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!

Dnf at 24%
Unfortunately, this was another major disappointment with a gorgeous cover this year for me.
I decided to put it down after reading the first quarter of the book because I found the execution of this unique and promising premise incredibly dull. The first couple of chapters are immensely confusing info dumps which did nothing to intrigue or grip me. I understand that info dumps are sometimes necessary for worldbuilding but they can be intergrated into the story in a more seemless and engaging way without the avalanche of new terms and names. The characters are paper thin and the ‘dragon‘ characters don’t feel distinguished enough from the humans at all. I’m usually more patient trusting the author’s process that I’ll catch on eventually but I need some kind of hook to be compelled to read on and unfortunately, I didn’t find anything like that in Dragonfall.
Thank you Netgalley and DAW for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dragonfall by L.R. Lam is a thrilling and unique addition to the fantasy genre that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. The story is set in a world where dragons were banished by humans, only to be revered as gods by their descendants centuries later. The book follows two protagonists, Arcady and Everen, as they navigate a dangerous and complex world filled with political intrigue, magic, and forbidden love.

One of the most striking aspects of Dragonfall is the world-building. Lam has created a fascinating and intricate society that challenges traditional gender norms. The Locmyrian society, where Arcady comes from, is particularly interesting, as gender fluidity is embraced and people have the freedom to choose how they want to be addressed. This unique aspect of the world is seamlessly integrated into the story, adding depth and nuance to the characters and their relationships.

The plot is fast-paced and action-packed, with a heist and a revenge plot that keeps the reader engaged throughout. However, there are some slower parts in the beginning where an info dump is necessary to understand the world and its rules. While this may be overwhelming for some readers, it is a necessary evil in building a complex and rich world.

The romance between Arcady and Everen is a slow-burn that builds naturally over the course of the story. While it can be overwhelming for some readers, it is not the focus of the story and does not detract from the action. It is a testament to Lam's writing that the romance is handled so deftly, making it a sweet and compelling part of the story.

The character development is one of the book's weaknesses, as some readers may find it lacking. However, the gradual reveal of Everen and Arcady's history is handled well, with pieces of their past fitting neatly together in the end. The reader learns about the characters through their actions, thoughts, and interactions, making them relatable and engaging.

The book is told from multiple points of view, with Arcady's chapters in first-person and Everen's in the form of a letter. This can be a bit jarring at first, but it adds depth to the characters and their experiences. The occasional third-person perspective chapters provide a broader view of the world and the events that are unfolding.

The ending is unexpected and leaves the reader wanting more, setting up the next book in the series perfectly. The big reveal is a great twist that will have readers eagerly awaiting the next installment.

In conclusion, Dragonfall is a must-read for fantasy fans looking for a fresh and unique take on the genre. L.R. Lam's world-building, action-packed plot, and nuanced characters make for an engaging and exciting read. While there are some weaknesses in the character development and pacing, they are minor quibbles in an otherwise excellent book. I highly recommend Dragonfall and cannot wait to see where the series goes next.

This story has an interesting premise and the cover is absolutely beautiful. However, the first 30% of this book had tipped me into DNF’ing it and even putting me in a reading slump. Personally for me, I couldn’t understand the world building and I think I didn’t like the diary format from the first page.

Although I say this, I still continued reading through the book and eventually I learned to love it. By the end, I felt bad because I didn’t enjoy the diary feeling in the first chapter and maybe if I read it more carefully I might have enjoyed it. The story really comes full circle and has left me feeling curious and anxious to know what happens next. Through Evern’s diary in the last chapter we know much time has passed in Vatra but it’s unknown whether Arcady still thinks about Everen.

The characters were each unique, mysterious and a delight to read. I absolutely loved Arcady and Everen. Their personalities, their endless banter and the intense slow burn romance was just breath-taking. I was so attached to them by the end that I was scared when things got dangerous. There were more characters in this book, some for a short span of time while others played a crucial role for a much longer time. I didn’t really get attached to any others except Kelwyn because I felt he was more like a father figure to Arcady and was someone trustworthy in all this debacle.

