And another one, fantasy without any magic. There are made up religions, but they are described mostly as background/part of world building.
Marie Brennan: The Memoirs of Lady Trent. 5 books, starting with "A Natural History of Dragons".
The books take place in a world where dragons are animals that exist, and which culturally and technologically feels like the 1800s. Lady Trent is a Charles Darwin-ish character, a brilliant scientist who's a pioneer in her field, but in a society where women aren't supposed to do science. She travels the world to study dragons, while occasionally stumbling into adventures and political plots.
I love the language, though it's probably one of those things you either like a lot or crash hard against. It's written in first person, in lady Trent's voice:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Preface to A Natural History of Dragons
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 decisions, misadventures in orienteering, diseases of an unromantic sort, and a plenitude of mud. You continue at your own risk. It is not for the faint of heart - no more so than the study of dragons itself. But such study offers rewards beyond compare: to stand in a dragon's presence, even for the briefest of moments - even at the risk of one's life - is a delight that, once experienced, can never be forgotten. If my humble words convey even a fraction of that wonder, I will rest content.
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