Tor Books A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent

Esperava que o livro fosse maior, mas mesmo sendo menor do que estou acostumada ele é muito bonito

Un bon roman de "fantasy", genre littéraire dans lequel les Anglo-Saxons sont passés maitres. Le tour de force de l'auteure est d'y faire exister des dragons avec le plus grand naturel qui soit. Ils font l'objet dans le livre de toute l'attention très rationnelle et scientifique d'une petite équipe d'explorateurs naturalistes. Isabella, la future Lady Trent, a grandi dans une famille de la gentry rurale. Les dragons et les sciences naturelles la passionnent depuis son enfance à une époque où les jeunes filles et les femmes, surtout dans cette bonne société, ne devaient pas avoir l'air instruites, intellectuellement brillantes. Elles étaient encore moins supposées s'intéresser aux livres et aux sciences. Le résumé se trouve sur le site d'Amazon, et d'autres lecteurs ont déjà commenté le roman.Dans la version original américaine, l'auteure donne à sa narratrice issue de la gentry rurale, un registre de langage relativement soutenu. Isabella, alors âgée, raconte en outre des événements qui eurent lieu des décennies plus tôt alors qu'elle avait 19 ans, à une époque qu'on situerait peut-être vers le 19e siècle. Elle glisse parfois dans son récit de brefs commentaires qui marquent son âge et une certaine distance bienveillante avec la fougue dont elle a fait montre jadis, sans que cela n'alourdisse le récit. Celui-ci est en outre marqué par le temps plus lent de jadis (on voyageait à cheval ou à pied, le courrier n'arrivait pas dans les contrées lointaines, on s'éclairait à la bougie…). C'est en bonne partie la combinaison de cette légère distance linguistique et narrative, d'un temps d'avant le nôtre et de la présence très concrète des dragons aux yeux des protagonistes naturalistes, qui rendent ce roman original et intrigant.Il s'agit du premier tome d'une série. Le deuxième s'intitule "The tropic of Serpents" .

Don't like the way the book is written. Read first few pages and then put the book aside for good.I finally got around to get this book on audible. After a bad start I got quite excited by the story. It is however not a book I get obsessed with. Comparing it to a book I read earlier this year which I spend every free minute with (it was a long series, around as long as 3-4 thick thick novels) for days without getting bored. I simply don't get this feeling with this book at all. I had to take a break off this book as I went on holiday and didn't bring headphones. Now I am having a hard time getting back into it...

I enjoyed reading this book and found the writing style and story to be engaging and pleasant. The characters are likeable, and the world is interesting and seemed to tread some new ground. I was impressed by the broadness of the world. The author does a good job of convincing the reader that the world is deep and multifaceted by dropping in details liberally and sometimes without explanation, giving the impression that any references I didn't follow are the result of my own ignorance of common knowledge as opposed to her lack of explanation (this is actually done to excess in the sequel). I read this at a very busy time in my life, and I appreciated the lightness of the narrative. It had enough plot twists to keep me guessing, but it didn't require too much mental attention or deep thought when I only had a few minutes to sit down and read.I read a few reviews before ordering the book and found that many people gave warnings that the story is very Victorian and that buyers should beware if they're hoping for a good dragon-focused tale like Eragon. Those warnings were a selling point for me since I am an avid fan of both the fantasy genre and the Victorian era of literature. What could be better than combining Charlotte Bronte and dragons? In my opinion, however, the story falls solidly in the alternate history category and doesn't really feel Victorian at all. While the author worked hard to avoid triteness in her plot, she fell into the common modern habit of presenting a female character who is too strong for her time and doesn't fit into her oppressive culture. Yes, that can make for a good novel (and has in many instances), it doesn't make a novel that feels Victorian. The glory of Elizabeth Bennet and Jane Eyre is that they were startlingly witty, strong, and intelligent in the context of their own cultures. Lady Trent's blunt tone and jarring social errors grow her into the character the author intended, but they rob the whole novel of any true feeling of a Victorian context. Perhaps I'm the only person who would find that departure disappointing, but I would warn buyers not to have too high expectations for the promise of a Victorian novel.

Buon libro, scritto nello stile di un autobiografia vittoriana.E' scritto bene e risulta abbastanza avvincente, per quanto le caratterizzazioni dei personaggi secondari non siano niente di che.I fattori che mi hanno particolarmente colpito, in modo positivo, sono i seguenti:* La protagonista è una nerd "vera", non un invincibile eroina d'azione* La protagonista non ricorre praticamente alla violenza, e se avesse dovuto farlo sarebbe stata probabilmente abbastanza inetta* Almeno a questo punto della serie, il destino del mondo *non* è in gioco* La conoscenza scientifica, lo spirito di esplorazione e il desiderio di progresso sono i principali valori, al contrario di una qualche venerazione di passate età dell'oroNon sembra tanto, ma per il genere fantasy è abbastanza insolito... che sia una novità E eseguita bene è un doppio bonus!Vedremo se i seguiti resteranno di alto livello.