I’ve been hearing about Indra Das for a while, but not enough to push him to the top of a crowded TBR. But when a new release novella (not from Tordotcom!) started getting acclaim from bloggers I follow, I figured The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar would be the perfect opportunity to give his writing a try.

The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar follows the son of dragon-riding nomads from another world, growing up in Calcutta with little knowledge of his family’s homeland. There are hints and fragmented memories, but not enough for him to be confident in their reality, let alone make rejoinder to the boys at school who mock him for being “the snake from nowhere.” He has no grand quest, simply a desire to understand his heritage and build relationships with friends and family, despite being hampered on both sides by his awkward position between two worlds.

When I see a secret world of dragon-riders in the blurb, I expect a fantasy adventure. This is not that. Instead, it’s a touching coming-of-age novella in a setting suffused with magic, but where the magic is decidedly not the point. There are oblique references to war, danger, dragon-riding empires and interdimensional travel, but it’s all backstory. The point is the lead struggling to live as a second-generation immigrant, disconnected both from the world of his family and the world he lives in.

It’s a short novella, and the length is appropriate for the small-scale of the story, which moves through the lead’s adolescence and into adulthood without a driving plot, dwelling here on memories of his family’s magic and a house full of relics, there on a fumbling romance with another neighborhood immigrant and the clash between gender expectations in his ancestral land and his current one. There is certainly character growth, and too satisfying of an ending for me to call this a “no plot, just vibes” tale. But the vibes are undoubtedly a big part of the draw. The prose is excellent, and mostly invites the reader to sit with the lead in his discomfort and uncertainty.

But for all the discomfort, it’s not a story without hope. As the lead grows up, he learns more about his family and their reasons for secrecy, and a strong friendship outside his household both succors and sharpens him. It’s not that it erases the sense of dislocation so much as allows him to understand it and choose how to respond—a more grounded story than the magical setting suggests. His family's flight across dimensions may be unique, but the challenges he faces are more those of the second-generation immigrant than the dragon-riding fantasy hero.

On the whole, The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar is slow-paced but beautifully written, eschewing an adventure plot for an intense character focus. Those who enjoy coming-of-age stories and characters trying to reconcile the differences between the world of their family and the world of their peers are in for a treat.

Recommended if you like: magical realism, coming-of-age, immigrant stories.

Overall rating: 17 of Tar Vol’s 20. Five stars on Goodreads.

4.5 stars!

I was given an eARC of this boom exchange by NetGalley/Subterranean Press in exchange of an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a short and nostalgic story that tells us about a boy who doesn’t belong and the parents who yearn for home. I want to read the novel that the father wrote in the book. I want to read a full length novel and a 10 book series about the world.

My only complaint about the book was that the author used a lot of compound sentences. They got lost in words than using more approachable language. However, I want to overlook it all because the friendship explored by the author is beautiful and innocent.

I didn’t expect any LGBTQ+ rep in the book and I was pleasantly surprised!

In all, this book is enjoyable and you need to read it.

4.5 stars rounded up.

A boy with a family who has a mysterious past and untraceable ancestry? And said ancestry involves dragon riders/whisperers who can travel through the multiverse? Is this a cozy fantasy that I actually like?? YES to everything.

Even though this was a novella, the world building and characterization were perfect. I could empathize with the MC, Ru, even though his experiences are worlds away from mine. (A sign of a masterful writer!) I really enjoyed reading about Ru's thoughts and feelings about his family, their dragoner's club, and his relationship with his best friend, Alice.

The ending felt abrupt, but it left the story on such a hopeful, pleasant note that I can't really fault it.
I did wish that the novella was a tad bit longer and that the ending wasn't such an info dump. There was so much potential to explore more with Ru's ancestry and the dragons in general, but I can still appreciate the novella's length.

Other than that, I'd highly recommend this. If this was a series, I'd definitely be on board to read the next installment.

Thank you to Subterranean Press and NetGalley for this arc.

The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar promises a short, esoteric journey through a young man’s search for cultural identity and belonging. The dragon lore is fully realized, if a literal mysterious, and Das describes this fantasy world with the opacity that is only fitting for the otherworldliness of the dragons, the George family heritage, and their liminal existence.

