The file wouldn't convert so I am unable to provide feedback. I was eagerly anticipating this book as it was highly recommended.

Babel but with dragons... kinda...

This is definitely for a younger audience than Babel, but I like the incorporation of language, linguistics, and the power of words/translation.

Representation: A few queer and/or BIPOC supporting characters, not much of note

Rating: 4/5 I immensely enjoyed this book about linguistics, language, and codebreaking. This is set in the 1920s, but it’s also an alternate version of Bletchley Park, which is known for its codebreaking during World War II. Bright teens are gathered there and given a few different tasks that will come together to help them learn things about dragons that’s been hidden from them. I wanted to strangle Viv multiple times, but how this imperfect character was written was excellent. I could really feel the multiple dilemmas she faced, and the big decisions that she had to make at her young, young age. This is a time of sweeping war, but we’re mostly insulated from it because we’re sequestered away with these young adults doing their work. I really enjoyed the worldbuilding of this, the history between humans and dragons, the political structures in place, and how things affected each other.

An interesting blend of historical fantasy and political intrigue, set in an alternate post-World War I London where humans and dragons coexist. The story follows Vivien, a young linguist thrust into a world of espionage and rebellion as she deciphers dragon languages. The intricate world-building and exploration of linguistics are captivating, but some readers may find Vivien’s naiveté and the pacing in the second half a bit challenging. It’s a compelling narrative that will appeal to fans of young adult fantasy seeking a fresh take on dragon lore.

First and foremost, I want to mention that I am extremely happy as a reptile owner (I own two ball pythons and one bearded dragon) and pleased to know that it was mentioned that the dragons do shed. I cannot explain how irritated I have been reading all these dragon books and no one mentions any giant pieces of shed! Dragons are reptiles! They have to shed! Anyway I liked the book. I will say I was very irritated with Vivian throughout the whole thing till the end when she finally realized maybe everyone does have a point maybe this is wrong, but I feel like that is the point of Vivian as a character. She grows as the book goes and that is I feel especially accurate with how people are raised in certain backgrounds and government situations and things like that as you get older, your viewpoints change and this expressed perfectly in the book.

Rating: 4.5/5⭐️

Thanks to @harpercollins @netgalley for the #gifted copy of this book.

“People shouldn’t fear their prime ministers. Prime ministers should fear their people.”

Summary: A reimagining YA Fantasy book of London in 1923 full of dragons, betrayals, secret identities and a slow burn enemies to lovers story. After her parents' arrest, Vivian Featherswallow breaks all the rules to try to get her family back together. She's offered a mysterious position at Bletchley Park as a code breaker for the war effort. Viv slowly realizes that she's been living in a very safe bubble and life is not as cut and dry as she's always believed. She finally has to decide as to what war she's willing to fight.

My Thoughts: Wow!! This was such a fun debut... After reading a few books based on Bletchley Park, it was so interesting to see it in a whole new light with younger people working in the different areas and, of course, dragons!! There were so many secrets and twists and turns throughout this book that it was hard to figure out who to trust and who was truly bad. Vivian was a tough shell to crack for her to finally see what had been happening in the world outside of her safe bubble. But I do love that as soon as she made a decision, she charged full steam ahead. Having the dragons as part of the society was such a neat concept, especially since Viv could speak different dragon languages. There was a slow burn enemies-to-lovers story along with lots of mystery throughout that held my attention. I'm hoping for another book in this world because of that ending...

Read if you love:
🐉Dragons
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿London
✨YA Reads
🌟Historical Fiction with a touch of fantasy

I really loved this book. I thought this book was so unique and so different and loved it. I thought this book was a unique mix of historical fantsay but also a war esce story it gave me world war two vibes.I also loved the dragons in this story and found my self captured by it and i wss so hard to stop reading. I am really hoping we get more books in this series because i am not happy with the clifhanger and would like more!! Such heartbreaking read but really addicting read!!

I would pitch this as a WWII-esque fantasy of Violet (From Fourth Wing) had entered the Scribe Quadrant.

I have mixed feeling on the romance because of Atlas’ calling, but I love banter. Also, WE HAD LOVE NOTES EXCHANGED BY BOOKS 🥰 One of my favorite tropes!

Knocked half a star cuz some of the writing was confusing because the MC would say one thing but then do another and left me flipping back to reread passages to see if I missed something.

Can’t wait for the sequel!!

