Scan barcode
clarabooksit's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I read this believing it to be a spin-off of another series but that it could be read as a standalone. I’m here to tell you that that’s a lie. It’s really book six of A Natural History of Dragons but about a different character.
I haven’t read any of those books so my reading experience lacked a lot of important background information, especially about Draconeans and the world this book takes place in. And unfortunately the epistolary style didn’t lend itself to great world-building. Perhaps the first book has amazing world-building, in which case book six need not have much but it was marketed as a standalone. It does not stand alone.
Anyway, outside of that, this was just an okay read for me. I went into it with high hopes—historical fantasy, dragons, mystery, the protagonist is a translator!—but it didn’t meet those hopes. The choice to write the story in letters didn’t work for me here. There were so many things that didn’t make sense that someone would write in a letter or a diary but were obviously included because the reader needed to know the information. Likewise, the inclusion of the translations the characters are working on didn’t add anything to the story for me. Just so much telling and very little showing. The mc made a lot of stupid decisions, too. The biggest disappointment, though? No actual dragons.
This review is a bit negative but I did actually like the world, I just didn’t fully understand it. And overall it was engaging. I think if I had known I shouldn’t start with this book, it would’ve been a better experience.
I haven’t read any of those books so my reading experience lacked a lot of important background information, especially about Draconeans and the world this book takes place in. And unfortunately the epistolary style didn’t lend itself to great world-building. Perhaps the first book has amazing world-building, in which case book six need not have much but it was marketed as a standalone. It does not stand alone.
Anyway, outside of that, this was just an okay read for me. I went into it with high hopes—historical fantasy, dragons, mystery, the protagonist is a translator!—but it didn’t meet those hopes. The choice to write the story in letters didn’t work for me here. There were so many things that didn’t make sense that someone would write in a letter or a diary but were obviously included because the reader needed to know the information. Likewise, the inclusion of the translations the characters are working on didn’t add anything to the story for me. Just so much telling and very little showing. The mc made a lot of stupid decisions, too. The biggest disappointment, though? No actual dragons.
This review is a bit negative but I did actually like the world, I just didn’t fully understand it. And overall it was engaging. I think if I had known I shouldn’t start with this book, it would’ve been a better experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Xenophobia
Moderate: Violence and Classism
cskye's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Listen, ok. Listen. Have you ever watched Indiana Jones and thought “gee, for an archaeologist he sure doesn’t care much about the context of the artifacts he discovers?” Have you ever watched an adventure movie and scoffed as the heroes flawlessly translate ancient texts into completely sensible modern poetry? Do you have wish-fulfillment fantasies about going back and transcribing the Cotton Vitellius manuscripts before the fire? Do you fucking hate every memory of the Victorian antiques trade? Do you think period novels would be better with dragons?
Then have I got the book for you!
I am not exaggerating in the slightest when I say that this book had me on the edge of my seat with my tension and anticipation, and also that the main plot is the characters’ efforts to preserve and translate an ancient epic. Marie Brennan studied folklore and anthropology, and while her interest in these things have been clear in recent works, they shine through in this one. She has put tremendous care into every aspect of the ancient society she portrays - from odd-seeming poetic devices to inscrutable idioms to common scribal errors in the language, I can genuinely only compare her work to Tolkien’s, in detail if not in scale. The process of preservation and translation is given the same care, as the characters are frustrated by damaged tablets, unfamiliar metaphors, and hapax legomena.
Also it’s a book about the explosive political tensions that mount as recently-encountered dragon people begin establishing their first embassy with pseudo-Victorian England.
The act of translation that occupies the main force of the novel matters, as human and dragon work together to discover the history of their species, in metaphor if not in fact, and it is genuinely, really thrilling. Also there’s some explosions and a few mild cases of breaking and entering.
But mostly it’s about translation.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Hate crime, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation
Minor: Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism