To know the name of a living thing is to be able to harness its magic in the world of Carrie Vaughn’s The Naturalist Society. Except, that’s too simple. To really be able to do feats of magic using Arcane Taxonomy, naturalists have to study every species very carefully to understand how a woodpecker can demolish a tree or a pigeon can always return to the same place from anywhere on earth. Beth Stanley is very good at watching the birds of New York City through her opera glasses and, if she had only been born male, she would have been one of the greatest naturalists of her time. But it’s 1880 and there are very few people willing to listen to her, let alone read her manuscripts.
When Beth’s husband, Harry—who published Beth’s papers under his own name and gave lectures in her stead—dies, she believes that it’s the end of her charade of a career. She misses her husband, of course, and her mother barely allows her six months to mourn Harry before trying to get Beth to remarry. Thankfully, two men walk into her life and change absolutely everything. Brandon West and Anton Torrance return from an Arctic expedition, hoping to reconnect with Harry and see if he has any new arcane tricks up his sleeve for them to use on their next expedition. It doesn’t take them long to realize that they have the wrong end of the stick and that Beth has been the arcane and scientific genius the entire time.
The Naturalist Society is a cozy read. There are dangers that threaten the growing relationship between Beth, Brandon, and Anton, including a particularly odious naturalist who believes he can bully his way to magic and fame, to keep things interesting. Brandon and Anton encourage Beth to take risks she never dared to before. For the first time, she publishes under her own name (albeit in a women’s magazine with no scientific rigor whatsoever). For the first time, she steps foot inside the male-only Naturalist Society building for a reading of “Harry’s” last article. For the first time, Beth even travels alone. Widow’s mourning gets her a lot of leeway in society, but gumption works a lot better.
What really shines about this book is watching Beth come into her own as a naturalist and Arcane Taxonomist and the love that she finds after thinking that her life was over. I loved the scenes in which Beth can leave the city and the pressures of her family and society and watch birds. When Beth watches birds, she loses herself in their calls and chirps, in the way they flit from branch to branch, in the colors of their feathers. She loathes it when people kill birds to study them, instead of simply watching. Beth’s wonderment at the world makes me want to get outside and see if I can figure out what species are flying around my house.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley, for review consideration.