It's delightful to be back with the Camhersts again. I missed them. I love the Lady Trent series, because adventurous lady naturalist + dragons is delightful. So getting to meet her granddaughters, with their interests, and see how the world has evolved after Lady Trent's discoveries have had a chance to sink in, was great fun.

It was a gripping read, if nothing else because I could kind of see the awful plot twist coming and had to speed-read to get to it and get past it to get to the happier resolution. At first I kept thinking that Audrey was terribly naive but then I remembered she was 23 years old and then I remembered *my* 23rd year and it all made quite a bit more sense, unfortunately. 23 was my least favorite year of adulthood by far because it was so full of trying to figure out who I was and what I wanted and it is quite the same for poor Audrey Camherst. But she knows what she loves and who she loves, even if it takes her a while to figure out how to apply that knowledge.

Her crew are delightful - Kudashayn, her Draconean colleague, is a delight, and Cora is also fantastic.

I am also a sucker for oral history/alternate ways of telling stories, so the telling of this story via diaries, and letters, and news clips is right up my alley.

I didn't think it was possible for me to love a book more than I did any of the Lady Trent books, but this one may have topped those for me. Frankly, I loved everything about this book--from the style in which it's written, to the characters, and the hopefulness of the story itself--these are all things that resonated with me as a reader.

Let me start out with the style. The story is revealed through a series of documents left by various characters--everything from letters, journal entries, written statements, and other documents such as translations of ancient Draconean scripts and the translation notes. These documents are put together in such a way that the story is told mostly in a linear fashion, but there are a few flashbacks which reveal some of the character's backstories and give us more insight into their personalities and motivations. I loved this style of storytelling. If you're looking for an epistolary novel, look no further, this is it. I enjoy that the story wasn't only journal entries or only letters, but used various forms of documentation. I especially loved the translation notes, as the characters left replies to each other and bandied back and forth about certain topics, sometimes getting off-topic, which was really fun.

Audrey Camhurst is a delight and I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her as our main protagonist. She's like her grandmother in many ways, but she's also definitely her own person. She's probably a little more forward, if only because she's living in a world that has been altered by the generations that had come before her, paving the way for women in scientific fields. She doesn't have to fight for her right to simply exist in the field quite as much as her grandmother did, but it's still there a bit. But also, Audrey is fighting for other things, like the rights of the Draconeon people to be recognized as people with rights of their own instead of being feared and hated because of ignorance and deliberate smear campaigns against them. I love that we see so many sides of her in this story. She's strong, yes, but also vulnerable and willing to admit when she makes mistakes (after being stubborn for a bit).

I loved her dynamics with the other characters in the book, especially those helping her with the translations. We have a Draconean character, Kudshayn, and he quickly became a favorite of mine. I loved reading his letters back to the sanctuary. It's clear he has a great heart, which isn't invulnerable to being broken. He's such a 'do the right thing' type of character that he's willing to sacrifice his own happiness, and that of his people, if it means revealing a truth. And then we have Lord Gleinheigh's niece, who we don't quite know what to make of at first, and maybe that's because she has a lot of self-discovery to do of her own. All three of these characters have great arcs which weave and intersect each other throughout the story is such lovely ways, allowing them to learn from one another.

I don't really have many criticisms of this one. It's exactly what I wanted when I first heard about this book being written. Perhaps the villain is a little, well, villain-y, but the motivations are clear. And let's be honest--sometimes people are just evil. This is true in life as it is in fiction. I certainly see a lot of parallels between the story and today's sociopolitical climate (propaganda! fake news! fear of outsiders!) and perhaps that's why the overall hopeful nature resonated so much with me--it served as a buoy to my spirits in a world that sometimes feels like it's without hope. 5/5 stars.

Note: this review will be live on my blog at 630am Eastern Time 8/20/19

Marie Brennan is back once more in the world of Lady Trent with her newest novel, Turning Darkness Into Light. While TDiL follows the granddaughter of the famous Lady Trent, this is not merely a rehash of the same themes we saw in the first series. Audrey is her own person with her own goals… and a heavy familial legacy to live up to. I was impressed not only by Audrey, but also the side characters: Kudshayn and Cora. Told in the form of letters and journal entries, this book has drawn me in from the first page – Brennan has not only met the standard her original series set, but surpassed it.

This is a character-driven novel with a writing style similar to the Lady Trent series, but with a new and novel mixed media approach to the story. Audrey Camherst is the primary narrator, and the bulk of the novel is told via her diary entries. However, in addition to that, we see sneak peeks into other characters and the world at large through letters back home from Kudshayn, letters to friends by Cora, and clippings of newspapers following large socially important events.

Audrey has in part taken up her grandmother’s mantle in that she, too, is an avid researcher. Rather than being a dragon naturalist, however, she’s a historian; she’s fascinated by the ancient Draconean culture. She’s a linguist who studies their language and writings, investigates artifacts, and works with various museums with their collections. Naturally, she does tend to attract trouble much as her dear grandmama managed back in her day.

