Within the Sanctuary of Wings by Marie Brennan

Within the Sanctuary of Wings (The Memoirs of Lady Trent, #5)

by Marie Brennan

Within the Sanctuary of Wings is the conclusion to Marie Brennan's thrilling Lady Trent Memoirs After nearly five decades (and, indeed, the same number of volumes), one might think they were well-acquainted with the Lady Isabella Trent--dragon naturalist, scandalous explorer, and perhaps as infamous for her company and feats of daring as she is famous for her discoveries and additions to the scientific field. And yet--after her initial adventure in the mountains of Vystrana, and her exploits in the depths of war-torn Eriga, to the high seas aboard The Basilisk, and then to the inhospitable deserts of Akhia--the Lady Trent has captivated hearts along with fierce minds. This concluding volume will finally reveal the truths behind her most notorious adventure--scaling the tallest peak in the world, buried behind the territory of Scirland's enemies--and what she discovered there, within the Sanctuary of Wings.

Reviewed by sa090 on

4 of 5 stars

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It’s always sad to say goodbye to a good series, and it’s even worse to say goodbye to a great series like this one. Took a few days to write these thoughts out, since I can’t praise it enough and there’s not much I haven’t already highlighted before. But it’s deserving of more praise nonetheless :)

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I couldn’t wait after finishing The Labyrinth of Drakes and immediately moved on to the last book in this amazing series, I needed to see how Lady Trent’s story concluded in these memoirs and to be very honest, what a tale this one was. Unlike the previous books, this one didn’t tackle culture on one side and dragon research in another, they were basically combined into one big focus. Despite that however, the story felt somewhat slower paced than usual, which according to what actually happened in this book, makes a lot more sense than rushing through it. I mean, this book showed me why Isabella reached the status she said she did in the very first book of these memoirs and considering the amount of time I spent with Isabella, I was very close to letting out a cry of triumph when she did.

Throughout this series, the most amazing things about it is seeing Isabella’s growth and achievements. On one hand, she’s easily the character I related to the most throughout my readings, so it felt even better seeing her development and on the other hand, the way the dragons are portrayed in this series combined with how she’s passionate about studying them, makes it insanely fun for someone like me who’s also very interested in anything draconic. I really love the fact that she will fight till the end for a chance, just a chance to see where her next adventure will take her. Even better when her achievements end up being so mind blowing like this one!

Speaking of achievements, I expected a big discovery that will allow her to rub it in the faces of everyone who mocked and continues mocking her, but I still didn’t expect what Marie Brennan has been teasing in the first four books. If it really comes down to it, and I’m asked to pick one reason why this book was amazing, it’ll easily be the satisfaction of seeing Isabella get recognized by everyone for her achievements. I mentioned before that she’s a wonderful female protagonist to follow because of her hard work to get recognized as a scientist, and this book showing the end to that journey or rather the biggest highlight of her scientific life was awesome.

As always Marie Brennan shows us culture alongside discover and this book was no different, it IS different in some ways that’s for sure, but the focus on these things remain the same. Given that we’re in a Mount Everest inspired area, it was interesting to see how a Nepalese/Tibetan-esque culture will be applied to the book and how Dragons will be involved. I recently read a book set in a Tibetan setting, but given that it was full on fantasy, it wasn’t as culturally informative as this one. Of course, I’m only seeing the world through what is presented in this book, since my knowledge of that region in our world is slim to none, but I honestly wouldn’t mind more at any point.

The character interactions in this book is another thing to enjoy with this one, not because it’s oh so different, but because of what actually happened in this book and because of how some characters acted in the first book compared to now. Seeing them come so far was heartwarming, and I kind of wished that the book wasn’t as Isabella focused as it was to fill in some of the gaps. The last thing to praise before I say goodbye are the illustrations, as always they were incredibly beautiful and the books wouldn’t have been as fun without them.

Lady Trent has officially become my favourite character in literature, I identified a lot with her in so many different areas, and as silly as it might be she is a motivational force for me which is why saying goodbye to this series is an awful thing I have to do. That being said, there is thankfully a stand-alone sequel coming out this August about Isabella’s granddaughter Audrey, so I can hope that is half as fun as her grandmother and of course, I hope to see Isabella once again but we’ll see until then.

Final rating: 4.5/5

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 27 February, 2019: Finished reading
  • 27 February, 2019: Reviewed