The Tropic of Serpents (Marie Brennan)

The Tropic of Serpents
The Lady Trent Memoirs series, Book 2
Marie Brennan
Tor
Fiction, Fantasy
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: Young widow Isabella cut her teeth as a naturalist studying the rock-wyrms of mountainous Vystrana - making a remarkable discovery that could revolutionize both the study of dragons and the world itself, a method to preserve the remarkably light yet strong substance of dragonbones beyond their death. Though some would use this discovery to exploit and exterminate the beasts, Isabella hopes to fund the creation of a substitute, but first she needs to study more species of dragons. To this end, she finally wrangles a visa to the colonial port of Nsebu on the continent of Eriga, half a world away. She and her companions - steadfast Tom and young Natalie - had hoped to avoid the tumultuous politics roiling the region, but politics and science are often inextricably linked. Isabella's pursuit of dragons entangles her with a brewing conflict over control of the colony, its resources, and the impenetrable, dragon-infested jungle known locally as the "Green Hell."

REVIEW: Like the first installment of the Lady Trent series, The Tropic of Serpents evokes a mild throwback style, evocative of elder-day travel journals such as Darwin's accounts. Brennan continues to expand her invented world, which is roughly analogous to our own (Isabelle's native Scirland is roughly similar to England at the height of its globe-spanning imperial days, with Eriga serving as an Africa equivalent that, too, suffers under colonization and exploitation by outsiders), but is not a precise replica, and not simply from the presence of draconic species and their kin. Sometimes the ethnicities and cultures and countries grow overwhelming, but they're easy enough to skim, and one gets the gist of their relations even if one can't always keep them straight. Isabelle herself remains a product of her nation and age and social strata; while she pushes against barriers created by her gender and societal expectations, in other ways she retains cultural prejudices and expectations which she herself admits she cannot completely transcend. These flaws help humanize her character, though as in the previous book there's still a certain larger than life air about her adventures. Other characters are helped and hindered by their own stations, many with less freedom to challenge their limits than wealthy Isabelle; her companion Tom's gender may open a few doors closed to her, but his low birth forever shadows his ambitions even in a supposedly intellectual field. The cast grows a little sprawling at times, with some characters coming to less than I'd expected given how much time went into establishing them (details would constitute spoilers), and the tale consequently takes a little time to pick up steam. Once it gets moving, and particularly once Isabella and her companions gain entry to the jungle, it clips along at a decent pace. And, of course, there are dragons, with some nice takes on the beasts and their place in the local ecology. The wrap-up left a few threads dangling, not all of which I expect to be wrapped up in future volumes, but mostly satisifed. All in all, I'm enjoying Lady Trent's adventures, and expect I'll be pursuing the rest of the series.

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