Reader’s Notes:

– this is the first of a series & must be read in order (not sure how many books there will be)

-this is based in 1923, but with dragons & a cast system of sorts

– this is told from Vivien’s point of view

-it is mentioned & shown that a side character dates others of the same gender as them

-there is some fantasy violence & death (some mentions of blood, dead bodies, scars from past punishments, breaking bones, cutting with knives & killing – including a dragon’s head being removed from it’s body)

-there are about 19 curse words

-it is mentioned/insinuated that in the past characters exchanged physical favors (being touched inappropriately & sex briefly mentioned) in order to get where they are now

-it is mentioned that a guy’s hands go under Vivien’s shirt & onto her back during a kiss

Review:

I removed a star because of the points I made above, though the biggest ones for me were the curse words and the way the violence and death were portrayed (as well as the amount of it). For the violence & death, it wasn’t gorey or even described/talked about at a length but it was still not my cup of tea. I might continue the series despite these things as I’m curious how the characters will move forward with the ending that was given, but it’ll probably depend on how long it takes for the next one to release (& if I remember the events of this book by then).

Going into this story I only had a vague idea of what historical significance Bletchley Park has (secret location for code breaking efforts) and from what I know of this story matched that aspect. It was very interesting to see dragons thrown into the ‘real’ world and how it affected this version of earth’s history and human interactions. I liked getting to know Viv and what she was fighting for, but also seeing her struggle with a moral dilemma when it came to discovering the truth of what her ‘job’ could cost others. I also really liked the romance subplot and seeing Viv dealing with falling in love when she should be focusing on the work that could free her family.

Summary:

Vivien Featherswallow is determined to get a summer internship studying dragon languages. But when the opportunity to get her there turns her life into a nightmare instead, she finds herself accidentally starting a civil war. In order to get her life back on track, Viv agrees to joining a secret program at Bletchley Park as a code breaker for a newly discovered dragon language to aid in the war efforts. Her only option is to succeed or risk the lives of her family members.

But the deeper of an understanding Viv gains about this new dragon language, the more she realizes that the treaty between humans and dragons is not only corrupt but also hanging by a thread. And if she hands over what she’s discovered, Viv may just sever the peace the world has known…

⭐️⭐️⭐️.75/5
I went into this completely blind—no map, no glossary, just vibes and dragons. I thought I was signing up for a fire-breathing fantasy adventure, but instead I accidentally enrolled in 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝑫𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒏 𝑷𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒔 & 𝑫𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒏 𝑳𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒔 𝟏𝟎𝟏. And honestly? I wasn’t mad about it… just a 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 overwhelmed. 😩💖

𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞 𝐘𝐀 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭—imagine a 1920s, dark academia, 𝑩𝒂𝒃𝒆𝒍-𝒆𝒔𝒒𝒖𝒆 setting with 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑠, corruption, rebellion, and a rigid class system holding everything in place. Throw in codebreaking to unlock a sacred dragon language, an almost holy war brewing beneath the surface, and you’ve got a recipe for 𝒎𝒂𝒋𝒐𝒓 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏-𝒃𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒚 𝒗𝒊𝒃𝒆𝒔.✨

It’s definitely for readers who love 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛—like, if you enjoy the quiet tension of academia, the hush of candlelit libraries, and the thrill of decoding ancient texts… this will be your JAM. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐝: 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐞. It’s not a fast-paced fantasy, but more of a slow unraveling of secrets, hierarchies, and long-lost dragon truths. 📝🙂‍↔️

Character development? A little underbaked for me. The dragons took center stage, and the cast kind of blurred in the background. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 there’s a thread of 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑏𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒—a priest-in-training + the fierce, codebreaking FMC that had me 😮‍💨

And that ending??
𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥. 𝐈 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝. 😱😱

𝐓𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐥𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝:
• Dark academia 🎓
• Dragons 🐉
• Forbidden love 💕
• Codebreaking 🔢
• Rebellion & corruption 🚩
• Morally grey institutions 🏢
• Slow unravel of hidden truths 😱

𝐀 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰… 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐲, 𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐬, 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲, & 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐀𝐑𝐂!

A Language of Dragons tells the story of an alternate past in which the UK has a class system and a tentative peace treaty with dragons. Enter a linguist who speaks multiple draconian languages, an uprising, and lessons on privilege. While the first part of the story felt a little too heavy on telling, the plot was interesting enough that I kept reading. The last half felt more cohesive and engaging, but maybe it was because I was invested at that point.
I will be picking up the next book on the series because I am curious about what happens next.

If you like alternate histories with dark academia vibes, dragons, and political unrest, then this book is for you.

Our main character, Vivian, navigates London in the 1920’s as dragons fly overhead and rebellion is brewing. As someone who is very adept at dragon languages (she already knows 9 and hopes to pursue a prestigious internship), Viv finds herself thrust head first into the political unrest.

I really enjoyed this book, and was questioning whether I would have done the same things if I was in Viv’s shoes. She’s smart and witty and a little bit awkward. There’s action, adventure, and even a bit of slow burn enemies to lovers romance.