The writing in this book was different and sometimes slow. The chapters are told in multiple perspectives in this book: Arcady, Everen, Cassia, Sorin and Magnes. We mainly read from Arcady and Everen’s perspective and I loved how the author doesn’t overlap and repeat the instances that they both experience. It is slightly glossed over but with a focus on the characters’ feelings and their thoughts. Cassia, Sorin and Magnes’ perspective was each critical to the story but there aren’t too many chapters. They painted the other side to Arcady and Everen’s story in a new perspective noting their desires, struggles and confusion.

Overall, this was a wonderful first book that had a slow start but a fantastic ending that leaves so many new questions to be answered in the next books to come. I am eagerly looking forward to reading the next book in this series and hope we’ll be reunited with Arcady and Everen’s story soon!

A unique world in the fantasy landscape, full of dragons and queer romance and a unique magic system! Lam intrigued me from the start with their deft POV handling and quick start to the action. I enjoyed the Locmyrian society’s gender fluidity and felt it was integrated skillfully, making the reader rethink norms without distracting from the plot. The romance was slow burn and sweet.

I would have liked to see more characterization. The longing of Arcady and Everen was heartfelt, but the buildup sometimes felt clunky with a bit too much tell vs. show. Not uncommonly for a first entry in a fantasy trilogy, there was some info-dumping as well, but the plot picked back up and kept my attention. That ending! My heart hurts. I loved my time spent in this world, and I can’t wait to read the next entry in the series!

Thank you to DAW and NetGalley for providing me with this ARC.

I’m sure this comes as no surprise from the name of my blog, but I’m a huge fan of dragons. So it may shock you that I DNFed Dragonfall, a novel about dragons, at 35%. I really wanted to like this novel and I hate giving up on books, but I had to push my way through to make as little progress reading the book as I did. I knew immediately from the writing style that this book wasn’t for me, but I kept going because Dragonfall comes with a truly great idea—the last male dragon trying to fulfill his prophecy and to save his world and all of dragon-kind in the process, but somehow he ends up falling into the human world, where they worship dragons. There’s just one key problem—dragons hate humans.

Sounds great, right? Unfortunately, I really don’t feel that I am the target audience of this novel. I was expecting a mature, complex high fantasy novel, but what I got was an unsophisticated and contradictory young adult novel, complete with all of the hallmarks of the very genre that I’ve almost entirely (and purposefully), stopped reading. The main trope I found myself dealing with was the classic variation of enemies to lovers which centers on making the “enemies” fall in love, all while one of them is actively plotting the other’s downfall. The romance in question involves Everen, fallen dragon in-disguise, who accidentally bonds under mysterious circumstances with gender fluid thief and wannabe-avenger Arcady. Everen plans to use their new bond to manipulate Arcady into falling for him so he can break the bond, destroy them, take back his power, and save his kind from humans.

“Make your little human love you. Do what you must. And then kill it. Her gaze was unblinking. Bring us home, Everen, give us our world.”

This would be more exciting to me if I were actually able to connect to either of the characters in question. But Arcady is a living, breathing example of “I’m not like the others,” stealing from wealthy citizens they dared to mark in church and refusing to show the proper respect to those who are owed it as part of societal convention. Arcady steals, shapeshifts, and uses other magical powers in order to get ahead in their quest for revenge. Unfortunately, they are not nearly as edgy as they think they are and are quite often completely out of their depth, overreacting, or scared. Everen, on the other hand, reads nothing remotely like one might reasonably imagine a dragon. Instead, he is an entitled and bratty young man who came from a privileged family and thinks everyone owes him.

The third narrator in Dragonfall is an assassin, which should be exciting, but as Sorin’s taken a vow of silence that she’s afraid to break, I don’t have much of a read on her character. Admittedly, I find it a bit laughable that her vow of silence doesn’t apply to her using what is essentially sign language to communicate just as fully as if she had opened her mouth. However, it is clear Sorin is supposed to be a badass, as she has the whole former-orphan- raised-by-a-master-assassin-who-is-grooming-her thing going for her. Everything I’ve learned about her is through exposition, which there is already entirely too much of in Dragonfall.

