The Memoirs of Lady Trent by Marie Brennan

The Memoirs of Lady Trent integrate fantasy and reason, dragons and science, adventure and personal growth, passion and perseverance.

This article is not a review (click here to see why). It contains mild spoilers for the first couple books.

Context

In an alternate world resembling Victorian England, young Isabella Hendemore is completely and utterly fascinated by dragons. Such an interest is considered inappropriate for young ladies, and in the hopes of finding a husband and not embarrassing her family, she stifles it and instead applies herself to more “ladylike” endeavors such as drawing. But her curious, bold nature reasserts itself at every opportunity, and eventually (after getting married) she maneuvers her way into accompanying her husband on an expedition to Vystrana to study dragons. Her childhood, adolescence, and adventures in Vystrana are the subjects of A Natural History of Dragons, the first book in the Memoirs of Lady Trent.

As the series’s name suggests, the books are written as though by an older, more mature Isabella who has the benefit of hindsight. This narrative framing enables her to explain things that help the reader understand the scene, even when her character would not have known them at the time. The other four books in the series chronicle a variety of other trips to study dragons over the course of about two decades. In The Tropic of Serpents, she goes to the jungles of Mouleen to study swamp-wyrms. In Voyage of the Basilisk, she travels with a merchant ship to a variety of islands and eastern (Asian-esque) nations, studying as many dragons as she can along the way. In the Labyrinth of Drakes takes place in the hot, dry nation of Akhia, where she attempts to breed desert drakes (fierce-tempered, golden-scaled, fire-breathing dragons). And Within the Sanctuary of Wings shows her making her biggest discovery yet amongst distant mountains—then using it to avert a war.

Along the way Isabella must confront a great variety of different cultural norms, religions, languages, and political situations. She is usually accompanied by another dragon naturalist named Tom Wilker, who is of a lower social class than she is. The two act as allies in a society of gentlemen scholars who don’t welcome women or lower-bred individuals, however bright or skilled. She also navigates marriage, motherhood, friendships, and romance. Throughout these trials, she learns a great deal, and her emotional and intellectual development is both satisfying and instructive. Her adventures, personal growth, romantic and platonic relationships, passion for dragons, and gentle touch of humor make for a delightful read.

---

Main Ideas

• Passion for your career is a beautiful thing that can lead you to unexpected places.

• Because knowledge is power, science has political consequences.

• Maturing requires introspecting and applying what you learn.

Passion for your career is a beautiful thing that can lead you to unexpected places

Dragons are Isabella’s deepest, most passionate interest. She has been fascinated by them since she was a little girl, when she read her first book on dragons four times. Though her mother deeply disapproves, the teenage Isabella finds a husband by chatting with potential suitors about (what else?) dragons in the king’s menagerie. Her deep thirst to learn more about those magnificent creatures, at a time when few scholarly works had been published about them, is her driving force throughout all five books, often overriding more mundane concerns. While watching desert drake eggs hatching in the Akhian summer, Suhail (an archaeologist who was her and Tom’s traveling companion for the last three books) “stepped around and over us with fabric and sticks, trying to make sure we would not die of heat exhaustion while we were too busy to notice” (In the Labyrinth of Drakes, 302).

Though the young Isabella—whose brother stole books from her father’s library for her to study in secret—could not possibly have imagined it, her passion led her to, among other things, befriend suspicious foreign dignitaries, temporarily marrying someone, survive multiple assassination attempts, and climb dangerous snow-covered mountains. This in addition to the great variety of places she traveled and the tremendous amount she learned about everything from geography to religion to language to various cultures. The author’s background helps in making these travels believable: Marie Brennan “habitually pillages her background in anthropology, archaeology, and folklore” for her fantasy works, according to her biography.

The lesson to draw from this aspect of Isabella’s adventures is a beautiful one: Pursuing your passion leads you to incredible places. It’s not without cost—she faces familial and social disapproval, physical dangers, political maneuvering, and lots of time away from the comforts of home—but if your fascination and capacity for wonder are large enough, the rewards are worth it.

Because knowledge is power, science has political consequences

Isabella did not have much interest in political matters at any point in her life. But she not only has to face political barriers to her work—from securing a visa so she could go to Vystrana to helping a foreign dignitary in order to obtain permission to work in Mouleen to being deported from Yelang lest she discover and reveal their military secrets—she also finds her work often embroiled in conflicts and public debate. The biggest example of this is the preservation of dragonbone. Although dragon’s bones naturally disintegrate shortly after they die, she and Tom discover that the bones can be preserved and help with the work of discovering how to do so. Since dragonbone is incredibly strong and light, preserved dragonbone becomes an incredibly sought-after resource, including for military purposes—to the detriment of dragons. Issues of breeding dragons, sovereignty over areas containing dragons, and the possibility of synthesizing dragonbone become matters of the utmost political importance.