“I thought I was obliged, as Lady Trent’s granddaughter, to sneer at all things feminine and frilly. I made the mistake once of saying something about that in Grandmama’s hearing, and oh, did she ever set me down hard. She didn’t raise her voice. She only explained to me, very calmly, that if any obligation accrued to me as her granddaughter, then it was to acknowledge the right of any person to pursue their own dreams instead of the ones I felt they ought to have.”

Between the events of Lady Trent and Turning Darkness into Light, it was discovered that a small population of Draconeans are, in fact, still alive – which forms the political backdrop of this novel. What’s more, a landmark set of tablets depicting one of the earliest Draconean creation myths has additionally been unearthed by one Lord Gleinleigh, a private collector of Draconean artifacts… and when he needs a translator, adding the famous Camherst/Trent name seems like the best option to bring him fame and legitimacy. With a senate vote coming up regarding the fate and independence of the Draconeans, the content of the tablets rapidly becomes an important social topic. Lord Gleinleigh, being involved in politics himself, has a large stake in their contents as the collection is likely to win him power and influence.

“SCIRLAND, UNITE! The reptilian threat has arrived early on our fair shores. Not content to wait for the great gathering next winter to determine their fate, they have sent an advance EMISSARY, and in grotesque style—flying alone in a caeliger meant for the use of HUMAN BEINGS.”

As Audrey, Kudshayn, and Cora (Lord Gleinleigh’s young niece and ward) translate the tablets, they find that Lord Gleinleigh’s motives may not be nearly as pure as one might hope. When he’s seen consorting with known Hadamists, members of an anti-Draconean hate group, Audrey’s hackles immediately rise. What’s more, an old flame of Audrey’s who stole her work and betrayed her may also be involved in the plot. The goals of Gleinleigh and Co. are gradually revealed as the novel moves forward, often with some surprisingly twisty turns – Brennan weaves a fantastic intrigue in this novel, which caught me off-guard several times.

I think my favorite part of this novel was the way Brennan integrated the translated Draconean tablet text and used its plot to mirror the real-world conspiracy plot. The prose is mythic and has a distinct feel to it, and the back-and-forth annotations between Kudshayn, Audrey, and Cora were fun to read. Where human society’s tend to center around the repetition of three in most folklore, Draconean differs slightly: their mythic number is instead four. This gives it a surprisingly different flavor for being overall a very small change. This number reflects the themes of their ancient gods: creation (the sun), destruction (death), stability (the earth), and change (the wind).

“You may enter,” Crown of the Abyss said, “but you may not return. A cavern may give up what it has eaten, the sea may give up what it has drowned, a forest may give up what it has trapped, but the underworld does not give up anything it takes.”

Modern Draconeans, however, worship only two gods: creation and stability, the sun and the earth. Kudshayn, being a priest of the Draconean people, finds this not only fascinating… but also distressing in the extreme. The foundations of his faith and his understanding of his history are shaken, and he must decide which is more valid: modern Draconean religion, or the religion from whence it came. Should he worship the lost gods? Or should he remain firm in what he was taught from the shell? I thoroughly enjoyed the added depth this gave to the plot, and I felt that it added a great deal of weight to the overall importance of the tablets and the conspiracies surrounding them.

“I gaze upon these tablets, treasures of the past, and know they are not mine. I share with those ancients my scales, my wings, my bones, my shell. I do not share the factors that shaped them, in body or in mind. The brother who marked these clay surfaces was born in a land that would kill me. For generations without counting my foremothers hid themselves away in the mountains, fearing the sight of humans, while their ancient foremothers ruled over the ancient foremothers of those self-same humans. Who am I to the Anevrai? I am no one. They did not know me, and despite the work of years, we are only beginning to know them. What claim do I have to this past? What claim does it have on me?”

All in all, I highly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoyed the Lady Trent novels. For those who would like a smaller, stand-alone introduction to the world, this would also be a great choice. While knowledge of the Lady Trent novels adds some additional context, it is certainly not necessary to have a good time with this book.

I love the memoirs of lady trent and to go and discover more of the world and dragons. Can never get enough dragons. Will definitely recommend.

Marie Brennan's "The Memoirs of Lady Trent" is one of my favorite SF/F series I've read over the past few years, and was a deserving nominee for the Hugo Award for Best Series last year. The story was a wonderful tale of science, fantasy, romance, and more (not to mention Dragons!) throughout its five books, and I was sad when the whole thing had to end. Fortunately for us all, Brennan is providing just that with this book, Turning Darkness Into Light, a stand-alone spinoff featuring the tale of the granddaughter of Isabella (Lady Trent), Audrey Camherst, as she attempts to translate a piece of ancient draconic history.

And the result is as usual for Brennan's work in this world: delightful. Whereas Audrey's grandmother focused upon the natural science of dragons, Audrey is focused upon translation of ancient texts - specifically Draconean texts. Still Brennan manages to turn Audrey and her companion's translation of a newly unearthed Draconean text into a fascinating aspect of the story, with the political implications of the work, and Audrey's attempts to deal with those implications, forming the core conflict. It's why I loved the original series and what made it so different from typical works - even in this fantasy land, this is a book about the principles and usage of science amidst everything. And so while Audrey may not be quite as fantastic a lead character as her grandmother, Turning Darkness Into Light is definitely another winner I can recommend.

