The Naturalist Society is the first book in a historical fantasy by Carrie Vaughn. Released 1st Nov by Amazon on their 47 North imprint, it's 395 pages and is available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats.It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout. For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, this book is currently included in the KU subscription library to borrow and read for free. The upcoming book in the series, will also be available on KU at release (4th quarter 2025, from the same publisher).
This is emphatically mostly a natural history novel set in the mid-Victorian era with a female protagonist constrained by her gender and the rigidity of scientific study and all the sexism and snobbery that implied. Secondarily, it's a fantasy novel, and readers who are -primarily- interested in the fantasy aspects might well be less engaged than readers who just love drily (pseudo)academic narratives (c.f. Fawcett's Emily Wilde series).
The author is adept at narrative prose; the descriptions are beautifully rendered and the characters are well developed, believable (for the genre), and three dimensional. The ornithology references are intricate and either jaw-droppingly deeply researched or a personal interest to the author.
Four stars. Engaging and satisfying. The second book is due out in 4th quarter 2025. It would make a good buddy read. It's not at all derivative, but fans of Emily Wilde should definitely pick this one up.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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