For those used to visiting other planes of existence in their books, The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar may provide the perfect bridge between the Fantasy and Sci-Fi genres. Yet, the strangeness of the dragoners and their clan replaces the fantasy feel and with a more eerie Sci-Fi sheen. The George’s are not like elves, hobbits, or fae; they are more like morally chaotic aliens. This strangeness is compounded by their hermaphroditic biology and the focus on conception and sex. The dragoners’ relationship with the dragons is supposedly mutually beneficial, but the worshipful reverence with which they breed the dragons—while at the same time slicing them up for Tuesday’s dinner—gives them a coldness that is unsettling and difficult to relate to.

Reuel’s tentative friendship with his neighbor—someone who also faces bullying and disdain for her mixed heritage—is heartwarming, but it is the only bright spot in the story. While we should exult alongside Ru as he embraces his family’s culture, we can’t because he doesn’t really know his family’s culture; all his knowledge is gleaned from foggy memories and a fantasy novel penned by his father. Is any of it trustworthy? Is any of it the truth? We can’t be sure, even if Ru feels it is. He may be the keeper of his heritage, but he is so far removed from it, it doesn’t feel like a homecoming or victory; it feels more like his existence is unmoored from both reality and purpose. It’s a depressing, mildly unsettling, and lonely read for this reader. Perhaps it is supposed to be. Still, the worldbuilding is excellent; the writing showcases the inner workings of Ru's heart with masterful vulnerability and poignancy. Though Ru struggles to find belonging in his world, I can see many readers feeling right at home in this little story.

DRC provided by Subterranean Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Indra Das writes beautifully. The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar was my first taste of Indra's prose, but I know for sure now, I am going to read everything their mind and pen will come out with.

3 stars

The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar was a whimsical and short read. It had the coming of age element and a mysterious history which was just enough to keep the plot moving forward. But what I think didn't work was that the book was too short. If it was longer and more clear cut. I would've liked it and enjoyed it a lot more. Due to it being a novella (which I daresay could've been better) it couldn't quite achieve what it was supposed to.

There were also random moments in the plot that just existed. Sure, it does help in the pacing, but it felt kinda off the rhythm for me. And what really bothered me was the lack of explanation of the magic/folklore. Reading the book felt like we were constantly turning around in circles (which we were) that was done to create the whimsical vibes, but unfortunately didn't quite work for me.

In conclusion, I didn't quite love this book, but if you like light-hearted novellas that take you to an alternate world without much hardcore world building, you would love this.

Thank you to Netgalley and Publisher for the e-ARC in exchange of a honest review. All opinions are my own.

I have literally been waiting for another book by this author since I finished The Devourers in 2016. Now having read this, I don’t even know what to say - I basically sobbed through the last third of it. I legit think it’s made me dehydrated.

The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar by Indra Das sent me on a trip of nostalgia of the familiar while also illustrating the difficulties of life that someone who is different will face. This short book (only 120 pages) shares the story of a young boy Ru and his struggles on figuring out who he is and where his family comes from.
Taking place in the city of Calcutta, the reader is introduced to a lot of familiar things from the 1990s and 2000s, like going to see the first Lord of the Rings movie, or listening to music like Slipknot. This made the story feel very real to me as someone who also grew up during that time. The story travels through years very fast, but I never felt like it was rushed – following Ru along into his teenage years.

The area that I couldn’t relate to in this story is that of looking different than the other kids. I grew up in a very rural area in the US so everyone looked similar. I cannot even fathom the difficulties a young child would face being different than other people. The author illustrates it well in this book. We see a fair amount of bullying and racist comments (from kids!). The contrast that this book provides with what is familiar to me and what is different really helped me understand a little bit of what other people of different ethnicities go through while just trying to exist. Of course I could never possibly understand the full depth of it.

Since this is such a short story, it’s hard to give details without giving much away. I do highly suggest to give this book a try, I read it in about an hour and a half, and I’m not the fastest reader. It is a nice palate cleanser in between larger tomes. I really enjoyed the flow of the story, the relationships Ru made and just how well the author wrote them. It felt very authenticate.

To have read something that straddles the line between reality and fantasy, blurs it to invite the reader into imagination, asking only for a moment of belief, I feel honoured.

So what is The Last Dragoners of Bowbazaar about?

