I enjoyed this to a point, but it felt a little confusing when reading and trying to keep track of the story. There seemed to be a lot of unnecessary parts.

What a unique story! Filled with characters that really drive the story and create a fun place to be immersed!

"I'm going through a dragon phase. I'm obsessed with them... The truth is, I fell in love with this book from the moment I saw the cover. But it's been a bit of a tumultuous relationship. The writing style was both, satisfying and frustrating; while the constant flow between one style and another was too jarring for me, I recognize that it was masterfully employed to differentiate personalities. I had a similar experience with the world-building. I loved the richness of the society that was depicted, but at times the descriptions felt excessive. As for the love story, I have to say that I loved it, I have no complaints."

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I just couldn’t get into this one, I think others will enjoy it but I found myself very confused while reading this and I couldn’t quite understand what was going on.

This was a 5 star for me. The world building was epic, i loved each and every character. The story was facinating and beautifully written. I loved every second of time that I put into reading this. The story was well thought out, the world was beautifully described, and i cant wait to read more.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I love a good dragon story but this was only just okay. There was a lot of angst and maybe I just wasn't in the mood for that much at the moment. It just felt like a little bit too much angst.

Everyn is the last male dragon, all hope for dragonkind has lain heavy on his shoulders for his whole life.

Arcady is a thief, trying to make better of their life and prove the innocence of their ancestor in being responsible for a great plague.

Arcadys actions to achieve this brings the pair together and an unwilling bond is formed, each side getting something from it. So in order to strengthen this bond, the hesitatant duo have to team up with some old Companions of Arcadys and orcastrate a heist for a dragon relic

These two paths are prophesied to cross, and a bond between them could change both of their worlds... for better or worse is the question. And can they trust each other enough to see things through.

Interesting concept and I really enjoyed the magic system in this book, and the extreme consequences of magic that is part of this.

The change in writing styles between POVs was a little jarring. I generally don't have issue with a book being in either first or third person, but constantly switching was a bit of a struggle at times, pretty sure we covered first, second and third person in this book! That being said, the story was good enough to help me push through and once I got into the swing of how each characters chapter was written, I didn't notice the changes quite as much

Will definitely be picking up book 2 after all that happened towards the end!

Dragonfall by L.R. Lam is the first book in The Dragon Scales Trilogy.
 
I must preface this by saying that I read Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros and was obsessed with dragons afterwards and picked up this book immediately afterwards. That was probably not the best decision and I wish I had read something else first, because I feel like I had enjoyed this book more and wouldn’t compare the two.
 
This story is set in a world where dragons were always present and a long time ago humans hated them, but now dragons are worshiped as gods. That was such a fascinating dynamic and I loved learning about this. You also get chapters from a dragon‘s perspective and that was my favorite part of this book.
 
The protagonist Arcady grew up as a poor orphan and she always dreamed of a better life. And she gets a chance for it, and she learns of powers that change everything. I liked the concept of her character, but to me she seemed like a means to an end, and I couldn’t fully connect to her.
 
The plot starts off with the dragons, but later on revolves around magic and artifacts and shapeshifters and that was a bit much for me and I wish the focus would have been more with the dragons.
 
Overall, if you like fantasy stories with dragons, this might be for you. 3 stars.
 
(ARC kindly provided in exchange for a review.)

I feel a little bad giving this story a one star review because I had to DNF it fairly early on. I appreciated what this author was trying to do — who doesn’t love the idea of an inclusive world and dragons bent on revenge?? — but the writing and characters REALLY did not click for me. I would be interested in coming back to this in the future and seeing if my opinion changes, especially when the series is complete. I think there is something here for other readers to enjoy, but the foundation of this book wasn’t for me and so I am not going to force it.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for letting me give this a shot.

"The “gods” remember, and they do not forgive. "

Long ago humans betrayed the Dragons, banished them to a doomed world. After centuries humankind have forgotten their past transgressions and worship the Dragons as gods once again.

