Review - A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent by Marie Brennan

It turns out, and I wouldn't have discovered this without reading A Natural History of Dragons [US] [UK] by Marie Brennan, that I really like dragons slaying, riding, attacking, hoarding, speaking, snoozing, probably even over-easy ... but to witness them studied for science bored me to death.

I feel really bad about this, because there are some great things about this book, I just couldn't wait for it to be over.

A Natural History of Dragons is a memoir of the life of the famous Lady Trent, who tells about her first interest in dragons and some of her early experiences with them.

The Good

Brennan does a great job sticking to character. The Lady Trent, or just Isabella Camherst as she's known throughout the book, is a woman of science and Brennan very convincingly characterizes her as such. She's so brimming with eagerness to study and learn and discover and it's apparent in both the beginning of her life and her characterization later in life that we only get through the actual telling.

This Victorian era-type place is brought to life with all its sensibilities, especially those that go against a budding young naturalist who is a woman and her constant battle with all those inherent sensibilities. Then she adds dragons to this era! Very cool. Especially since they're all over, from the tiny sparklings that are considered to be insects by many to much larger ones.

And then there's the beautiful artwork by Todd Lockwood. Not only do we get this gorgeous cover, but there are dragons (among other things) depicted throughout the book that are just as captivating.

(I realize the book cover's in the upper left, but this bears repeating!)

The Bad

The problem is that with the over-intrusion of the narrator, Lady Trent, and possibly with the addition of the aristocracy's confidence in their own imperviousness, there really isn't a lot of suspense. Possibly at the very end at one single moment, but that's it. We already know she's fine, she's telling the story and interjecting points about how young and naive she used to be. Now, you can say this about most first-person narratives, but this was even more obvious.

The characters are just not relatable to me. I mentioned above that Brennan nailed the era, but these are high class people that can't even go anywhere without a servant of some sort. I just couldn't love them and I'll take responsibility for this - I know plenty of people love it, but it did not work for me.

It took me a while to figure this out, but it sounds like we're going to get through her whole life in this one book, when really it's only the first couple experiences. Therefore, it seemed to drag on (dragon, get it) this one event. The Lady Trent alludes to many experiences, especially early on, and it sounds like those are all going to happen in this book, but it took me till about 50% in to figure out that it was mainly focused on this one event and that was it. This also could have just been my lack of awareness about sequels because I thought this was a stand-alone book.

In the end, I really do think the problems were my own. A Natural History of Dragons is a well-executed story that I found was just not for me.

2 out of 5 Stars (Just Okay)

 

A Natural History of Dragons will be available for purchase February 5, 2013.

 

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher

(audiobook) Review - Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, Read by Wil Wheaton

Here's my review.

As I announced before, all my audio reviews are heading over to SFFaudio.com, probably of their own accord even. Today, my review of Ready Player One by Ernest Cline went up. I don't know how better to explain my love of this book than with this awkward phrase we sometimes use - it tickled my fancy. It really did. This book won me over immediately and made me want to live there possibly forever. I don't even love the '80's all that much.

Review - The Hammer and the Blade by Paul S. Kemp

I've been hearing about Paul S. Kemp for a while now, mostly from his Forgotten Realms work with Erevis Cale Trilogy, but (like usual) had never gotten around to reading his work. There's just so much time and so few books, am I right?

This last year, 2012 to be exact, Kemp comes out with a new book from Angry Robot who's more than generous with its review copies, so I figured why not?

The Hammer and the Blade [US] [UK] is fast-paced buddy sword and sorcery that is part homage to the classics in this sub-genre such as Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. While I can't attest to the latter, I'll explain the former.

In The Hammer and the Blade, the world isn't about to end, it doesn't hinge on the efforts of our winsome protagonist(s), it deals with a couple of guys trying to save their own necks. While not necessarily indicative of all sword and sorcery, it also helps to explain what this sub-genre is about (and which is mostly explained by its own title) - lots of action, magic, and adventure.

