It took me a minute to get into this novel and to start to understand the world, the magic and the dual narrative but once I did I got so invested in Everen and Arcady’s story and, of course, their chemistry! Everen’s narrative is written as though he’s talking directly to Arcady, in a letter or a story, recalling the circumstances that led to their meeting and everything after that and I found it added a layer of intimacy to Everen’s perspective. This pair has a lot in common but also a lot dividing them, including prophecy. Watching two lonely people, outcasts of their worlds, find what they needed and longed for in each other was beautiful and waiting for their secrets to emerge and the difficult decisions be made was a kind of torture. How do you know if you can trust someone? That’s the real question here.
Arcady is a character that feels emotions strongly, despite trying to shut himself away and protect himself. His anger burns, his tears pour and his loneliness aches. He definitely met his match in Everen and seeing their bond grow and change the more time they spent together, working towards their heist and with the countdown looming over them, made it so easy to connect to these characters and start rooting for them.
I’m yet to find a book with dragons that I didn’t love and I’m eagerly anticipating the sequel so I can get more of my dragon fix!

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*

"Dragonfall" is a queer, high fantasy story about a thief trying to steal their way into high society and a dragon being taken from his realm. While I am in a terrible reading slump and parts of the story were a tad predictable, I enjoyed the novel, especially the queerness and normalised use of "they/them" pronouns as well as the inclusion of non-binary or genderfluid identities.

4 Stars

This book was amazing. I loved every second of it. I was completely hooked the plot was so good I'll definitely be doing a reread in the future and I already have a copy pre-ordered as well.

Dragonfall is not what I was expecting. This is a story of a bond between a dragon & a human. Our two main characters, Arcardy (Any) & Everen (He/Him) spend a good chunk of the book preparing/planning for a heist while slowly growing closer. Bonus points for it being a queer story.

There are multiple POVs throughout the book which I really enjoyed. Everen's POV is the most interesting in my opinion because he is writing his perspective of the events to Arcady. Outside of Arcady and Everen the other main POV is Sorin who is a priest/assassin. For the majority of the book, it felt unnecessary to include her POV. I don't feel it added much.

This book is well-written and after the first couple of chapters, I found it easy to follow. The word preterit is used a lot early on. It is actually used quite often throughout the story to describe the form between a dragon and a human. I never want to see the word preterit again.

The book is very slow moving which for many readers may be enjoyable. Unfortunately, I struggled to get through a lot of it. Since a large focus is on training Everen to assist with the heist the story doesn't progress quickly. It does have the enemies-to-lovers element which I am a fan of.

I did enjoy the twist towards the end of the book however I am unsure if it is enough for me to continue with this series.

I was expecting more action from a book about dragons and was let down.

Dragonfall, a fantasy novel by L.R. Lam, tells the story of Astrid, a young woman on a mission to save her kingdom from an ancient dragon. The book has well-developed characters and an intricate magic system set in a richly detailed world.

While the book is well-written, it may not be suitable for all readers due to its darker themes and depictions of violence. Additionally, the plot feels predictable, making the story somewhat formulaic. The book's pacing may also be slow for some readers, especially in the first half.

Overall, Dragonfall is a solid addition to the fantasy genre, with strong world-building and well-rounded characters. Fans of traditional fantasy stories may enjoy this book, despite its predictability and slower pacing. However, readers seeking a unique or fast-paced story may find it lacking.

This writing style wasn't for me. It's too character driven and there's no plot. I was bored. I gave up halfway through.

Pleasantly surprised by this book! I went into it expecting a lot of romance and it wasn't quite that. There was a lot of yearning though and that made up for it.
I enjoyed the world building and the magic system, but high fantasy novels tend to confuse me when they describe these systems and that was the case here. I won't go into it because I simply did not pay attention! Moving on.
I lovedddd Everen's POV. It was unique and it gutted me sometimes. It's as if he was writing directly to Arcady and it kind of killed me. The bit that bothered me was that while I understood where Arcady got their attraction to Everen, it felt like his only came once theirs did.
Arcady took a while for me to like but I eventually came around. I liked their personality and voice and the mission they were striving for. This book has a lot going on, that I don't really want to go into it, so it's not that there's a lack of action–it just feels like it takes a whil for that action to come about. Sometimes it just DRAGS with mundane things. That might be my biggest complaint. But I'm really invested with these characters so I really need the next book!

I loved this book! It's got dragons and thieves and romance and hidden identities. There's an enemies to lovers romance that's a slow burn, which I love. And very little spice, which it's a book 1, so I appreciate holding onto that tension.

Everen's personal arc was just, ugh, so good. He starts off truly hating humans and thinking they are so inferior only to find himself stuck with Arcady. And over time changing his mind about humans. Even with the weight of his whole species on his shoulders, he is still conflicted.

And man my heart just broke for Arcady over and over. They had a hard life and they are still a softie on the inside.

Pacing wise, it was a bit slow for a while after Everen comes through the Veil and is getting his bearings. It wasn't bad, there just wasn't much else going on. But once it picked up, it was sooo good!