Quick Note: As I note above, Turning Darkness Into Light probably functions perfectly fine as a stand-alone, and while the book does spoil some elemeents of the original series, it does a remarkably good job at glossing over other spoilers for those books so that someone who starts here probably won't realize those other spoilers were even present if they go on to the original 5 books next - so you certainly can start with this book. Still, while the book will undoubtedly be enjoyable for newcomers to this world, readers of the original series will get some extra pleasure from references to Isabella's adventures in her memoirs, which is how I enjoyed this book.
------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------

When rich Scirland lord and blowhard collector, Lord Gleinheigh, makes an astounding discovery, a set of tablets containing what appears to be an ancient epic in the ancient Draconean language, it makes waves across the academic and general worlds. For interest in the Draconeans is at an all time high, with a vote soon to take place in the Scirland that could open the world up to the modern survivors of the Draconeans to take a bigger role in the world. It will take an expert scholar to translate the tablets in time for the vote, to open their knowledge to the world.

Enter Audrey Camherst, the famous granddaughter of Isabella, Lady Trent famed Dragon Naturalist, and whose grandfather was the first to decipher the Draconean script. Eager to make a name for herself, Audrey accepts Lord Gleinheigh's conditions of secrecy, and starts work, at first aided by Lord Gleinheigh's sheltered daughter Cora and then by a Dracoenan scholar Kudshayn. But translating the tablets results in difficult questions for the trio, as they reveal a past mythology that differs from anything currently practiced by the few remaining Draconeans. A mythology that can possibly be used by those seeking to harm the Draconeans, and swing the vote, out of sheer prejudice and hate.

Will Audrey's attempts to decipher the truth bring about pain to those she cares about? Or is there some way, like her famous grandmother, that she can cut through it all and advance both the cause of scholarly knowledge and the innocent people who deserve a place in the world?
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Turning Darkness into Light is not told as a straight out story - instead the story is an epistolary novel, told entirely through letters and diary entries from Audrey, Kudshayn, and Cora (with a few other characters interrupting on occasion). The only divergences are when the story flashes back on three occasions to events of the past, which enlighten us to events in the present. I'm going to be honest, while this form of storytelling was fine and didn't really interfere with the storytelling at all, it didn't really add anything either.

Still, this form is what Brennan uses to tell the story from the perspectives of our characters and to really get out what each character is thinking - unlike the Lady Trent books, while Audrey is our main character, we're dealing with the perspectives and feelings of a few other characters as well. And these characters, while individually never quite matching Isabella from the other books, are all really well done. Audrey* is an excellent young heroine, whose intellectual curiosity and drive to learn while living up to the family name drives her to do some pretty fun and reckless things - her motto of "What would Grandmama do?" leads to a lot more adventurous actions than it would be for any other person and it makes her really fun to read and root for. She's a great lead for the story, as she struggles to find a path forwards for herself in a world where the search for scholarly knowledge will put her into contact with those who want to use that knowledge for less savory purposes, causing her great strain.


And I was particularly intrigued by her eventual assistant, the Draconean priest/scholar Kudshayn, who arrives to help Audrey translate the tablets, and has to deal with a crisis of faith over what is revealed within them. Brennan does a fantastic job describing through his letters how the discoveries of the tablet cause his internal crises, adding an interesting different side to the scientific work he and Audrey are doing that has obvious parallels to our world. If there are any sequels to this book, I'd be happy to see more of him and how his people react to him taking back this knowledge to them.

The overall setting is the same as in the Memoirs of Lady Trent, and it works generally pretty well, especially as compared to our current times - the world is still Victorian to a certain extent, though a bit more modernized, and an undercurrent is the hatred and prejudice against foreigners - or in this case, the Draconeans recently discovered. And the characters and ideas from the prior series occasionally come back into play to form a political conflict for the characters to deal with, in addition to their scientific ones, that gives the plot excellent momentum and leads to a rather satisfying ending after all.

The one weakness of this book lies in the book's secondary main character of Cora, whose plot is probably the most generic of the trio, as her horizons as a sheltered rule following ward of her uncle are broadened by interactions with Audrey and Kudshayn. When the expected conflict between them finally comes about, it's resolved only by necessity, and then Cora sort of disappears for the final act, making it all seem underwhelming after all. Again, if there is a sequel, there's enough ground here that I'd love to see more of Cora as she tries to see things outside of Scirland, but there just isn't enough done with Cora here at the end, which is a minor disappointment.

Still, Turning Darkness Into Light is another example of Brennan using a fantasy world to set up a plot borne out by scientific drive and adventure that is just delightful overall, and I can wholly recommend it, even to newcomers to this world. It doesn't seem like there are any plans for a sequel just yet, but if there ever are, I would totally read it in a heartbeat. Here's hoping.

