The book has a lot of promise but falls short. For a book so bent on advancing lgbt and trans acceptance it was weird the main character was ruled by misplaced mansplaining and outdated dating practices.
The Magic in the world isn’t properly explored or explained, but suddenly this girl is gifted with 4 survivals at death? With no real cost to anyone around her it makes it feel forced and fake.

The royals making new laws because they loved their children also felt like an easy plot device instead of working to tell a great story.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I thought the plotline was very interesting. Every time I felt like I knew where the story was going the author threw in a surprise. I love fantasy books so this book was right up my alley.

This book was fun to read and I couldn’t put it down. I didn’t know it’s a standalone but it seems like it is though there’s still much to explore in the world Rueckert created. I can easily imagine another story told from a different character’s pov.

After her sister was murdered, princess Jiara decides to do anything to catch her killer. Because you see, ghosts who don’t get a closure, walk earth and haunt their loved ones until they do what’s necessary for their souls to rest. In this case, it’s catching Scilla’s killer. Except Scilla was engaged to the king, Raffar, of a foreign land and spent her life preparing for that role. Now Jiara is forced to fill her role and marry the king who speaks a language she doesn’t understand. But you see, the evidence leads to an assassin from the country she’s destined to be their queen.
What follows is Jiara trying to solve the murder of her sister while trying to learn a new language, be a queen for her new people, and uncovering hidden schemes along the way.

Also, ghosts here are really vengeful, it’s not just some superstitions.

The characters were easy to like. The book is old from Jiara’s point of view, first-person. What I liked the most that this book features a dyslexic character. They didn’t know what’s dyslexia in her days and Jiara knew she wasn’t stupid. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, she never could study or read like her sister. Another interesting aspect was the language barrier. I have only read a couple of books where the language was a real barrier between love interests from different countries.

The book was also fast-paced and entertaining. The world-building was developed well enough for such a book and the author can easily write a sequel but maybe about someone from a different country. The story is pretty much wrapped for our characters here.

Now to the cons, while the secondary characters were okay, Raffar had as much personality as a leaf. He wasn’t, he was nice if anything. But not being able to communicate with Jiara worked against them. I saw the chemistry at first but I quickly lost interest in him. His perspective wasn’t needed but maybe he would’ve had more character development? He was overly simplistic. Again, language worked against them here. Also I wish Jiara had some hobby because she wasn’t developed much herself either. What did she spend her days doing at the palace in her homeland? Sure, she loved nature but she was also meh.

Another thing I didn’t particularly like is that this book featured something I don’t like. I don’t think it counts as a spoiler but I’ll refrain to mention it until the book is out. Let’s say it played an important part in this book and had some significance. It wasn’t used as a mere plot device but had its meaning and role in the story. Which is very rare. Still, I’m no fan especially since it happened more than once.

Briefly said, I recommend this book if you’re looking for a light YA fantasy read without intending to make new commitments to any series. The story is fun but nothing extraordinary. It can be easily read in one sitting. I found it overly simplistic sometimes (especially the events leading towards the end) and not very surprising. The plot was predictable but I wish the characters were better developed.

What a wonderful story! A DRAGONBIRD IN THE FERN is a story about a young girl who has a learning disability that prevents her from learning languages. Why is that important? She is to live in a foreign language, afraid of not being able to communicate. Jiara learns that her sister's assassin is from that very lang?!

Laura's characterizations were well written. I felt for Jiara. Her struggles. Fears. Anger. Frustration. Jiara's full emotional register was well thought out. The plot and action held my attention the entire time.