Arcady is a thief, living under a new identity, trying to run from her secrets and steal enough to start a new life and finally fulfill her magical potential. Little does she know she is half bonded to Everen, the last male dragon who is sent on a mission to set right the past. The Dragons want to take back what is theirs. He is disguised as a human and tasked with seducing Arcady to compete the bond and then betray them and kill them.

I wanted to love this one so much, DRAGONS, a fascinating world and magic system, and the diversity but that is basically the only parts i liked. The romance plot line did not do it for me. I did not buy it and it felt unconvincing. There was also a POV of a character that felt unnecessary and did not contribute anything to the story. The choice of the writing for Everen's point of view did not work for me. I understand why it was done but it did not vibe with me.

I would like to thank DAW for providing a digital copy of this novel via NetGalley. This was quite an eventful read. This is a story of dragon lords who were betrayed by humans--the very people who stole their magic and vanished them from their world. The plot involves a thief named Arcady who steals an artifact linked to a powerful dragon named Everen. Everen must get Arcady to trust him and then he must perish Arcady so Everen can regain his powers. I enjoyed the storytelling and pace of the novel. I found the ending satisfying and left enough promise to be interested in the next entry into the series.

I'm afraid I was underwhelmed by this one. The pacing was pretty slow (didn't pick up for me till around the 90% mark), I never fully warmed up to prickly and secretive Arcady (one of the main characters, and one whose parts of the narrative were written in first person), and I'm not sure I ever fully believed the romantic subplot. The writing itself was fine, but without liking the other book elements more, this was just a 3-star read for me.

I am *definitely* intrigued to carry on to the next book. Partway through, I wasn't 100% sure because the pacing was so off - I was really enjoying reading it, but didn't necessarily feel compelled to keep going.

Then we got some twists at the end that cemented my desire to continue! I really loved the writing and the world in this but the characters could have been better developed and the pacing was a little odd.

DEF recommend - 3.75!

Finally a 5 star read after a long time!!!
First of all, thank you Netgalley for sending me an ARC, even though it was on the day before the book was to be published, in exchange for an honest review.

I heard of this book in 2022 and had to wait almost a year to read it. Past me knew that it would not disappoint and it did not! I thoroughly enjoyed this masterpiece and cannot wait for the other books in this instalment.

Now on to the story and its characters: I loved Arcady and Everen. I loved them alone and together, when they were fighting and when they were being nice to each other. More importantly I loved them as characters that told the story. Everen and Arcady are not the only characters with a POV, although they have the most and are the more pivotal characters for the story.
Everen is the last male dragon and a prince of a dying land. A decision leads him to go through the veil and he lands in the world of humans. There he meets and half-bonds with a human thief named Arcady. Arcady also has a past that gets more intertwined with that of Everen.

The story is a mix of everything I love. We have forbidden love and deadly decisions. Heists and thievery. Political intrigue and betrayal. The story-telling is immaculate and experimental, which felt fresh. Most of the different POVs have different narrative styles. We have Arcady, where the 1st person POV is used like we would normally see and then we have Evemer who also uses the 1st person POV with a twist. He is constantly talking to a „You“, as if he is telling the story to Arcady in the future. Other POVs also include a 3rd person POV.

Overall I think this Series will be one of my favorite and I cannot wait to read the second instalment in a year (hopefully)!

An intriguing start to a new fantasy romance series. Centuries ago, the dragons were betrayed by the humans and locked away in a dying world. Everen is the last male dragon, prophesied to save his people. Arcady is a human thief, hoping to redeem their family name. These two have little in common, but one magical spell brings them together and forges a bond neither would expect. They each keep secrets, plotting their own designs. But... plans of betrayal get a little messy when feelings start to grow.

I really enjoyed this first installment in the Dragon Scales Trilogy. The dragons piqued my interest, and I found the worldbuilding to be pretty well done. I get a lot of enjoyment out of enemies to lovers stories, though this one did feel a little light on the romance in my opinion. I think I enjoyed the thievery teaching montage and heist elements the most. The ending definitely leaves you wanting more. What will happen next? I can't wait to see.

Thank you to @netgalley for an advanced copy of Dragonfall by L.R. Lam.