Turning Darkness Into Light is written in a unique way, as journal entries, letters, and ancient texts, all woven together to tell the story of Audrey Camherst and her quest to translate a set of tablets that very well may change the world’s view of Draconeans, a humanoid-like dragon people.
Despite my aversion to reading anything similar to diaries, Turning Darkness Into Light held my interest all the way through. The quest to translate newly-discovered tablets of ancient lore piqued my curiosity and fed my love of ancient languages and cultures. This book is great for those who enjoy reading books written as diaries or journals, as well as language and history lovers, as well as anyone who wishes dragons existed. Though dragons are mentioned, the Draconeans take center stage in the story and are just as interesting as the mythological beasts.
The plot holds just enough mystery to intrigue the reader and just enough foreign words sprinkled throughout without being overwhelming. Overall, Turning Darkness Into Light is a satisfying read.

NOTE: I received an advanced reader’s copy from the publisher through NetGalley for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book did what good fantasy is supposed to do: tell a story that is bigger than just the text itself. There are so many interlacing subplots and ideas within this book including: racism, sexism, friendship, prejudice, 'othering' groups you do not know well, plagiarism, colonisation, and the effects of isolationism. It did all this without seeming preachy or taking over the entire plot. The main character (Audrey) is a black biracial woman and the story navigates the different nuances racism and how racism is also tied to elitism.

Another thing I respect is how the idea of translation is handled. For those who have not spent time translating or reading different translations of works (I once did an essay discussing three different variations of Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" and was I astounded at the differences), translation is an incredibly difficult field and it is not genuine for an ancient text to be read and to be able to read the entire thing-- let alone agree on what it says. A great deal of "Turning Darkness into Light" is three characters trying to discern what the tablets that have been discovered say, and how that will affect species relations and personal identity. Each translation that Audrey, Kudshayn, and Cora do has accompanying end notes in each chapter where the characters speculate to each-other and make notes on gaps. That being said, if you want a book that is more about dragons and less about the ramifications of translations, identity, and plagiarism, then this book may not entirely be your thing.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and totally commend Marie Brennan for writing such subjects in a brilliant way and using the form of fantasy to draw attention to real life international concerns. Well worth a read! There are many more things I enjoyed about this book but these are the first ones to come to mind!

A standalone sequel to the MEMOIRS OF LADY TRENT quintet, TURNING DARKNESS INTO LIGHT is reliant on its predecessors to, if not make sense---I think there's enough info for even a newbie to understand the gist of what's going on, if not necessarily care about it too deeply---then to give the reader some reason to read on. The first half was oddly dry, and though the story picked up in the second half, I didn't think it did so well enough to bump this up any higher than three stars.

The plot follows Isabella's twentysomething granddaughter Audrey`as she translates an ancient Draconean epic amidst much Scirland-based skullduggery. The story lacks the globe-trotting adventurism of its predecessors, but never really manages to replace that with anything equally interesting. (I almost wrote that the author squelched the mannerpunk elements, except that isn't strictly true; they're probably stronger here than in any book since A NATURAL HISTORY OF DRAGONS, it's just that Audrey cares so much less---and is bound so much less---than Isabella that they just feel absent.)

The author's choice to construct this as an epistolary novel just added to the dryness, I thought, as did her choice to write out *the entire Draconean epic*, along with the translators' notes, neither of which were really interesting enough (even to a devoted reader of the previous novels!) that I thought they really needed to be written out in full. Yes, there is a mystery involved . . . but at some point, it all started feeling like bloat.

I really, really enjoyed the characters, though I think I would've preferred to see them interacting with and in some different plot. (Also, this book made me wish for Jacob's seafaring adventures to get their time in the sun.) Cora, especially, was well-done, and the complexities of the Audrey/Mornett situation had a great deal of potential. But again, I felt the epistolary format sapped the character interactions of much of their vigor.

This is one of those novels that I think would've worked much better as a novella. Readers who haven't yet read the Lady Trent novels should absolutely start there, especially as this book contains a number of huge spoilers. Readers who haven't read the earlier works will, I think, have some difficulty getting through this one.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

This novel is a companion novel to the Lady Trent series. Even though this can be read as a stand-alone, the reader should read the other novels in the series first to enjoy the references more. I really like Audrey. She was a strong and clever woman. I really like the writing, which was very witty and filled with historical details. I love how the author interwove an original fantasy world to Victorian England. Thus, this novel is full of magic and mystery! I recommend this for fans of Noami Novik!

For those unfamiliar with Brennan's books, she previously authored The Memoirs of Lady Trent Series, a completed five book series. Turning Darkness Into Light is a standalone book set in the same world, starring Lady Trent's granddaughter. (This is your warning that if you haven't completed the Lady Trent series, there are massive spoilers for it in this book, so please read the full series first!)

I binged the entire Lady Trent series on audiobook earlier this summer, so despite my absolutely atrocious book memory, I actually remember the events of that series. I feel the need to mention that and a few other things, because they really inform my experience with this book. First, as this was an e-ARC, it was jarring for me switching formats. Kate Redding did a fantastic job narrating the Lady Trent series and I missed hearing her voice in this book. Secondly, with Isabella (MC from the series) fresh in my memory, it was a little hard for me to separate my love for her from this reading experience. I craved more of Isabella -- and she is in the book, but she's not the focus, and it took some time for me to accept that.