Everything is told to the readers and nothing is shown. The most fascinating part of Dragonfall is that there's so much information dumping, but somehow very little actual world-building. I am unclear on what dragons look like, why their more human presenting dragon form is called "preterit," why dragons even have this form in the first place when they hate humans, how the humans utilize dragon magic in their weird seals and where exactly they originated, how the religion works in the human world even though it revolves around worshiping dragons, and much more. I have way more questions than answers about both the human and dragon worlds in Dragonfall and only became further confused as I progressed through the novel, as everything—whether character development, plot, or world-building—constantly contradicted itself, as illustrated by the aforementioned vow of silence. Even the most basic parts of the world-building confused me. For instance, dragons are worshiped, but wyverns aren’t treated with any particular reverence? Make it make sense.

Through this rampant information dumping, the audience is informed that this world uses sign language, known as hand signs, to convey respect when suitable and also to denote preferred pronouns and gender identity during introductions. Just from a disabled person's perspective, I think it is amazing to see sign language being portrayed as a universal, common language that all humans are able to speak in this world. This is something I would love to see in our own world for the sake of communication, accessibility, and equality alone. My issue with the hand signing is that the author immediately uses it as a tool to launch into a very forceful and pointed commentary about gender identity.

It's truly as if the author does not trust readers to even fathom gender identity, let alone to be able to respect it. The progressiveness is condescending and overwhelmingly in your face and reads like a blatantly contrived lesson on the entire concept of gender identity itself rather than a naturally incorporated part of the story and the world building. As soon as this explanation is blessedly finished, the author immediately has Everen, who does not understand human culture as a dragon, baldly iterate how much sense this practice actually makes to him. It was as if this simple concept needed to be even further reinforced as good because the dumb readers at home couldn't ever possibly comprehend having the common courtesy to refer to someone in the way of his/her/their choosing.

I’m not saying that misgendering never happens or that it isn’t serious or harmful—it does and it is—but the amount of page space that was dedicated to explaining this concept was truly and insultingly inordinate in Dragonfall and I wished the novel had been even a quarter as verbose when it came to other parts of the world-building. This whole moment took me right out of the story and retroactively, the more the author tried to convince me how “normal” this signing was, the less natural it appeared. It says far more about our own world (and perhaps the author's own experiences in it), at large than that of both worlds of Dragonfall combined that the author felt that this much justification was needed for anything outside of the strictly heteronormative experience. Other novels, like Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree, never have to go to such lengths to make its LGBTQ+ romances feel like an intrinsic and automatically accepted part of her worlds. Shannon's relationships don't need to be explained or lectured on, they just are.

Unfortunately, that whole diatribe wasn’t the only thing I found jarring about Dragonfall. The novel is told from three different perspectives, but also in three wholly different descriptive styles. While Arcady narrates in first person and Sorion narrates in third person, Everen narrates in second person. I don’t automatically hate reading different styles of describing points-of-views in the same novel, and actually really loved it in The Drowning Empire trilogy, but I simply could not adapt to it whatsoever in Dragonfall. I tried. But I absolutely loathed Everen’s use of the second person, even after having time to get used to it. When Everen first started referring to Arcady as “you,” something he did in order to refer to the reader before meeting her, I had a moment of complete and total disconnect, thinking, “wait, what? Me?” Unlike in Harrow the Ninth, where the use of second person had an overall importance to the narrative as a whole, there is absolutely no comprehensible narrative reason for Everen to be using second person. It feels incredibly forced and unnatural and I got whiplash every time I had to return to reading from his perspective.

I also found myself stopping to reread several phrases that I didn’t understand or felt like they were just trying a bit too hard. I couldn’t picture anyone actually thinking these phrases, let alone saying them. Here’s a few examples:

“I was the last male dragon, born to know the past, the future, the gossamer of fate that spread in all directions like a dew-caught spiderweb.”

“Your tone was as acidic as the taste of the coffee, but you drank with obvious relish, watching the people as they passed by on the street.”

“I had been the golden son. The hope of all dragons. But the opposite of hope is despair. For with every year that passed, this world became hotter, and dragons grew hungrier. I was meant to see how to save us. Every time they look at me, they saw their own demise reflected. It all confined, like skin that would not shed.”

