#BlogTour-‘Turning Darkness Into Light’ by Marie Brennan

About the book…

A brand-new adventure set in the hugely popular ‘A Natural History Of Dragons’ universe – a delightful Victorian-esque fantasy. As the renowned granddaughter of Isabella Camherst (Lady Trent, of the riveting and daring Draconic adventure memoirs) Audrey Camherst has always known she, too, would want to make her scholarly mark upon a chosen field of study.

When Lord Gleinleigh recruits Audrey to decipher a series of ancient tablets holding the secrets of the ancient Draconean civilization, she has no idea that her research will plunge her into an intricate conspiracy, one meant to incite rebellion and invoke war. Alongside dearest childhood friend and fellow archeologist Kudshayn, she must find proof of the conspiracy before it’s too late.

My thanks to the team at Titan Books for my gifted paperback review copy which arrived along with dragon egg chocolates!! Best book post EVER! ‘Turning Darkness Into Light’ will be published in paperback on the 20th August 2019.

 

*POTENTIAL SPOILER FOR THE MEMOIR SERIES*

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Let’s go !

This is a great introductory novel to Marie’s alternate fantasy universe-it acts a bridge, a stand alone set in the same universe but centering Lady Trent’s granddaughter, Audrey. Through her, the reader gains an understanding of their world, the divisions, the politics and the basis of what forms their history and theological texts.

Audrey is hired to translate 12 tablets uncovered by Lord Gleinleigh in Akhia-his reputation as a hoarder of antiquities rather than a skilled archaeologist is quickly made apparent by both his lack of knowledge and his cluttered home with no reverence for the exhibits he has displayed willy-nilly!

Audrey is suggested by interested parties in part because of her pedigree, and also because of her sex. Lord Gleinleigh presents as a person who would see Audrey as lacking in threat to him and not someone he needs to worry about ‘spoiling’ his exclusive translation of the Draconean tablets.

He sends his niece, Cora, in undercover as a spy ,to make sure that no details of the tablets are allowed to escape, which includes monitoring Audrey’s letters yet also letting her colleague, and Draconean scholar, Kudshayn, help her with her work in order for it be be completed before the Falchester Congress of the following year. The timing is absolutely crucial as at the Congress it will be decided whether or not forcing the Draconeans to live in The Sanctuary, where a tenuous agreement has allowed them to live, should be reinforced or lifted.

The information being gathered from the tablets is expected to support the current assertion that the Draconean ancestors were human sacrificing beasts,engendering fear that the current incarnations of this race are only a small step away from adopting these characteristics.

However, what Audrey, Cora and Kudshayn uncover is something quite specatular which could turn the entire perception of Draconeans on its head…and more than one party is hovering in the wings waiting to snatch that knowledge away and sell it to the highest bidder….

An incredibly clever, and well constructed novel, this has lashings of Victorian , steampunk-esque trappings that I immediately fell in love with. Written in an epistolary fashion which recalled to mind the stylings of ‘Dracula’, I was worried about not understanding , for example, the names of the months, place names, history etc but these worries were quickly swept away with the pace of the story and the solidly rounded characters.

How can anyone not fall in immediate love with Audrey?! !There is a scene of public outcry when Kudshayn arrives where Audrey behaves in a fashion most unladylike, but totally needed that had me whooping for joy! She is in the unenvious position of being Lady Trent’s granddaughter, so the weight of expectation is heavy on her shoulders for her to not only continue the explorer’s legacy, but also create one of her own.

The way that the book is written is brilliant, you see snippets from newspapers, the differring translations of the same piece by both Cora and Audrey, as well as letters home from Kudshayn. Using the nature of the Draconeans and political unease, Marie Brennan neatly reflects real world concerns about the rise of facism to the right, and to the left.The identification-and imprisonment-of those who are classified as ‘other’ is a very real concern, whether in this world or the one where dragons exist.

I absolutely loved reading about The Scriptures and the myths of one egg which hatched 4 dragons from whom all life has descended and the detail is incredible, whether describing the body language of Draconeans, or the ‘rationale'(and I use that term loosely) of Hadamists and Calderites who oppose integration of Draconeans in society, and believe they should be contained.

The intricate use of language makes ‘Turning Darkness Into Light’ immersive, fantastical and a credit to the skills and knowledge of Marie Brennan. I was genuinely saddened when the book came to an end-I am unsure whether this stand alone will be the start of a new series or serve as an introduction to Marie’s world, however, I am excited to see that there are 5 Lady Trent novels to get my teeth into!

And can we just take a moment to appreciate how gorgeous the covers to her books are? Absolutely stunning!

About the author…

Marie Brennan is a former academic with a background in archaeology, anthropology, and folklore, which she now puts to rather cockeyed use in writing fantasy.

She is the critically acclaimed author of the Lady Trent series, as well as
the Doppelganger and Onyx Court novels, six novellas and more than thirty short stories.

She won two Isaac Asimov
Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing Grand Prizes.

Links-https://www.swantower.com/

Twitter @swan_tower

@TitanBooks

2 thoughts on “#BlogTour-‘Turning Darkness Into Light’ by Marie Brennan

    1. Isn’t it lush? All the covers are like this one, I am going to have to look up who the artist is, they are amazing! This is apparantly a stand alone novel which is a great jumping on point for the universe Marie has created. But this takes place a good 50 years after the events of the first 5 novels, so the main character in those-Lady Trent-isn’t well known and famous in those ones. This was the first Marie Brennan book I’ve read and I can’t wait to read the others. So I put that up just in case after Marie pointed this out ,very kindly, on Twitter:)

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