With that out of the way, let's talk about TDIL. Audrey was an interesting character that felt very true to her age and place in the world. She has the burden of famous relatives that she feels the need to live up to -- but she's very much her own person as well, with her own interests and desires. Brennan is excellent at writing distinct, fascinating, smart, and imperfect characters, and Audrey fits all of those descriptions.

There were so many things to love about the characters (Audrey and the others) as well as the story... and yet it was really, really hard for me to get into this book. I believe this would be considered an epistolary novel. And while the Lady Trent books are written as a a memoir, they were still almost entirely Isabella's thoughts and words, if I recall correctly. TDIL, on the other hand, is a mix of Audrey's diary entries, letters back and forth between her and her sister, diary entries from other characters, letters by other characters to off-screen characters, news articles, etc. There were some new interesting things that came up because of this format - the footnote banter on the translation was fun to read. BUT there is a LOT going on with the format and it was confusing to track at times.

In addition, where Isabella was always off on an adventure, Audrey is sitting in a room for most of the book, translating tablets. Let me put it in HP house terms: Isabella's story was Ravenclaw x Gryffindor, but Audrey is pretty much entirely Ravenclaw. It was a little too much Ravenclaw for me. Sure, she does get out of the house and do a few headstrong type things, but she's still not out in the field studying dragons. I needed more adventure, more action, more things happening. I know it's not quite fair to compare it to Lady Trent (which I keep doing), because this is an entirely separate story, but again, having read them so close together, it was virtually impossible for me to avoid comparisons.

Weirdly, though, my love for the Lady Trent series is also what carried me through the first part of TDIL. I honestly might have DNF'd it by halfway through if I didn't love Brennan's writing so much and trust her to deliver.

Thankfully, I stuck with the book and then it got good. It got really, <i>really</i> good. I won't spoil anything, but Brennan's brilliance with nuanced characters, plot twists, and interesting character arcs really shone through. By the end I was smiling so hard - I love where the story went, love how Audrey grew and handled everything, love so so much about the ending. And the last part of the book made me really appreciate the building blocks sprinkled in earlier in the story.

So here are my main takeaways for you:
1. Read The Memoirs of Lady Trent first!
2. Audrey is not Isabella and that's okay, because she's interesting in her own right.
3. Keep in mind that the formatting is very different from the Lady Trent series!
3. If you're not feeling the beginning, it's worth sticking with the story. Hopefully the ending will deliver for you, the way it did for me.

Looking forward to the next thing Brennan writes!

ARC provided by Tor Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


(Review posted to Goodreads & will also be shared to Amazon on release day)

"Marie Brennan's Turning Darkness Into Light is a delightful fantasy of manners, the heir to the award-winning Natural History of Dragons series, a perfect stepping stone into an alternate Victorian-esque fantasy landscape.

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 Gleinheigh 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, Audrey must find proof of the conspiracy before it’s too late."

Anyone else as over the moon as I am that we have more dragon tales by Marie Brennan?

This is a novel about Lady Trent's granddaughter Audrey, who is recruited to translate a sequence of Draconean tablets belonging to a private collector. The novel takes the form of diary entries, letters, translated excerpts, police reports, and so forth. I definitely classify "getting to be the first translator of an important ancient text" as an escapist fantasy; if you are in the same camp, this book will deliver good, fluffy amusement. (For reasons of literary exigency, the text itself is rather more coherent and rather less bloodthirsty than most of the ancient literature with which I am familiar).

The general villain of the story is prejudice against Draconeans, but the specific villain is Aaron Mornett, a beautiful young man who is "not a reputable scholar." Audrey's mixed feelings about Aaron Mornett are effectively and compellingly represented. I wasn't inclined to be all that patient with them as a reader, though: I've spent my fair share of time dealing with brilliant, entitled young men in the real world, and don't need to be assured that they really are that awful.

Aaron Mornett's opposite is Cora Fitzarthur, the painstaking niece of the man who collected the Draconean tablets. I hoped for a while that Audrey and Cora would fall in love: the way Audrey learns to trust her is so obviously a parallel to the way she learns distrust of Aaron. Also, I grew up on novels about the trials of being an orphan who becomes the ward to someone terrible. I would have liked to read more about Cora's tribulations, or, failing that, about her newfound expertise in volcanoes. Instead, the book ends with revelations about Draconeans, politics, and a surprising amount of violence and rushing about. (And, of course, with footnotes, which are not to be skipped.)

Turning Darkness Into Light continues the Lady Trent series with a new adventure featuring her granddaughter, Audrey Camherst. It’s a definite rollercoaster, shifting from the excitement of academic discovery to the horrors of a conspiracy that could spell doom for all involved. This is admittedly my first foray into this wonderfully drawn world and I loved every minute of it. The writing is expertly done, the characters are multi-faceted, and the mythology is enthralling. 

