Turning Darkness Into Light
by Marie Brennan
Isabella Camherst’s granddaughter Audrey is recruited to decipher 14 Draconean texts.
If you loved The Memoirs of Lady Trent series and want a bit more of that world, this is worth checking out, but honestly I could have gone without.
The way the narrative is set up was interesting. It’s a collection of writings: diary entries, letters, articles, etc. But are people really writing their diary entries in that much detail? I’ve never kept a diary, so I could be wrong. These diary style chapters are Audrey’s perspective, and they were the most interesting chapters to me as a first person account of the work she was doing, but it usually didn’t feel like I was reading someone’s diary.
Plot-wise I don’t think anything about the conspiracy was surprising. Most of the story is Audrey working on translating tablets and being surprised that the rich people who hired her weren’t interested in the Draconean culture. Although it was made pretty clear that these people are just collectors who don’t care about the research behind the artifacts they buy or Draconeans as people.
There’s something about people in historical high society politely scolding or insulting one another that I think is hilarious. ‘Polite’ may not be the correct descriptor here, but hopefully you know what I’m talking about. There are a few of those moments in this book and I just think it’s really funny. Outside of those moments, this book was just fine.
I’d recommend this if you’ve read The Memoirs of Lady Trent series and are craving something new from that world.
<3D
LessthanThreeD 