And on top of all the confusing perspectives and endless, contradictory information dumping, there was little to no explanation for fantasy terms in the novel as well. In addition to the hand-signs people use to communicate there’s also the Old Tongue used in magic. Here's a look at what the Old Tongue, when being used to cast a spell, looks like:

Kjetim-lei ak ar-dźakain,
lei-turei, iév-turo
Ar-réal vanok vaugain
śajak val jain reno.
Dźo eje loj el-dźakain
fanas arfan lo

Now, I don't have an expertise in linguistics whatsoever, but I am a bit perplexed at how this Old Tongue does not seem to share any common roots with the terms being used in the current language of Locmyrian. In present day, Arcady uses terms like "maire," “paire,” and "taie," which seem very dissimilar to the Old Tongue. I am surprised that this Locmyrian didn't seem to evolve from the Old Tongue or anything, like most modern languages do. I also found it irritating that there are no translations for the Old Tongue, explanations why that language is still used in the present for spells, or what the terms Arcady uses in the present mean. None of this is ever explained. While readers can at least figure out what "marie," "paire," and "taie," mean from context clues, it's mildly irritating when these things are not explained in comparison to the rest of the information dumping and it doesn't seem to have a lot of real thought about it. The only expansion we get on the Old Tongue is shallow, at best:

"I wasn't sure if I was pronouncing them correctly, nor had any idea what they meant. All I could do was close my eyes and try. Usually, spells were just the odd word in the Old Tongue—only masters up at the university would know full phrases."

I'm sorry, but for me, it doesn't quite work to just have an apparently experienced mage say, "I don't know what I'm saying or how this works, but I'm doing it," with no further remarks on how they have done this successfully in the past or where she learned to do it in the first place. One can infer that it was through their "taie" grandfather at some point and later through the books they've stolen, but I feel like a very important hallmark of the fantasy genre is not being met here—there isn't a required skill, lineage, etc., to use magic or much of a significant cost or sacrifice, either, unless you count Arcady having to scarf down food after using magic. Sure, there does seem to be a tragic fate than death for mages that over extend their abilities or aren't able to pay the energy back for using magic, but Dragonfall doesn't make this entirely compelling [spoiler] as apparently Arcady already shows signs of this condition, but just ignores it and uses magic anyways. This confuses me. [/spoiler]

Dragonfall desperately tries to be edgy and to set itself apart from the rest of the young adult genre, but it, pardon the pun, fell flat for me. Even though I really loved the idea of Dragonfall, the execution was too lacking for me to want to continue reading it and I think it goes without saying that I will not be reading future entries in the series. I think readers who don’t mind the young adult genre as a whole and who like the familiar tropes that the genre encapsulates will enjoy Dragonfall, especially those who are also looking for novels with LGBTQ+ representation and aren’t intimidated at the prospect of reading from many different descriptive styles of point-of-views.

So some warnings if you read this one. This one starts off with some info dumping. But if you can get past it this book is so worth it. The magic is not the main focus of the book which was kind of interesting. As most fantasy books deal with this at the forefront of the story and this one didn't do that. The plot itself was kind of slow in parts but I was so hooked on the story at large I had to keep going. I really enjoyed this one and think that if the author worked with a content editor this could be a bang out hit!!

Two connected worlds, one of dragons and one of people, who see dragons as gods, little imagining that one might come through into their world. Dragons, gangs, revenge, a con/heist, complex loyalties and attraction - lots of factors which I really enjoy in a fantasy book! I've read and enjoyed L R Lam's previous books, which are a bit more SF than fantasy, but the writing/pacing and good characters are consistent across all their books.

The book opens with Everen telling the story, of how he came to break through the Veil to enter the human world - and meet Arcady. It switches mostly between their two perspectives, with occasional chapters from a member of the shadowy Order of the Dragons. The world-building is fantastic, it took me a little while to get my head round the shifting gender and titles used, but it's an important part of the world and the more I got into the book the more immersed I was. It's definitely fantasy on a fairly epic scale, the breadth of what is happening is far more than the "will they pull off this magic con" first line plot, and I'm really looking forward to seeing where the next book takes them. Also the reveal at the end was very unexpected, I thought there was more to that character, but didn't see that particular angle coming at all!

