Turning Darkness Into Light

By Marie Brennan

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 Victorianesque fantasy landscape.

"Overwhelmingly fun."—io9 on The Tropic of Serpents

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.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Aug 20, 2019
• ISBN: 9781466856943

Marie Brennan

MARIE BRENNAN is a former anthropologist and folklorist who shamelessly pillages her academic fields for inspiration. She recently misapplied her professors' hard work to The Night Parade of 100 Demons and the short novel Driftwood. She is the author of the Hugo Award-nominated Victorian adventure series The Memoirs of Lady Trent along with several other series, over seventy short stories, and the New Worlds series of worldbuilding guides; as half of M.A. Carrick, she has written the epic Rook and Rose trilogy, beginning with The Mask of Mirrors. 

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Reviews for Turning Darkness Into Light

[quondame · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Lady Trent's granddaughter, Audrey Camherst, is invited by a notorious acquirer of antiquities to translate some extraordinary Daconean tablets. It is an uneasy alliance, especially once the Draconean scholar Audrey involves arrives, but what the real issues are are only revealed the scholar's attention is pulled from their absorption in the text to the people surrounding it. As a book about people passionate in their interests I might have been more drawn to this it any of them were much more than monomaniacal, though sometimes in a good way. Still, overcoming the journal/letter format, this is a lively read and and a compelling, if contained, adventure.

[jennybeast · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really enjoyed this return to the world of Lady Trent, and really enjoyed meeting her spitfire of a granddaughter. Complicated archaeological adventure, involving unexpected moving pieces in a political game that centers on a large cache of tablets and their translation.

Advanced reader's copy provided by Edelweiss.

[souloftherose · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a joy to read - I understand this is a standalone sequel to Brennan's Lady Trent series and features Lady Trent's granddaughter as the main character who is trying to translate an ancient Draconean text. There are all kinds of mysteries, adventures and intrigues surrounding this task but I was surprised to find I was as interested in the translation (which turns out to be an ancient Draconean creation myth and which Brennan includes in the novel) as I was in the intrigues. Perhaps because I find creation myths of our world interesting anyway but I thought what Brennan did here was really clever and enjoyable to read (which isn't always something I can say about clever books). One of my favourites of the year however I am still not over my disappointment that this is a standalone and not a new series.......

[readinggeek451 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A follow-up to Brennan's Lady Trent series. Isabella's granddaughter, Audrey Canmore, is engaged to translate a number of Draconean tablets found by a dilettante lord. They prove to be an epic, the mythologized tale of the origins of the Draconean people. As such, they prove to be a challenge to the Draconeans' view of themselves, and they may also sway the upcoming vote on the fate of the living Draconeans and their land. Interspered by the translated epic, there are wheels within wheels, plots and counterplots.Good characterizations--including a semi-major character who is probably autistic or Aspie--and a gripping story.

[elenaj-147457 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really excellent. Highly recommended- but read the other books in the series first.

[g33kgrrl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's delightful to be back with the Camhersts again.