Reviews

“I have never attempted to hide that I have had two husbands in my life. I have, however, neglected to mention that in between them, I had a wife.”

I like that there is a lot more traveling in this book than the last two! It’s more interesting when we get to see other places and not only stay at the same location for an entire book :)

zyraffa's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

littletreefox's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional informative inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

gorejoyous's review against another edition

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adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

seriuzbiznus's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

daumari's review against another edition

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5.0

This was delightful. I haven't read [b:Voyage of the Beagle|183645|Voyage of the Beagle|Charles Darwin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1309211714s/183645.jpg|177481] by [a:Charles Darwin|12793|Charles Darwin|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1398693802p2/12793.jpg] yet, so I'm not sure if I missed references (and I imagine actual Victorian travelogues are more verbally dense, but then again it might be analogous to her in-world book, Around the World in Search of Dragons).

I'm a fan of natural history, so combining natural history and fantasy means I adore this series. And in the third installment of the memoirs of Lady Trent, we go seaborne: first towards the arctic in search of sea serpents, then to not!South America where we meet our new archaeologist friend who happens to own a diving bell, and then through a bit of sailing and political strife end up in not!Hawaii. All the while, Isabella struggles over how dragon taxonomy should work: do the classical bins fit, or are there more subtle gradients, especially given sea serpents and fire lizards have some features but not all? I cannot recall other fiction books that consider their zoology like this and if anyone knows of any, please mention them in the comments!

As in [b:The Tropic of Serpents|17910078|The Tropic of Serpents (The Memoirs of Lady Trent #2)|Marie Brennan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1372990377s/17910078.jpg|25095531], analogues to real world cultures are done well, with shades of historical attitudes but without making our heroine either a historically accurate but not fun jerk or out-of-place with modern sensibilities. Gender and roles in not!Hawaii in particular are handled gracefully-

Spoiler

a third gender/transgender category exists in the story and is plot relevant, but not dwelled on like a afterschool Very Special Episode and is treated as normal by the not!Hawaiians.

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