Reviews

Der Wendekreis der Schlangen by Marie Brennan

timinbc's review against another edition

1.0

The star is for the book's value as a sleep aid.

The blurb says, ""The thrilling adventure of Lady Trent continues .... "
Feh. It's about as thrilling as watching grass grow.

I read book #1, and sort of enjoyed it. Far too much of the well-worn "plucky, smart woman refuses to accept Victorian constraints," and a fairly slow pace, but a steady plot and dragons.

If the books were stages of a race, this one feels as if Brennan was getting short of air and decided to run a lap a bit slower. OK, a LOT slower.

In the first book, I wasn't bothered by all the made-up names for cities and countries, but this time there seem to be more of them, and they grate when the characters' names and behaviours are clearly those of this world. In other parts of SF/F, authors carefully provide a new name for what is obviously coffee, and give six legs to what is otherwise obviously an ox. Sigh.

Here, we have far too much of the old Victorian prudishness, and we stir in similar customs from the not-African tribe they are visiting. We don't meet the powerful abo, whose contribution to the first half of the book is to dramatically not do anything.

Does the young prince want to marry Camherst? Does Wilker?

So, Not-African political scheming, and horny young men. No sign of dragons until after page 100, and then we get a "savannah snake," the Nissan Versa of the dragon world. Feh.

I found myself reading 20 pages at a time, then ten, then five ... and then I realized that I don't know what's going to happen to these characters and I DON'T CARE. In fact, I do know that Camherst is going to be just fine because I know there are umpteen more books in this lucrative series. I guess it's easy to churn 'em out when you don't have to waste time making things happen, or writing action scenes with dragons.

I quit halfway, and I'm done with this series.
Maybe I'll go read me some Anne McCaffrey. Now there's someone who can write about dragons.

henrybrunisholz's review against another edition

4.5

Possibly better than the first one, the beginning was certainly much more fast paced.

Isabella continues to be intrepid and charming and I enjoyed her continued relationship with Wilker and Natalie.

I especially liked the world building in this one, the Moulish were great!

rgk87's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

ember14's review against another edition

adventurous reflective

4.0

First off, I'd like to say that Isabelle is a flawed individual. She is progressive in ideologies despite being influenced by the Victorian-esque world she grew up in. She retains societal preconcepts and racism towards other peoples and cultures that was prevalent during this time. Despite this, she is an interesting and mostly loveable character to follow.

In the Tropic of Serpents we follow her to an Amazon-like marshland to continue her study of dragons. In the first book, it felt dragons were few and far between, to it's detriment. The same goes for this one, minus the feeling of disappointment, seeing as I knew what I was getting into. 

tilly_and_the_books's review against another edition

adventurous funny

4.0

backsong's review against another edition

adventurous informative tense fast-paced

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

3.75

gorejoyous's review against another edition

adventurous funny reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

saraha_10's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious slow-paced

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

3.0

daumari's review against another edition

4.0

Also a fairly quick read- 331 pages flew by fast! What I find most fascinating about series like these (historical fantasy) is that they have to walk a fine line between being true to their assumed period (Victorian? Philosophical societies! Institutional sexism and imperialism!) and having our modern sensibilities (treating people like people regardless of class/religion/race/sex!). The Memoirs of Lady Trent capably keep their balance- other reviews indicate they think

In the second of her memoirs, Lady Isabella heads to not!Africa to see what kind of scaly beasts live here (and of course, if her team's method of preserving dragonbone on other draconian species) Non-Anthiopian (not!Europe) cultures are fully fleshed out, and although this is ostensibly a fantasy natural history series, it is primarily Lady Trent's memoirs. As much as we'd like to keep science unconnected to politics, it cannot exist in a vacuum. Likewise, her trip and actions in Eriga have international consequences.

But if I may squee a bit on natural history? REALLY liked the

Spoiler

sexual dimorphism of swamp-wyrms and presumably metamorphic life cycle. That the young dragons were right in front of us considerably earlier is masterful.

bibliophilicwitch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted tense medium-paced

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

4.5