I was surprised by the way this book turned out and the twist at the end. It left me wishing I already had book 2 and this one doesn't even officially come out until May. Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy, heists, dragons, enemies to lovers, and/or slow burn romance.

It can be difficult to rate the first book in a trilogy before it's complete. Overall, I liked the story but there are definitely some underdeveloped plot points that will hopefully be flushed out with subsequent books.
Not sure if this is a YA book, but it read that way sometimes, particularly with the romance. I think if you like YA fantasy, you will probably enjoy this story.

This book ended up being a DNF for me at about 47%. I can see why people enjoy it, I just personally did not get invested.
First and foremost, I have to say the second-person narrative was confusing and felt like a strong choice by the author. I didn't mind it at first but once the two main characters met, it became confusing. Why would you use the word "you" to describe what someone is doing when they're in the same room as you? Why are you telling them what they did? Did not make sense to me. I understood it in the initial chapters when Everen was not physically with Arcady, because it felt more like a situation of telling Arcady what led Everen to this moment.
I thoroughly enjoyed that this book was so queer. However, it felt slightly heavy-handed at times. I think the author could have made gender neutrality the norm until someone decided otherwise without the spiel by the sex worker. I felt that scene might make the book easy for certain groups of people on the internet to criticize the book.
The beginning was very info-dumpy, which then confused me because I felt like I had very little idea of what the main plot of the story was. Was this about a heist? A prophecy? A romance? I wasn't sure. How did I not know when the author spent so much time telling me things? It was a bit overwhelming.
It was hard to feel like there was a large difference between the voices of Everen and Arcady, and honestly, sometimes I would remember which character was speaking purely because of the way they were speaking (first v. second person).
Generally speaking, I did not dislike it, I just couldn't get invested.

Firstly, Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I am DNFing this book at 20% and rating it 3 stars for what I have read thus far.

Things I liked about this book: Dragons coming to the human world and able to change into human forms. While I wasn’t able to get far into it, the magic and societal system sounded interesting and I was curious to know more. I would also like to see more of the Dragon’s realm.

Things I had trouble with: The world building in this book is DENSE, and it’s coming from 3 separate POV’s making it even harder to grasp… Had there been one initial POV, I think the reader would’ve connected better to the world. As it stands, it was very confusing and—if I’m being 100% honest—was putting me to bed. I couldn’t go more than a chapter without wanting to go to bed. It was too dense to connect with. And while I also appreciated Everen’s “alien” voice as showing he was just very otherworldly, it once again made it hard to connect because his voice was so STIFF and monotonous.

I usually do not DNF books but this being 400 pages and needing sleep after every chapter, it’s not going to be an easy read. I will probably come back to it and try to finish or read bits and pieces at a time, but I am not currently motivated to do so…

Thank to netgalley and all contributors involved for provided an arc of this book.

I might have set too high expectations for this one due to the enemies-to-lovers, soulmates tropes, which I tend to adore. Sadly Dragonfall didn't sweep me off my feet as I had hoped, and I had to abandon it midway because it just didn't spark anything for me, personally.
Despite that, I can say that it has the elements to be a good book. The worldbuilding is decent, the prose good, and for someone who -unlike me- doesn't have a very hit-or-miss relationship with first person POV, it can definitely work. The intro has a bit of a classical feel, which I thought was lovely and refreshing. Concerning the characters, I could probably have appreciated them more if we'd had more of a build-up to their struggles and abilities. As it was, this felt to me as being shove in a pot of steaming pasta. A weird analogy, I know, and not necessarily bad. Just not what I had expected, and I wasn't able to shake off my disgruntlement enough to complete this read. I might come back to it later, when the right mood strikes.

Dragons, queer enemies to lovers, a heist, dragons... what's not to love? Dragonfall hooked me right away. I can't wait for the sequel!

3.5 stars!

Thank you NetGalley and DAW for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dragonfall is the first in a trilogy about Everen, the last male dragon, and Arcady, a thief who wants to go to university and clear his grandfather's name. Everen is dragged across the Veil separating humans and dragons by accident and must gain Arcady's trust in order to (1) return to his true form and (2) fulfill the prophecy that has his kind stressing.

It's obvious that Lam has put a lot of thought into this world and isn't afraid to get weird, and for that I think Dragonfall is worth picking up. The novel is inherently queer and is very unapologetic about it, which was very refreshing. Lam allows their characters to exist in ways I haven't seen as often in fiction and there's lots of cool gender things happening here. Also, I found the plot to be compelling and though it's a slow start, the end presents us with a lot of very interesting questions that I think will make the series as a whole very worthwhile.

Still, the writing is a little challenging to get into since the beginning is full of info dumps, and while I felt Lam knew exactly what they wanted from the story, there were times where I still struggled to fully understand what was happening. It's an odd feeling to have so much information thrown at you but still be left with a lot of questions, but this is a trilogy so I hope Lam fleshes some things out in the next book. There's some neat POV stuff happening with Everen's chapters, but I did find that I struggled to separate Everen's voice from Arcady's, and the POV chapters from side characters felt a little random at first, though by the end I felt they made more sense. I'm also not entirely sure I understand how the magic works (though the general attitudes towards magic are very well realized).

