There's been this challenge floating around on the internet asking people, for one year, not to read books by any straight, white, cis-gendered male. While I'm not getting on board with that completely (sorry, feminism), I am trying to pay more attention to who is actually writing my books. I could really stand to get more LGBTQ and people of color into the rotation, but I actually read a lot of female authors, and I was really pleased to note that one of the best books that I've read recently were penned by women - A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

A Natural History of Dragons made a bit of a splash when it came out in 2013. It's similar in style and tone, if not content, to the fantastic Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - set somewhere very much like 19th century England, with all of those social mores and strictures, but also with a little bit of magic. It's very "if Jane Austen was writing fantasy now," which has become something of a genre in it's own right in the past few years. I was very surprised to discover a few years ago that I actually love Jane Austen, since I've never really gotten much out of the classics. Jane Austen plus dragons (or magicians, or whatever) only seems to double my pleasure, and my fun.

Dragons is the first book in the memoirs of a well-respected, elderly woman now known as Lady Trent. Before she was Lady Trent, though, she was Isabella, a dragon-mad young woman who, because of her social standing and the time and place she lives in, never expects to be able to study, or even see, the creatures she is so enthralled by. Because of their unique physiognomy, very little is known about dragons. When Isabella convinces her husband to join an expedition to study them in a remote area (and then convinces him to take her with him), she starts on a journey of discovery - about herself, about her life, about her feelings for her husband, and about dragons.

I was so floored by this book, because one of the things that it nails is that Austenian way is emotional realism. Isabella is fascinated by dragons, and spends much of her childhood horrifying her mother, a lady to the core, with her reckless adventures. I feel like many authors would have turned her into a standard issue Action Girl, and while I love that kind of character, there's so much more emotional resonance to her accepting her place in the world and finding happiness in it, then realizing her dreams through that. The relationship that she builds with her husband also feels both real and meaningful, and there are so many emotional beats that stemming from that relationship that the novel wouldn't be the same without it.

Even if you're not interested in fantasy, I highly recommend giving this book a try. It's so grounded that it hardly feels like fantasy at all - sure, there are dragons, but they're not supernatural beings, just explained phenomena. It's much more about the wonder of scientific discovery, and it really is remarkably lovely.

Another book that I want to recommend this month - Exiles of Ambrai, by Melanie Rawn. Although it was published more than 20 years ago, it feels remarkably fresh for a high fantasy novel, largely because the society that it portrays is matriarchal. I won't go too in depth with my review, but it came highly recommended, and I absolutely see why.

So, have you guys read any good books lately?