A FASCINATING MYTHOLOGY

Brennan has created a beautiful creation myth that pulls from a fascinating alternate history. We see how the world was created in the eyes of the ancient Draconeans and how that differs from their more modern mythology. It’s an especially epic tale, and we get interpretations from both Audrey and her Draconean friend, Kudshayn. That dual perspective, of foreign scholar and native priest, adds a lot of meaning as the tablets are interpreted.

THE EXCITEMENT OF ACADEMIC DISCOVERY

With each new translated tablet, you can feel the thrill each character experiences. They’re discovering something never seen before, and that concept is exciting on its own. It harkens to a past age of human history where archaeological discoveries were the constant talk of the town, engaging imaginations and creating a frenzy for further discoveries.

THE DOWNFALLS OF HUMANITY

This side of the novel is especially timely. We see people actively trying to bring down a race much different than their own based on falsehoods and a complete ignorance of fact. Audrey is a hero in the face of these evil people, revealing them as conspirators in an especially heartless plot. It sheds light on the importance of truth and the dangers of prejudice. 

SMART WRITING STYLE

I love the combination of letters, diary entries, catalogues, etc. It adds an extremely authentic feel to the book and gives you a closer insight into the characters than a more typical narrative. 

This is a spoiler, so avoid if you want the back half of the book to remain a surprise!

A SURPRISING MYSTERY

I was most intrigued by the surprising direction the book took. What started as a thrilling archaeological find became a huge conspiracy meant to hurt the relations with the Draconians. It’s born of deep prejudice, casting already questionable characters into pure villainy. Brennan writes this part of the book expertly, throwing in clues at every turn until the full mystery is revealed.

Review to be published on 8/21 at the following link, and on Twitter/Facebook: http://reviewsandrobots.com/2019/08/21/turning-darkness-into-light-book-review

Turning Darkness Into Light is the latest novel from Marie Brennan, and it’s set in the world of her other novel, Memoirs of Lady Trent. That being said, you honestly don’t have to have read the other one first in order to understand what is happening. I didn’t and was fine. Though I’m sure I missed out on plenty of references that fans would have loved.
Turning Darkness into Light follows Isabella Camherst’s granddaughter, Audrey Camherst. Her goal is to translate and understand ancient Draconean texts – and she’s quite good at it too. Unfortunately, her work goes deeper than expected, and before long she’s in for a journey of her life.
This novel has to be one of the most unique things I’ve read as of late. You see, this novel isn’t quite like any other. At least, not quite like what you normally see in the world of fantasy. In the world of history it’s probably a lot more common.
Turning Darkness Into Light is told entirely through the use of letters, newspaper clippings, journal entries, and other unique media formats. It’s quite clever, how Marie Brennan was able to weave a story through these pieces as she did.

Turning Darkness Into Light was a unique and exquisite reading experience. It’s not like anything I’ve ever read before, and I don’t expect to see a story in this format again anytime soon. I loved how unique and refreshing it was.
It was interesting to see such a unique storytelling method applied to a novel of this tone. The two blended rather well, actually. Giving off a feeling of an older story. I don’t really need to explain why the storytelling method worked so well in that instance, do I?
Plus, it isn’t every day that you see a novel that is both part of a series/world and a standalone novel. I’ll probably go on to read Memoirs of Lady Trent next. But I’ll be curious to see how those that read the novels in the opposite order feel about the story.
This novel started out rather formal and at an almost soothing pace. But things quickly sped up in the life of Audrey Camherst. I loved all of the twists and turns that followed, and it was interesting to learn of Audrey through the letters she wrote. Though I already mentioned that bit.
Audrey’s character was exceptionally endearing. She’s brilliant and determined to live up to such a legacy (her grandmother, Isabella Camherst). Her character doesn’t quite fit in with the age of the story – meaning she’s bolder than women should be. And I adored that about her.
It was brilliant reading about the Draconean lore and everything else that Audrey was researching. But more than that, I loved the politics surrounding said research. And how everyone seemed to have a different goal, motive, or method.
All things considered, Turning Darkness Into Light was a brilliant and fascinating read. And it was quite the experience, too. I’m glad I took the time to read it. Though part of me wishes I hadn’t read it quite so quickly!

I've only read one and a bit of the Lady Trent series, having bounced off the uneven pacing of the second book. But I knew the author to be very skilled, not only from reading some of her work but from interacting with her on a writers' forum we both belong to, so when I saw that this one had a new character in the same setting (a couple of generations later), and a premise that sounded promising in terms of a compelling story with strong stakes and sustained tension, I requested it from Netgalley. Thanks to the publisher for granting the request.

I wasn't disappointed, either. It starts out, like the Lady Trent stories, focused on the scholarship, but even at the beginning there are strong hints of why the outcome of the protagonist's efforts to translate an ancient text are going to be politically important. As the story goes on, it becomes more and more clear that there's something dodgy going on, and the action ramps up rapidly. Throughout, there are a series of interactions between the protagonist and her former love interest that develop the complexities of that relationship in a way I've seldom seen achieved.