I definitely think Dragonfall is worth a look, and I also think it's worth getting through the beginning, because lots of neat stuff is happening and I think that the rest of the series will go a lot smoother. This probably won't be for everyone, but I thought the work I put into it was worth it, and I do think Lam sticks the ending.

Not for me. Dragonfall has an amazing premise and impressive worldbuilding, but the overly flowery writing gets in the way of the story. The story reads more like the characters are telling it, not experiencing it.

This book was so, so good, and I need the next right now. Immediately. I need to know what happens before my pea-sized brain forgets all the amazing little details in this book. I didn't think I would like it at the beginning. It has a lot of things I don't like in a book, in particular first person perspective and jumping between multiple characters. I will say I did find myself just wanting to get back to Arcady and Everen whenever the chapters diverged from their perspectives, but the other stories did end up growing on me.

Where I might lean more towards a 4.5 than a 5 is that some things are over-explained and others are under-explained. I found myself flipping back pages more than once to see if I'd missed something or if an explanation just wasn't there specifically because I'd end up skimming the more over-explained parts.

Aside from the minor gripes I had, this was an exceptional book and I really can't wait for the next to see what happens.

Overall, I really enjoy this book! It's got original worldbuilding, interesting characters, and most important of all - dragons

I found the start to be a bit rough though - it was a too infodumpy (and not in a subtle way), and the writing style also took some getting used too. This one is fun in the way that one perspective is told from second person pov, while the other is told through first. Both the pov's and the infodumping made it difficult to get into, especially with such an original and intricate world such as this. When I did get into it though - wow did I get into it!!

Worldbuilding is the one thing I love the most about fantasy, and this one was really well done. In particular, I loved how gender and gender roles functioned in the country this was set in. Gender was more fluid, playful - members of this society could do what they wanted with it. Another thing I found fun is that everyone are referred to as they/them unless otherwise specified, and they/them pronouns are also used as a type of respectful honorific for important members of the society. I so badly want to see more stuff like this in fantasy, as I think gender especially can be explored in so many interesting ways!! Just look to classic science fiction, and at how Ursula K. le Guin and Octavia Butler played around with it.
As a huge dragon fan, I also really loved how the dragons are part of every sphere of society - political, mythical, cultural, religous... It was so fun!

The plot was also very interesting, and the ending left me stressed! I want to see what happens next right this minute! I do think the characters could've been developed better, as I felt some distance to them all throghout the story - but that could just be me struggling with the writing style. Either way, its a really good book!

Unfortunately I have to DNF this one. :(

I got to 12% (50 pages) but I am not enjoying this book. The world seems complex and beautiful but not much is explained. And on top of understanding the whole lore and history, the author decided to use different words for the "mother and father" in some other language which are not really explained. This makes it too complicated and i feel like my brain has to work overtime to even understand what is going on and hence I am loosing on enjoyment. There is a LOT of info dump in the first 12% of this 400+ pages book. Lot's of internal monologues and plenty of telling but not really showing.

Thank you so much to the publisher and author for the free copy in exchange for my honest review.

Just from the cover and title I was set, ready to dive into this fantastical book about dragons and magic. In the book’s defense, I probably wasn’t the target audience. Sure, I like dragons, and sure I love a good point-of-view switch that adds to different dynamics, but the enemies to lovers didn’t hit home for me. I think this was partly because it didn’t feel like they were enemies at first or lovers at the end. We, the audience, were told that Everen, being a dragon, hated and saw humans as the enemy. Arcady never, at least to my interpretation of the reading, didn’t see Everen the same. In fact, Everen was more of an inconvenience to Arcady if anything. Then the “lovers” aspect was more physical, and basically, the audience was told they were attracted to each other without showing how they got closer emotionally.
This isn’t to say there aren’t aspects of this book that I didn’t enjoy. I liked the world and the magic, the story was pretty easy to follow, and at times I really connected with the characters. Certain aspects fell flat to me, but I thought the pacing and the writing was solid.

Thank you for allowing me to read this ARC. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

4 stars

Wow what a book!
While the first 50 or so pages were a bit confusing as the world building was settling into place, it very quickly became unputdownable! I think that’s my only criticism was I found myself a bit confused at times but I think that is quite common for fantasy books, especially in series where so much has to be set up. Such a unique narrative, Dragonfall is really a one of a kind book; I can’t say i’ve read anything similar! The pacing was great, slowly building to the climax of the plot which seemed to just race by.

The magic system and the politics - how distinctive! The way the author blended the two histories of Everen and Arcady was brilliant. I particularly liked the use of pronouns as honourifics in denoting status, it’s something I’ve not read before and found to be a really creative way of world-building.

The characters were so entertaining and complex trying to deny their feelings to stay loyal to their people and their goals. The slow burn chemistry was really well written. I really liked the change of style and perspective when switching between POV’s and getting an insight into how each character interacts with the other and with their environment! The characters were definitely the highlight of the book - I appreciated that the author didn’t shy away from allowing the characters to be angry and brutal.

A really great book, I can’t wait to read more!