Voyage of the Basilisk (The Memoirs of Lady Trent, #3)

by Marie Brennan

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There is something about this series that makes putting down, or rather lose interest very difficult for me. I just wish my work schedule was way more cooperative than this.

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Once again we follow Isabella Camherst on her newest adventure in pursuit of dragon knowledge, the thing I love the more about this series other than the fact that the area of study are dragons, is that the series has so much more depth in it that I’m sometimes surprised by the page count. Everywhere Isabella and those with her go to, ends up showing us a new perspective in how Marie Brennan’s world operates, considering that it’s an alternative reality where the names of the places are changed, she still keeps some of the characteristics of these places intact to make the comparison easier. For example, the country Isabella comes from is easily modeled after England.

This book is no different, every time we visit a new place, the focus of the narrative isn’t just on the dragons themselves, but Isabella and those with her get put in so many situations where we learn about the culture, customs and code of conduct of that country. The best thing about this book in particular is that although the majority of the book is spent in one location, it’s not the only location visited unlike the previous two books.

Draconic research is not neglected in the slightest either, our researchers have to balance how to do their work and not offend the culture they’re in, otherwise risk getting kicked out. That being said, I have never in my life read about a character like Isabella. There is something so unbelievably genuine about her love for dragons, her thirst for knowledge and more importantly how she sticks to her beliefs no matter what, that it puts her in so many situations that it’s impossible to think that this woman in particular will ever have a quiet smooth adventure in her life. This has been established since the first book, but after reading this one I’m just so amused by how she gets put in these situations.

Luckily, these situation albeit dangerous sometimes lead us to learn more about either dragons or cultures which I will never complain about since world building for a series like this is essential and Marie Brennan is fantastic at it. I keep mentioned Isabella a lot, but that doesn’t mean that the other characters are neglected for her development as a person and a researcher where she’s now thinking of expanding on her contributions to the knowledge, oh no. In this book other than the familiar faces, we end up meeting so many new ones, some we’ve only heard about in passing before and they too play their roles in this book when it fits. I was however, more pleased at seeing Jake join his mother in this voyage and learn more about him.

I also enjoyed seeing the relationship between him and Isabella, because of who she is and how she has previously approached the subject, seeing the mother and son dynamics in this book were really heartwarming. Finally I’d like to praise Marie Brennan’s ability of adding stuff I would have never thought to see in this book when it comes to genders because of it being an alternate reality, but kudos to her and for making me laugh, I really enjoyed seeing our Lady Trent deal with that sticky situation :)

Final rating: 5/5