book #i'm enjoying it a lot!! #i did very love her lady trent memoirs so i immediately ordered this one as soon as i found out it was a thing lol

[maddiesbookshelves]

This might just be my favourite series of the year, I love it so much 🥺

#i'm starting a propaganda campaign for this series #I've already gotten one of my friends to add it to her TBR #hehe #marie brennan #the memoirs of lady trent #mémoires par lady trent #le sanctuaire ailé #within the sanctuary of wings #currently reading #books #booklr #booklr community #book recs #book recommendations #DRAGONS

[best-childhood-book]

Can I submit A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan for the fantasy tournament?

Of course! It's been added under The Memoirs of Lady Trent

#ask #submission #the memoirs of lady trent

[shayberri789]

Okay. I'm done now

#GO READ MEMOIRS OF LADY TRENT BY MARIE BRENNAN #ill reblog my rec post now #shay posts #do it i beg you i need someone to talk to

[jewishdragon]

Lady Trent is about the nerdiest fantasy jewish woman (biologist/naturalist) and the nerdiest fantasy muslim man(linguist/archeologist) going on life-threatening nerdy adventures and falling in love

its also about dragons. lots of dragons.

#memoirs of lady trent #they get STRANDED ON A FORBIDDEN ISLAND AND STUDY THE DRAGONS #AND THEN DISCOVER A CONSPIRACY ON THE ISLAND