[hildea]

I thought about writing this in the other thread about series, but realised it would not only be off-topic but anti-topic, so here's a new thread for talking about series we love. (On topic for this thread are all kinds of series, from duologies and up, and also stand-alones where there's reason to think the author will write sequels.Talking about series where we love some books but not all are also on topic.)

I just finished the fifth and last book book in Marie Brennan's The Memoirs of Lady Trent.

All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world’s preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day.
Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity.

I really, really liked this series. I started reading when the first book came out, almost five years ago. I'm not good at remembering lots of details from books I read, and for some series that's a problem, but this series is very forgiving to forgetful readers Lady Trent travels all over the world with a few companions, so the number of recurring important characters is manageable. Later books build on earlier, but the important events are remarkable enough that it's easy to remember them even after several years and oodles of other books read in between. We learn to know her and see her grow from a curious child to a world famous naturalist (this is not a spoiler, it's mentioned in the preface to the first book). The books also made me care enough about dragons that plot twists about discoveries about dragon biology matter.

Originally Posted by Isabella, Lady Trent

Be warned, then: the collected volumes of this series will contain frozen mountains, foetid swamps, hostile foreigners, hostile fellow countrymen, the occasional hostile family member, bad desicions, misadventures in orienteering, diseases of an unromantic sort, and a plenitude of mud.