An e-ARC received courtesy of Netgalley and the publisher.

First of all, I need to get it off my chest: I'm honestly shocked that the current rating for this book isn't higher. I loved it and I'll definitely buy a physical copy to have on my shelves.

The story is presented through a few points of view, the main ones are of Arcady- the human, and Everen- the dragon. The main thing that might deter the readers is that their narration styles are different- Arcady's chapters are in first person, and Everen's are written as a letter. There are also a few third person perspective chapters sprinkled in the book. I admit, it was pretty hard to get into in the beginning, but it made sense in the end. There's a reason for it being constructed in such a manner.

I liked the plot, the characters, even the romance. I'm not a romance fan and it can get overwhelming for me very easily, and this one was exactly right for me. We get a good amount of building tension, maybe even a bit for a little too long, but it also makes sense with our characters' history. It was threaded in with the plot so it didn't slow down the action.

There's a big info dump in the beginning and it was a slower part for me as I sometimes needed to check some definitions etc. in earlier parts of the book. I think it would greatly benefit the reader to have a glossary in the end of the book to look at.

The history of Everen and Arcady was shown in pieces, like a puzzle that fits neatly together in the end as we gradually understand the characters better through the story.

I liked reading about a world in which people's sex isn't assumed by their looks but rather there's a chance for everyone to decide how they would like to be addressed.

The ending was great, we get a big reveal and honestly I'll be reading the next installment in the series as soon as it will be out, and yes, I'm already waiting for it even though the first part isn't out yet.

First off, I would like to thank NetGalley for sending this book in exchange for an honest review. This was one of my most anticipated releases for the year, and I was so happy it didn't disappoint. While this book won't be for everyone- the first person POV and letter written style- I found myself actually enjoying it. While I was hesitant because of the writing style, by the time the second part of the story started, it was comfortable. Our two main characters of Arcady and Everen, were good leads and I loved seeing an enemies-to-lovers actually start off as real enemies. The worldbuilding is very interesting and I truly felt immersed in the world. Cannot wait for the sequel!

The entire premise of this book really drew me in. Queer enemies to lovers, dragons, magic system, and a prophecy to fulfill.

It took me a bit to get hooked and settled in, the world building was thorough and a bit wordy in the beginning. The magic system was really unique, I found myself a little confused at points as well as a personal disconnect with the writing style and perspectives though. One thing I love is when a fantasy book can completely immerse me into the new realm, and i wanted it to click so bad, but I struggled to be fully immersed with certain confusions throughout the story.

Love the gender fluid representation, and queer enemies to lovers with the “i don’t want you!” tropes. But this book fell a bit short for me.
3.5/5 stars because even though the beginning didn’t have me, the way it wraps up & the plot twist gave it a push and left me needing to know what’s next.

This book was sent to me by Netgalley as an ARC in exchange for an honest review, thank you!

Okay so this was a very interesting and intense read.
First of all, dragons. Like you can’t go wrong with dragons…
Then the storyline was so interesting and the world building, the magical system, even though they were a bit confusing and hard to get into at first, they turned out to be quite unique and fascinating to read about.

Definitely needs some adjustments to make it a 5-star read for me but it was still such a great read!

Sometimes I feel like I'll never read a good book again. Sometimes I have to settle for an "it was ok" one.

<b>Characters</b>

Everen. The last male dragon in Vere Celene. He's red. There's prophecies about him, and in order to fulfill one he flies into a rip between worlds and is in a diminished preterit form. This is eventually described as humanoid. He falls into a cave and finds a human.

Everen is not the best narrator. He refers to Arcady summoning him, drawing him to the human world (which the dragons were evicted from), but the first chapter is him actively choosing to fly through an opening between worlds. He wasn't forced to do it, in fact he was pumped: "I was giddy with the potential spread before me." Later he says to Arcady, "You stole me from my home." He does this to manipulate Arcady, because for some reason if Arcady falls in love with him the bond is completed. But Cassia, Everen's sister, says, "This human is powerful, to have been able to draw you through in the first place."