Blurb:
Dragons were banished centuries ago to a dying world after humans stole their magic, but now Everen, the last male dragon, has been pulled through the Veil by a spell connecting him to Arcady, a thief who wants revenge for their family. Disguised as a human, Everen, must fully bond with Arcady and then kill them to regain his true form and power to fulfill his destiny in bringing dragons back to a world that was stolen from them.

Review:
I have been dreading writing this review, I wanted to love this book so badly! Unfortunately, I do not think I am the right target audience for this story. I very rarely DNF books, but it took 10 days of forcing myself to read this every day only to make it 31% through. I tried so hard, but I think the writing style just wasn't for me and it kept pulling me from the characters and making me unable to connect with them or root for them at all.

But just because this book wasn't for me, doesn't mean it isn't for you!

Dragonfall is out now!

Thank you to L.R. Lam and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I read this after the book was published but this doesn’t affect my review in any way.

This high-fantasy novel was the first book that I read that focused solely on the lore of dragons, which were creatures out of my field of interest under the genre. Overall, I certainly had regrets about this book because it was incredibly tiring to read. I did not hate it, yet I also don’t consider it memorable. The premise of this book was very appealing since it had multiple POVs which helped me know different perspectives throughout the book. I loved the non-binary representation, the little bit of romance on the side, together with the existence of sign language in a fictional world; these were elements that I considered enjoyable and very intuitive. However, the extensive details in the world-building and heavy info-dumping on the magic system throughout this book made it exhausting to read. It was the reason I really hated my reading experience with Dragonfall. I think if the narration was toned down, the book would’ve been shorter, and I would’ve enjoyed it more. Nevertheless, I think Arcady and Everen’s story have wonderful potential. Happy Pride Month to them!

This is the kind of book that I honestly wasn’t sure if I was going to like it for most of it. It does start off a little slow as we get to know both the world and our characters, but I’m here to tell you it is worth pushing through to get to the story. Once the plot picked up, I was wholly invested in what was happening. I also really loved learning about this world and the magic system that the author has created, and how it was based on/focused on the dragons. I also came to really love our characters, and seeing them have to learn how to work together. The chapters from the dragon’s perspective were probably my favorite, as the author uses second-person perspective, which I found added an interesting layer to the storytelling. I definitely need the second one ASAP after that ending.

the parts I enjoyed:
- second-person POV? Well it's technically first person but addressed to "you" (Arcady). It's not something you find often and I did feel Lam used it to their advantage
- prophecies! I love me a cool prophecy that ties it all together

neutral:
- readable, understandable fantasy. It's nothing groundbreaking but perfectly serviceable for the world and I enjoyed that we made it queernormative. I think it falls short at times to build on its original ideas but there two more books to come that might do that.
- the romance. Maybe it just took too many expected steps that offered nothing fresh that left me with lukewarm feelings about their relationship. The highlight-worthy moments were few.

what did not work for me:
- the stakes? The story felt at odds with one part being about the dragon's dying home and the second part focusing on a minor heist. I needed more of the building narrative to thread throughout the primary heist story to make me care for it
- weak indistinct characters; Everen and Arcady blended too much together for not even both being human. I also really felt like Arcady's profession was much more an aesthetic choice than anything else - yes, they can steal but
- the third act reveals. Won't say too much but it plays into the second point and how downplayed that entire situation ended up being when the world-building suggests it's a much bigger
deal

To conclude, I have a hard time pinpointing any particular reason why this was just an okay series starter and not as great as the premise had me hoping for. The summary is absolutely accurate - and that might be part of the problem. For a trilogy, it does not offer the foundational information I would like to be truly invested in this world's outcome, for a romance, its characters don't stand out and for a fantasy, there are good ideas but little else.

I have to say I really enjoyed this book!

I love how it was a gender-fluid world and the slow burn between the characters. I think the way this story is narrated is pretty interesting since it seems all of this already happened.

I really enjoyed all point of views but Everen's the most because of his internal struggle for doing the right thing for his people at the cost of someones' life.

I feel like we did not learn a lot about the veil but I'm super curious about it so I really hope it gets explored more in the next installment. I think making dragons shifters was a brilliant idea and now I just need mooooreeee of it haha.