This book was so fun and thrilling from start to finish! The world-building was expansive and so detailed, seamlessly blending historical and fantasy elements. As a dragon enthusiast, I was completely in awe by the dragons in this story. They were fresh and unique, especially with the author's exploration of dragon linguistics, languages, translations, and species descriptions.

Some others have pointed out that the main character can be insufferable at times, and I agree. She lived a very privileged life and often overlooked others. However, her journey to overcome that mindset was fantastic and very well executed. The side characters were also a major highlight, and I was really invested in them throughout the story. Their work and interactions felt very genuine.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read, and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves historical fantasy and dragons! Thank you so much to HarperCollins for gifting me this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I love a good fantasy with a unique plot. This one I can still remember a few weeks later. With a romance subplot, and the main character needing to work for the enemy to help her family or to put it all on the line against them, it was an adventure.

Between the dragon language, the dark academia, and the romance, there was a lot happening here. It was a quick read, easy to follow, but held a lot. I enjoyed the world built, and the relationships with dragons. Also, I know that dragons have been a popular focal point for fantasy novels these days, but I just loved how different this one was. Having their own secret language, and having to decode it? Something I never would’ve thought of.

A very fun book, and I can’t wait to follow along with this series!

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book, received from the author and publisher through NetGalley. However, all thoughts and views reflected are strictly my own opinions.

This book had so much more potential than it seemed to focus on, perhaps due to it being from Viv's perspective or perhaps leading up to a second book, but I was felt a little disappointed in how much seemed to be skipped over, especially the class system and the world outside betchly. The characters also seemed to be a bit limited, having their own lives but not really being conveyed as more than strangers, although again, that could have been due to Viv's perspective. Overall, this book was very well written and satisfied my yearn for dragons and some complex politics that actually matches the war setting. I also appreciate Viv for not being the typical protagonist and for having flaws,.

I don’t even know how to describe my disappointment. 3.5 stars for the WWII-esque vibes and the code breaking but the FMC was a bit insufferable….actually more than a bit. Maybe she was just stupid.

I don’t know y’all, I’m so bummed 🗣️

This is a debut historical fantasy about a world with dragons, rebellions, and heartbreaking love. It’s 1923 in the streets of London and dragons fly overhead as protesters line the streets demanding an end to the class system. Vivian Featherswallow is living in her second class “bubble.” She follows the rules, keeps her head down, and works hard. When her idol comes to dinner at her family home, Viv hopes to secure an internship studying dragon languages (she can already speak nine), but her life comes crashing down as her family is arrested for colluding with the rebels. Desperate to save her family, Viv makes a choice to release a dragon. By midnight, her actions have started a civil war.

This novel has dragons and bombs for a glimpse of steampunk. The story in this book goes in so many unexpected directions. Included in this novel is dystopian class segregation, individuals struggling against the oppressive government, espionage and modern war. A heavy list, and that’s not to say there isn’t fun.but It was a story that lingered for me after reading.this novel. As a daughter of refugees and linguists, Viv speaks several human and dragon tongues. Her love of language depicts it as more than words, but rather a family bond, a useful tool, and still an academic joy.

This book was so unique and it reminded me a little bit of Violet Evergarden and Divine Rivals but in a much more YA setting.

I thought the premise of this was pretty interesting. You already know, as the reader, that the rebels are probably the ones on the "right" side. I appreciated the realistic aspect of someone who is helping the government further oppress people and admits that she's a coward for doing so. Even when confronted with certain truths, she's still too comfortable to make the right decision until the very end.

The only reason this book is not five stars is only the fault of my own. I think I am growing out of YA books and even so, I enjoyed this read and I think many will probably rate it higher than I did.
I'd heard really great things about it and became curious when it was picked as Fairyloot's YA book. Overall a great read and would recommend!

Honestly it was just incredibly *incredibly* meh. Like it compared itself to Babel and for some reason I expected that excellence and when it failed to meet it I was somehow surprised.

Ok this is the best way I can sum this up LOTS of politics and corruption, with a rebellion brewing! Put into an urban fantasy post WW1 London, BUT one where dragons and humans coexist, in a dark academia setting.

Give the lead to a morally gray female that would do anything to protect her family, add a side of possible romance, a few feisty side characters, and mini dragons that deliver the mail (is that better than owls? Lol).

This is a strong well thought out start to what I hope is a wonderfully fulfilling series that in my opinion has MASS appeal even though it is said to be YA.

Have I been a bit vague – YES. Why? Because I really actually think you should just go read it without too much info (it adds a lot to the experience).

Thank you to netgalley for the ARC in return for my unbiased review.