He didn't really seem like a dragon, largely because we get no real concept of dragon culture or what being a dragon means. Having his POV written in the second person and narrated to Arcady was a choice that made no sense. Perhaps the sequels will explain it. It's imitative of <i>Harrow the Ninth</i>, sans payoff.

Arcady is a thief. Their family fell out of favor and their grandparent was held responsible for creating a plague. Their plan is to steal enough money so they can go to magic school and work their way up the social ladder under a false identity. They want to look for evidence their grandparent was innocent.

<i>"Somewhere on that hill, there would be records of the sham trial."</i>

It seems only members of the upper class, the drakine, have access to locations the evidence might be kept. The thing is, Arcady regularly uses magic to transform their appearance. By chapter two they have the magic ID amulet for their false identity. They are a skilled thief with years of experience and contacts. What is stopping them from walking up that hill and stealing what they need?

Arcady doesn't like merchants or the government, and pointedly doesn't use the honorific pronoun They for them. They do use it for university people, who they respect. Their parents venerated education, so that's part of the reason, but it's a little naive. The university is very expensive (they have scholarships Arcady can't apply for lest their identity is exposed) and has a library inaccessible to the public. I struggle to see how this elitism is better than that of the merchant class who, by all accounts, are just merchants.

They aren't a very competent thief, and they frequently overreact, scream, and generally cause a scene.

Sorin - she's some kind of assassin for the Order of the Dragons. She shows some signs of a backbone but it amounts to nothing much.

<b>Writing</b>

Descriptions are often sparse. When Everen looks into a pond he sees his "preterit form." There is only one brief description of this a few chapters back. Why not describe what that looks like and how he feels about that?

<i>"The topiary had been carved into the shapes of mythical animals…"</i> - What kind? Does this world have the same mythical creatures as ours? There is a lot of this sort of fill-in-the-blank description. This line occurs while the characters are at a ball. The only thing described in any detail is the food.

Why is "preterit" used for a dragon's human form? The literal meaning is something like "past," which implies dragons are humans, right? Is that the big secret? If so, is the word just a name to the dragons that use it, or are they aware of its meaning?

<i>"I could barely see two wing-lengths in front of me."</i> - We are never told how big the dragons are, so that unit of measure is meaningless. No detailed description of a dragon is given until the last 40 pages, around 90%.

Same with "handspan of years." Handspan is a measure of distance, not time. Is it meant to be five years?

<i>"Fear and fury were fist-fighting, and I hated that fear was better at the uppercuts."</i>

Arcady is in the Locked Tombs which 1. Reminds me of another series, 2. Isn't described in <i>any</i> detail other than "it has stalagmites," 3. Is a place where children are taken to be scared by all the people deemed too evil to cremate, 4. Arcady is self-described as being very afraid, but this line is cheesy af.

Also, how are the tombs locked if they let kids run around them?

Sweetsphere - a honey and seed snack. There are a lot of sphere-shaped foods, and a lot of sweet foods. Why not give this an actual name in the local language, and describe the honey flavor and seed texture while Arcady is eating it so we know what it's made of? Why is honey so fortifying? We learn that magic users can starve to death if they use too much magic, so is magic use tied to fat reserves? Is it fueled by glycogen stored in muscles?

There's also "saltsphere." There can't just be one kind of salty, ball-shaped snack lol

<i>"But my taie [grandparent] had been brilliant. He’d been able to see what others couldn’t. In magic, and in life. It was what made him so dangerous to the Consul."</i>

What about "seeing what others couldn't" (whatever that means) made him dangerous? We never find out.


Repetitive writing, like: "Throwing it into sharp relief," and a few pages later, "throwing it into stark relief"

Chaise longue - does France or the French language exist in this world?

<i>"...examining a gemstone through a small microscope fastened to his eye."</i> - there's an actual word for this. It's called a loupe. How about, "...examining a gemstone, a patinaed brass loupe fastened to his eye. The lens caught the candlelight as he leaned back…"

Arcady lives in an abandoned shop called Loc and Key, a pun that only works in English. Their magic is done using something creatively called the Old Tongue, with phrases like, "Ar-réal vanok vaugain." It looks pretty far removed from English. How are they related?