Ru, a boy from nowhere, is desperate to find who he is but his parents don't tell him. Except that he remembers dragons. Or dreams of them. Impossibilities become real in this saga of family, finding, love and longing as Ru grows up with his childhood friend in the city of Calcutta, floating through life still desperate to find his place.

From the streets of Calcutta to realities beyond, The Last Dragoners of Bowbazar haunts you as you read it, transportive and griundong at omce. Indra Das' writing is impossibly beautiful. It makes me want to believe the impossible, to touch reality and part it to trust in his imagination. Haven't read anything like it.

And short may this novella be, reading it was an ethereal experience. I don’t want to discuss plot, I want you to experience it. It is so aching and soft and I felt seen for the first time as a South Asian enby who belongs to nowhere.

This may sound silly but in another reality, I hope Ru is out there. I hope they are happy and I hope they soar above the skies. I hope Alice smiles against their skin and I hope they hug their Queen tight.

Thank you to Subterranean Press and Netgalley for the e-arc.

Thanks for giving me an access to an arc! I feel like this definitely wasn’t what I expected but I was pleasantly surprised that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Trying to figure out belonging and home, identity and who we are. I felt my heart tighten at many times throughout reading this. While it’s short, I think it packs a punch!

4⭐️

This book turned out to be different than I thought it would be, but not in a bad way. This novella is a beautiful coming of age tale, of a boy seemingly trapped between two worlds. Made to forget one but feeling out of place in the other, Ru had to navigate this strange life he lives. Made an outcast at school, he’s homeschooled, with no friends until he meets Alice, who wants to believe alongside him in the impossible. They grow together, until Alice inevitably leaves for school. This is followed by his family fading out of the world until he’s left alone, but they taught him all they could before leaving. Now Ru has accepted who he truly is, embracing it and sharing it with Alice when she returns.

This book was beautifully written. I wish we could’ve gotten more about the other world, maybe get his father’s book?? It sounds amazing, with dragons and magic, though they were driven out by war.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

This was very different from what I thought it was going to be going into it, but it was still enjoyable. It was much more modern than I had anticipated, with pop culture references sprinkled in. I found it a quick and easy read, immersive, and worth the two or so hours it took to read.

This was a cute, quick read. Kind of a palate cleanser for between heavier reads!

It's not an epic fantasy or anything, but it's a nice little tale of a boy growing up and finding himself. I really enjoyed Alice - She was a treat and I was rooting for them. Hopefully Ru continues on and becomes comfortable in his skin.

This didn't play in to my review, but the book wasn't formatted well for Kindle. There were odd spacing issues at the start of each chapter. I imagine each character at the start of the chapters is stylized in the hard copy of the book which is what caused the discrepancy. It cause some lines to get jumbled, so hopefully that gets worked out before release!

I'm not sure if I didn't quite get this or if the point was just the vibes. The setting was really vivid and I enjoyed the relationship between the protagonist and Alice, but I was expecting the story to be... bigger, somehow? It's quite a short novella. The prose was lovely; I think a reader who is more into language than action would really enjoy taking their time with this story.

A wonderful coming-of-age story about finding family's secret, friendship, and love. Ru's family wants to protect and raise Ru as a common "earth" boy. They tell him stories of their culture but by the end of the conversations they always ask him to drink tea of forgetfullness which causes him to lose some of his recent memories so his memories of his culture are even more vague.

This book has an interesting ending, which I think it can be interpreted differently per perspective. To me it leaves me sad yet also happy with a bittersweet feeling. I'm really yearning for more..

To those who are looking for a short and meaningful fantasy read I'd highly recommend reading this book!

Thank you to Netgalley and Subterranean Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A boy from nowhere discovers his families secrets and what his legacy truly is. Ru is a boy who’s family has descended from nomads, he was raised to believe that there were dragons and that his family were dragoners....yet what is real and what is not? He thinks he can remember seeing dragons but he can’t be sure. As he grows he begins to understand his culture and the secrets his family has been hiding. What does it mean to be a stranger moving from one place to the next? What was the purpose of moving? Ru deals with not only discovering what his family’s secrets are but of growing to understand what his place in all of this is. This was a beautiful story about understanding your identity and place in the world. I found it to be enchanting and heartwarming as Ru discovers his families secrets and his own friendship. I would definitely recommend this story!

*Thanks Netgalley and Subterranean Press for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*