A Natural History of Dragons is a second-world fantasy, but the initial setting is reminiscent of Regency England. The subsequent traveling and discovering of various types of dragons is highly comparable to His Majesty’s Dragon (and the entire series), except without war. It’s a fun blend of adventure and romance.
This was a fast-paced story that was really fun to read! I highly recommend it to anyone who likes reading about travel stories and/or dragons!
I will say, however, that this novel employs a plot device that irks me. It doesn’t make it a bad story, or anything, I just dislike this trope / plot device. (I’m intentionally being vague to avoid spoilers. If you’re curious what I mean, email me and I’ll explain.)
The remainder of this series follows the main character on her adventures traveling the world as a dragon naturalist. I particularly appreciate the way the author handles discrimination and bias in the later books. I mean, they’re mostly fun adventures about dragons, but the main character is a noble woman, who is also a scientist who studies dragons.
The author does a great job expressing realistic discrimination against women and people born outside of the aristocracy. And I especially appreciate how the main character confronts some of her own biases in the later books–it is really true that we are often guilty of the same biases that we experience from others.
Content: PG-13 for some violence, language, and sexual content