It is often difficult to see the long-term consequences of a particular discovery, study, or field of research. Consider a real-world example: natural resources such as oil. Oil was not that valuable until the process of refining it into kerosene was developed, enabling us to use it as a fuel far more efficient than anything we had previously.¹ Fundamentally, this represented a change in the power humans had over our environment, which therefore had political consequences as some factions sought to control who could wield that power and under what conditions. Though peaceful and productive collaborations are always preferable, there are always those who would prefer to use force; where some are violent, others must be prepared to defend themselves or risk their way of life.

In the world Isabella inhabits, there are many who would use scientific knowledge to further their imperialist ends. The primary threat comes from the Yelangese, who are unscrupulous empire-builders. But other powerful nations also have colonies and aspire to more; as Isabella tells an advisor to the queen of her own country, Scirland, “Our two nations detest one another because we are too much alike: both of us are grabbing for territory and resources. We condemn them for their rapacity, and I would not be surprised to learn they condemn us for the same reason” (Within the Sanctuary of Wings, 54). Isabella therefore seeks a solution that will result in the least bloodshed possible without allowing the Yelangese to take over whatever they wish. She does this primarily to protect the people and work she cares about, because in a world where governments wield a lot of control over people’s lives, science and politics can never be totally separate.

Maturing requires introspecting and applying what you learn

The young Isabella was hotheaded, her feathers easily ruffled when she thought she was being disrespected or not taken seriously. She rushed to publish theories with insufficient proof and she didn’t fully appreciate the contributions of others. Over the course of the books, she not only corrects these errors, she also learns a great deal about herself, her relationships, and science. She also discovers how to apply this knowledge to achieve her goals. Some of these revelations are subtle, revealed through reflection or conversation with others. For example, in the fourth book, she abstains from advising Suhail about his romantic life, because “I knew too little of his situation. It would be the height of arrogance for me to barge in, thinking I knew what was best for him simply because I had once experienced a similar thing” (In the Labyrinth of Drakes, 96–97). Knowing when you don’t know enough to offer a view is an important mark of maturity.

Sometimes, though, her growth is more dramatic. Perhaps the best example of this is in the second book. In the jungles of Mouleen, her superstitious hosts believe she has brought bad luck upon them by harboring “witchcraft.” They do not mean this literally; they mean unacknowledged negative emotions. To burn the witch, so to speak, is to release that emotional burden so that it plagues its bearer no more, and to apologize to those who were affected by it. Through this exercise, Isabella realizes that she has resented her young son for bringing certain expectations on her and limiting her freedom. Embarrassed by this revelation, she nevertheless articulates it: “I resent him because he shackles me; I cannot live the life I want, not without feeling guilty for devoting my heart to the thing that makes me happy” (The Tropic of Serpents, 223). By acknowledging this truth, she is able to be a better mother—later, she develops a strong relationship with her son, encouraging his interests—and to better balance that with her career.

Such personal growth helps her in other interpersonal relationships as well. In the first book, Isabella is defensive and hostile towards her peer, Tom. She views him and his knowledge as a threat to her and her position in the expedition, and he views her in much the same way. They both must learn that others who are sincere in their quests for knowledge and truth are not competition, but potential allies. This benefits them not only in their relationship, which becomes a strong friendship and long-lasting professional collaboration in which each recognizes and appreciates the other’s strengths, but also in their professional work more broadly. Isabella even sets up the “Flying University,” an informal collection of young scientists and female scholars who share books and other resources and get together for debates and dissemination of their work. In its early days, the project benefits Isabella professionally by connecting her to other scholars and resources, and personally by introducing her to friends. Though eventually it becomes a national project in which the older, more experienced Isabella is more of a mentor, in its early days, it shows how she went from jealousy and resentment of others to embracing and encouraging knowledge-seeking in a variety of forms.

Finally, there is Isabella’s maturation as a scholar, both in how she approaches her work practically and in her attitude. Practically, she becomes more careful, purpose-oriented, and strategic. She and Tom plan not only how they will get where they’re going (as she did in the first two books), but what they hope to learn while there and how they intend to go about it. But this is not all; she learns to look at how things connect, to seek things that are of larger importance. She reflects back on her work and how her priorities were shifting: “On the one hand, I lamented the loss of my girlish glee, the sense that it was enough simply to see a new thing and record it for other people to learn. On the other hand, it was also exhilarating, for I was challenging myself to look further, to think harder, to fit what I saw into a larger picture and then tease out its implications” (Within the Sanctuary of Wings, 124).

Though she matures and in some way mellows, her love for knowledge never dims. She concludes by saying that her story is not only the story of her life, but one “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” (Within the Sanctuary of Wings, 365). The series is a scholar’s touching love-letter to learning.

---

Conclusion

The Memoirs of Lady Trent integrate fantasy and reason, dragons and science, adventure and personal growth, passion and perseverance. Its tale is benevolent, exhilarating, and fascinating, and it grapples with moral and political questions without becoming dark or dreary. For explorers of both the intellectual and the fantastical persuasion, it’s a fabulous read.

1.  “The History of Oil Timeline,” https://www.rix.co.uk/blog/post/history-of-oil-timeline.