There <i>are</i> some nice lines. I enjoyed

<i>"I ate a curl of apple peel, the sweetness fizzing along my tongue."</i>

However, apple skins have a lot of tannin. Tannins are bitter and astringent, not sweet and fizzy. I've never been fizzed by an apple.

<i>"I always found the clack, clack, clack [of playing cards] so satisfying."</i> - The fuck are the cards made out of, slabs of wood?

<b>Worldbuilding</b>

How does magic work? Arcady has a cylindrical amulet and does something and thing about the dragon gods and boom, magic.

It's kind of dumb that everyone in Arcady's city is identified by a stone carved with a unique seal given to them at birth. What happens if you lose it? <spoiler>Arcady says at one point they are warded against theft, yet their original one is stolen at the end.</spoiler>

The naming is simplistic, e.g. Order of the Dragons. There are five dragon gods with different powers. Why aren't there five different orders?

Everen is the newcomer to this world and would naturally be the one to explain things to us. The minimal description suffers most here: things are named (clothing, dock, shop), but we don't get colors or materials. Smells are "spicy," "human sweat," "rotten." How big are the ships? What color are the sails? How does wearing clothing feel to a dragon? Beer tastes "awful," but in what way? Sour, bitter, like one of the alleyways he walked past? What impact does it have on a preterit dragon? Does he get dizzy? Nauseated? Does he throw it up right away?

His sister Cassia's face is "draconic." No shit, she's a dragon. What does that actually look like?

Ammil, the former last male dragon, went crazy hundreds of years prior. Is he still alive? <spoiler>Called it!</spoiler> How old is Everen? How was Everen conceived? <spoiler>It turns out the dragons reproduce asexually and the temperature determines sex. If that's the case, why does it matter that Everen is male?</spoiler>

Everen and Arcady are bonded. It's not clear how or why that happened, or what it means practically or culturally.

The reason Everen gives for the dragons being stuck in Vere Celene (based on what a dragon who lived through the Banishment/Betrayal/whatever said) is that humans thought dragons were lying about humans being unable to shapeshift into dragons and were jealous. Petty, right? What's the human perspective? And now dragons are all "kill all humans." Also, Arcady's main thing is shapeshifting, which Everen sees over and over again, and some humans can shapeshift into animals. You're telling me no one tried to shapeshift into a dragon? Ever?

The university and the religion are related in some manner, which is never explained. I'm not sure why a religion that has five dragon gods resembles Christianity so much in its practices. This is reading way too much into things, but we call some Christian places of worship <i>chapels</i> because one of the relics of Christ was a piece of St. Martin's cloak (<i>capella</i>) that was toured around and stored in the buildings. Without that history, why would places of worship for dragon gods be called chapels? There is no specialized language (other than <i>drakine</i>) that reflects the influence dragon-worship has had on society. The head priest is Head Priest. There are chapels and cathedrals and temples where they sit in pews and sing hymns and listen to sermons. Priests listen to confessions and absolve sins (what exactly is a "sin" to a dragon?). They do have magic, which seems something pretty much anyone can do whether or not they're part of the religion, and burn leaves in effigy, but the bulk of their practices aren't very dragon-oriented. You'd think the wyverns, relatives of dragons, would be held in some regard. Nope, they're essentially pigeons.

The magic is mish mash. Humans get/steal magic from dragons. It's not always clear what they can do. For example, what are wards, and what's the point of them if they are so easily "disarmed"? Dragons are inherently magical, but they also use magic from stars and have silver pools for scrying and telepathy. There are ley lines, which classically means magic comes from the earth, that are related to the Veil. It's not so much a system as it is whatever's convenient for the plot.

They keep their magic ID stones in metal settings embedded in their chests. They can remove the stone to use them as stamps. Why not keep a fake stone in the mandated chest region and tuck the real one in another location so you can do magic discreetly? I'm honestly confused by the whole thing. Sometimes Arcady calls it a cylindrical amulet, worn as a necklace, sometimes it's a stone in a setting. Do they switch back and forth? Amulets usually have really big holes, and settings are usually for cabochons, stones without holes. The actual shape, size, and style of these stone seals is never described, just that they have carvings of names and "the stars of their birth."

