A Natural History of Dragons

An interesting setting for a fantasy such as this with its upper-class, old school faux-British background. The book is full of fun British-esque location names which I enjoyed for some reason such as Scirland & Gostershire.

Isabella herself is clearly the standout of the book. Her constant state of enthusiasm about all things dragon is really endearing to follow. The way she will explain how she feels in terms of dragons just creates a contagious level of passion to learn alongside her.

There is quite a slow start and the book does take a rather long time to get going but once they start the expedition in Vystrani, I was definitely invested in the journey and just as excited to learn more about these creatures and solve the mysteries they came across.

The final act of the book surprisingly turns into somewhat of a whodunnit as all of the pieces start coming together that while I still enjoyed it a lot, was not what I was expecting and would have maybe liked more focus on the dragons themself rather than humans.

Maybe the strongest thing I can say is that the world had me so invested that each time Isabella would bring up a research paper or book she had read, I just wished it actually existed and could read it myself which I think marks a very strong connection to the book.