When I sat down to pick out my favorite bit from Voyage of the Basilisk, I had to discard the first three or four things I thought of, because they would give too much away. I sometimes think Mary should title this series “My Favorite Bit (That Isn’t a Spoiler).” Oh! And Marie and I are touring together in May, so you can hear her read IN COSTUME and show dragon bones. These are glorious and swashbuckling and smart. This is a secondary world fantasy, but it feels like reading something from the mid-1800s. I actually have a memoir from a mid-19th century actress who performed with John Wilkes Boothe and these remind me of that in a lot of ways. Then you get immersed in a story that sits somewhere between the best golden age pulp you’ve read and a shocking memoir by the Dowager Countess from Downton Abbey. We have a smart, resourceful woman as the protagonist who is a naturalist specializing in dragons. You know how sometimes you pick up a book and think, “Hey! This author wrote this book specifically for me!” The Memoirs of Lady Trent are like that for me. Isabella's voyage around the world is similar to the real-world voyage of the HMS Beagle by Charles Darwin.Please understand that I love Marie Brennan’s books. This book is followed by the short story " From the Editorial Page of the Falchester Weekly Review", set between it and In the Labyrinth of Drakes. Isabella discovers that firestone is actually petrified dragon eggs. The unusual bipedal dragon skeleton Isabella reconstructed from an egg found in Keonga will become important later on. Dione Aekinitos, captain of the Basilisk.She must cope with storms, shipwrecks, intrigue, and warfare, even as she makes a discovery that offers a revolutionary new insight into the ancient history of dragons. Science is, of course, the primary objective of the voyage, but Isabella’s life is rarely so simple. Accompanying her is not only her young son, Jake, but a chivalrous foreign archaeologist whose interests converge with Isabella’s in ways both professional and personal. From feathered serpents sunning themselves in the ruins of a fallen civilization to the mighty sea serpents of the tropics, these creatures are a source of both endless fascination and frequent peril. Six years after her perilous exploits in Eriga, Isabella embarks on her most ambitious expedition yet: a two-year trip around the world to study all manner of dragons in every place they might be found. Devoted readers of Lady Trent’s earlier memoirs, A Natural History of Dragons and The Tropic of Serpents, may believe themselves already acquainted with the particulars of her historic voyage aboard the Royal Survey Ship Basilisk, but the true story of that illuminating, harrowing, and scandalous journey has never been revealed-until now.
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