It's presented through a series of documents - journals, letters, police reports, the translation that lies at the heart of the story - and that's well done, though I did stumble a little when I realized that the very confessional, diary-like tone of one piece was actually still part of a witness statement made to the police. It was the sole misstep I noticed in the epistolary part of the book, and since it's lampshaded, was probably intentional.

The other thing I stumbled over a little was the worldbuilding. My personal philosophy is that if you choose to create a world that's not our world, rather than just have a version of our world with (say) dragons in it, it shouldn't resemble our world too closely (or what's the point of the difference)? This world sometimes resembles ours too closely, with countries that I mentally dubbed MightAsWellBeEngland, MightAsWellBeChina and MightAsWellBeIndia.

Apart from that, which is really just a philosophical difference, I enjoyed this very much. The sentence-level writing is excellent, the pacing good, the plot compelling, the characters and their relationships more complex and messy and (hence) realistic than I usually see. It easily makes my Best of 2019 list.

This book is a stand-alone, set in the same universe, but centred around the granddaughter of the original series' protagonist.

As a heads up, although this is a stand-alone and you don't have to have read the original series to follow along, I did find a few places where, although I didn't need to have read the whole original series, I think it might have helped my understanding if I had. For instance, the book talks a lot about draconians -- the main plot of the story is that Audrey is translating a draconian text -- because I've only read the first book in the original series I had been seen any reference to draconians, only humans and dragons. I spend a little bit of time being confused as to whether this was a term used interchangeably or an entirely separate species but the book assumed that I would have this knowledge. It's a trivial thing but it made the first few chapters just a little bit trickier for me to sink into. I think if you've read the entire original series you're going to hit the ground running on this one.

I really liked the whole premise of Turning Darkness Into Light. It's something I don't think I've seen before, a story built around translation, language and philology. I thought it was blended into the story itself in very clever ways.

There's lots of mixed media involved in the story. You have Audrey's story as she works on the tablets, which is interwoven with flashbacks to her past relationships, the actual translation of the text that they're working on, and media reports (such as newspaper articles, arrest reports and letters) that add other POVs to what's happening.

I really enjoyed the characters in this book. Lady Trent (the only one I already knew) appears very, very briefly -- really just one or two letters -- so almost the entire cast was new to me. I have no idea if they have previously appeared in the original series. Either way, and quite impressively, I found myself invested in the characters very quickly. I thought they were all well-rounded and fully realized. I love the little details showing the differences between personalities and cultures. For instance, when Audrey sits down with Cora to explain the subtleties of draconian body language, you see the difference between both the ways the two girls understand social interaction, as well as the way the two different species understand social interaction.

I especially love Audrey, who is is both a scholar and an action hero rolled into one. She's very thoughtful and considering when it comes to tablets but she's a real hothead when it comes to her friends and any perceived slights.

I would definitely recommend this book whole-heartedly to anyone who has enjoyed The Memoirs of Lady Trent series, although I would perhaps be a tad more reluctant to recommend it as a starting point into the universe. You could read it first, but I just think you'll get far more from it if you read the original series first.

Personally, I thought it was a really great read, and I went through it very quickly. Having read the first book in the series, this one only serves to make me all the more keen to go back and read the remaining four books I have left in The Memoirs of Lady Trent.

Although I appreciated the amount of knowledge, good writing, and passion that must have gone into this book (and its world building/other novels), I often found myself either bored or disinterested. The conceit of solely using letters/notes/communiques is not new to me and I've read and enjoyed other books that have used similar story telling techniques. But all the same, the very dense science stuff isn't really interesting enough to keep me invested and the jumping around of POVs through various letters etc. became a bit too daunting. I found it harder and harder to pick up the book every time I put it down (which was sadly very often).

Story : The granddaughter of the famous Lady Trent (from previous novels) is invited to an eccentric aristocrat's house to decipher antique Draconian scrolls. What she finds is a creationist story that fascinates her.

The characters were diverse and had very distinct voices. From a non human dragon-like person (I think I have to have read the other novels to really appreciate a lot of this title) to a prim ward of the eccentric aristocrat. I appreciated that in their letters, each was very distinct in the way they framed words or approached situations.

I think problematic for me is that I really am NOT that interested in e.g., a 3 page discussion on the entymology of the Draconian language. Nor another several pages of physiology or mythos. It's dry stuff and great for those who are in that field - I am not. As much as I'd not be very interested on in depth discussions on the different types of teeth enamel (I'll save that for dentists) or wear patterns on an internal combustion engine (I'll save that for engineers). I read novels for the story and in-depth scientific-type discussions really didn't help move the plot along.

I had not read the previous novels so there was a LOT that would not be explained in a book formatted to be told solely in communiques. As such, I was also lost during much of this - and have no idea who the various non-humans are or why dragons are/were lost. So those who have read the other books will likely not find this one as baffling. About the only thing I could ascertain is that this takes place in a Pseudo Victorian type setting.