Of the world, it exists and it's surely a secondary one, but there is little detail. No descriptions of women's dresses or where they might cross their arms. There isn't even much about distant lands and exotic places, it's mostly focused on the here and now - what concerns our protagonists. 

The Hammer and the Blade follows Egil and Nix (the buddies I mentioned above), both famous, or infamous, tomb-robbers and sometimes swords for hire. One, Egil, is a warrior priest with a large eye tattooed on his forehead and two huge hammers as weapons. The other, Nix, is a (semi) adept magician who was kicked out of magical school, emphasis on the fact that he was kicked out, which he emphasizes whenever the subject is addressed.

At first, this duo reminded me of Hadrian and Royce from the Riyria Revelations, but I was quickly put off this theory. Hadrian and Royce are much more mysterious and a bit darker in a way while Egil and Nix are more straight forward. One of the things I thought was a great way to clue readers in on some information was Nix trying to brag about his exploits to curry favor with a woman. 

Egil and Nix are tons of fun, lots of jokes and adventures, and we're pulled right into the action immediately as the two are traipsing through a tomb, bobbing through booby-traps, and finding the treasure. What a great opening.

And it doesn't let down from there. The Hammer and the Blade accomplishes everything it sets out to be. Simple fun and lots of action. 

At the same time, it's lack of complexity is the thing that's holding it back from any more stars from me. It's really just a personal preference thing and probably highlights the drawbacks of ratings systems more than anything.

Before I end this review, I have to point out something that really stood out to me, but which spoils one part of the book. You've been warned (for this paragraph and the next only). (Spoiler) Early in the book, our daring duo gets into a scrape with a local sell-sword who fails to treat a lady with the proper respect. He's a huge jerk and gets what's coming to him. To make a long story short, later in the book this same guy actually becomes good friends with Egil and Nix.

This is something you just don't see every day. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen this in a book. Someone who starts out as a jerk is later shown to have redeeming qualities. I think we could use more of this. This is real, this is people. In our internet generation, it's easy for people to show their true colors on the internet and for everyone else to write them off. Sometimes it's warranted, sometimes it's not. I don't really know where I'm going here, but I liked this. People deserve redemption sometimes. We're just people, we do dumb things...actually quite often. (/End Spoiler)

The Hammer and the Blade made for a great ride. Lots of jokes, bumbling magic, and two huge hammers! Kemp is obviously a master at the light-hearted adventure story and I'm looking forward to reading more of his work.

3.5 out of 5 Stars (Recommended)

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher

Free on Audible! The Human Division, Episode 1: The B-Team by John Scalzi

I just got this news in my inbox and thought I'd better share, especially since the first thing I did was go to Audible and download this. Sorry, you guys came second, but that shows how much I'm looking forward to this.

To download The Human Division, Episode 1: The B-Team by John Scalzi:

NEWS FROM AUDIBLE  

"The Human Division," John Scalzi's eagerly awaited return to the "Old Man's War" universe, is available at Audible beginning today, January 15. Even more exciting, the first installment of this innovative "episodic narrative" will be available free via Audible's Facebook page. Episodes 2-13 are available for pre-order and will be released weekly, for $.99 each, through April; fans who choose to pre-order all 12 remaining episodes will automatically receive a new installment of "The Human Division" in their Audible library each Tuesday through April 9. For more information see here: http://bit.ly/HumanDivisionFREE. 

Here is a sample of the audiobook:



As a quick update, I'm back into bar studying mode, which means posting will be sporadic at best. I mentioned this in passing a couple weeks ago, but I didn't pass the first time and that means I get to study for 10 hours a day for a couple months and take a test that only lasts 3 days...again! The California bar has a 55% pass rate, but this time I'll get it. :) I have a few reviews almost ready to go up, one of those completed and sent to sffaudio.com, which I'll link to here.