How does the government work? There are Chancellors, which Arcardy says are monarchs by another name. But people from the Order of the Dragons are running around confiscating stuff and arresting people. Under whose authority?

<b>Plot</b>

Everen finds one prophecy and flutters off to see what happens. He flies through a dimension hole, lands in a cave, sees Arcady, then wanders off. His goal is the destruction of all humanity. He wants to kill Arcady specifically to get full use of his magic back, but how that will lead to removing the Veil is unclear. Everen's just going with the flow.

Arcady steals an amulet so they can make a new amulet and change their identity. They do this while making an absurd amount of noise in the Locked Tombs. Why didn't they leave and do the ritual somewhere less public, echoey, and filled with visitors for the holiday? No one notices. They don't even put the lid back on their grandparent's coffin.

I don't even know what the plot is. Everen and Arcady have goals, but the actions they take seem remarkably tangential to that. Everen doesn't do any research into the Veil at all, the thing he has to remove so the dragons can come back. Arcady wants to clear their grandparent's name and then…what? Go to school?

I was shocked at how little preparation went into the heist subplot. These people are supposed to have years, if not decades, of experience. They do almost no reconnaissance. Arcady has only met the person they impersonate twice.

Other reviews have noted how similar Dragonfall is to other YA/NA that has come out the past few years. They share an incomplete bond and quasi-telepathy (Feyre and Rhys), Arcady trains Everen in thieving (Jude and Cardan), the "enemies to lovers" thing but they are never really enemies.

This is supposed to be a romance too. I don't see it. There's an inadvertent bond, we are told there is mutual physical attraction, and Everen says he'll manipulate Arcady into falling for him. He doesn't do much other than be rude and go along with Arcady's thief training. They have nothing in common. When Everen first makes a move on Arcady, it sounds like he's putting them under arrest. "DO NOT MOVE."

I'm conflicted about the ending. On the one hand, it rendered the majority of the preceding events meaningless. On the other, there were two twists that did make me curious about what happens next.

<b>Conclusion</b>

I wasn't a fan of the writing, I had a number of issues with the worldbuilding, but the mystery of the Veil, the character twist, and dragonrider thing going on make me willing to continue with the series.

I wanted to love this book. The title, cover and synopsis drew me in but I just didn’t vibe with the writing style in this book at all.

The way this was written was so jarring that I kept closing my Kindle and giving myself some time to do something else before coming back and trying again, because I wanted to make sure it wasn’t just me. It wasn’t. The prose was all over the place. Between that and the unnecessary use of some of the wording here made for a very difficult read.

Unfortunately, the way this was written took away from the characters. Because I couldn’t vibe with the writing, I couldn’t vibe with the characters. I just didn’t care by the time we started to see some real development. I was also put off pretty early on by the way the information was given to us. I need context when I’m reading a fantasy book. That doesn’t mean I want pages upon pages of endless information dumps - but I need something. What I got here was mentions of things in this world that weren’t explained. Was I supposed to be able to just figure it out?

I held on to the end, hoping that if I trusted the process it would pay out eventually. It didn’t for me. An interesting idea for sure but not well done enough.

Dragonfall is a unique fantasy story featuring exiled dragons, dangerous consuming magic, and layers of deception. It follows different POVs, which interestingly, are written in different forms. Arcady, our FMC, is written in first person, Everen, the MMC, is written in second person addressing Arcady, as well as a few other characters with their own chapters, which are written in third person. The changes in POV and writing style for each made the story feel a little disjointed for me and I had a hard time connecting with the characters.

I enjoyed the overall premise of the story, the building tension between our main characters, and the magic system. I struggled with the pacing, particularly in the beginning of the story. There were a few parts where I was really just confused as to what was happening. I think this was because of the switching between worlds and characters, being thrown into a new life without knowing what I was walking into.

Overall, if you like dragons, stories with religion politics, betrayal, and enjoy multiple POVs, this would be a good book for you.