So although really good writing, I was lost through most of this and not really interested in all the science-speak. The characters were distinct but not interesting enough to want to follow them. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

I love the Lady Trent memoirs and was really excited to see a standalone set in the same universe. I was not disappointed. Audrey Camherst is a great character, clever but less experience than her forebear and just as determined to make her mark in a scholarly way. I love how Brennan’s books blend natural history, society manners, humour and mystery to creates something quite unique. Highly recommend this and the previous series.

Turning Darkness Into Light by Marie Brennan is a standalone book set in the world of The Memoirs of Lady Trent (A Natural History of Dragons and sequels). Rather than taking a naturalist view of dragons, like the earlier books, this one focusses on a significant translation of the Draconian language. I said it stands alone, but it does rather contain a spoiler for Within the Sanctuary of Wings, the fifth and final of the Memoirs of Lady Trent. So beware if you haven't read that book and want to remain unspoiled. Similarly, do not continue reading this review if you don't want to be spoiled for the end of the Memoirs of Lady Trent.

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 Gleinheigh 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, must find proof of the conspiracy before it’s too late.

TURNING DARKNESS INTO LIGHT is a delightful fantasy of manners, the heir to the award-winning Natural History of Dragons series, a perfect stepping stone into an alternate Victorian-esque fantasy landscape.

This novel is told through a collection of diary entries, letters, and the translation in progress. Most of the narrative comes from Audrey's diary entries, with various letters, musings from Kudshayn's diary-like entries (but with more formality in mind on his part), and discussions in the footnotes of the translation flesh out the rest of the story. This does come with limitations, such that if something dramatic didn't happen to Audrey we didn't necessarily hear about it. That said, most of the dramatic moments did happen to Audrey and she was in a position to write about them afterwards, but that made some of the other media a bit lacklustre. For example, the first few religion-oriented musings from Kudshayn's journal were kind of dull to me, but I found his insights more interesting as we got closer to the end of the book. This style I think makes this book just slightly less compelling than the original Memoirs of Lady Trent series, because, while those books were written pseudo-autobiographically, they were written by the protagonist long after the events recounted in them. That makes them inherently feel a bit more coherent, while Turning Darkness Into Light is written in a much more immediate style, without any snarky comments added by an older protagonist looking back on her younger self. Putting it that way, perhaps it is just a matter of taste. And I want to stress that I still definitely enjoyed Turning Darkness Into Light and found myself hooked on the story. Even though a story about translating ancient tablets might sound boring, there were a lot of intriguing hooks to keep me interesting.

One does not need to have read the Memoirs of Lady Trent to enjoy Turning Darkness Into Light, but I think the reading experience is enhanced by greater familiarity with the world. Audrey, the protagonist, is the granddaughter of Lady Trent, and various members of her illustrious family make minor appearances in this book. I expect some of those references would be quite meaningless to readers unfamiliar with the earlier books, although the overarching story would still work.

I enjoyed Turning Darkness Into Light and I'm hoping there will be more books about Audrey or at least more books set in this world. I think there's plenty left to explore, even if this particular story was well-contained in this book. I recommend this book to fans of the Memoirs of Lady Trent (of course) and anyone interested by the topic of translation of a dead language in a fantasy world containing dragons.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: August 2019, Tor Books
Series: Stands alone, but same world as The Memoirs of Lady Trent
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

[this review will be up on my blog, acquadimore.wordpress.com, on August 17th]

This is the story of Audrey Camherst (Lady Trent's granddaughter) as she translates ancient tablets from a long-lost Draconean civilization in a place where anti-Draconean sentiment seems to be on the rise, and betrayal could be lurking on every corner. It's also the story of the Four who hatched from a single shell - yes, this novel has a story within a story, which is an aspect I loved.

You don't need to have read the Memoirs of Lady Trent series to understand Turning Darkness Into Light. However, I think it could be much more meaningful to you if you had, as some of the characters from that series are often mentioned, and as this novel is told entirely through letters, lists, journal entries and translations of ancient tablets. This is a really interesting choice, and I loved this somewhat mixed-media aspect, but this format isn't really suited to descriptions that don't feel like awkward infodumps, which is probably the reason I still have no idea how a Draconian looks like.

More than anything, Turning Darkness Into Light is about the importance of narratives, of the stories we choose to tell, and how they shape our understanding of ourselves as much as of "the other", and how nothing is ever "just a story". Writing fiction is, and has always been, inherently political.
It also makes some really good points about how bigotry isn't something in which only extremists engage, and the subtle, non-violent kind is just as dangerous as the unsubtle, violent one, as the two are tied together. One can't exist without the other.

The positives end there. I don't have much else to say; Audrey as a character didn't stand out that much to me, and neither did most characters, Cora being the only exception. I appreciated that the portrayal of an antagonistic relationship between a man and a woman that had an undercurrent of attraction but didn't turn into a romance, as an idea, but I didn't really believe it as much as I'd hoped. The format didn't help with that, as I felt it added a lot of distance between me and the characters.

This is a solid novel, if not a really memorable one, and the Memoirs of Lady Trent is one of the series that I'm considering and will maybe start this year.