Although this book started slow, and I almost stopped a few chapters in, I am glad that I stuck with it. This is a great new series for teens interested in dragons, languages, post-WWI Britain, or some combination of the three.

Although the book is being marketed as dark academia and enemies to lovers, I don't really think that it fits in either category. While parts of it are referential to other recent big hits, it stands on its own, and is certainly better written then some of its peers. It is also a little more mild on the romance, which makes it better for younger teens. The biggest content considerations are a few swear words and some violence.

Thanks Netgalley and publishers for the free e-arc in exchange for my honest opinion. While this doesn't top the list of my favorite books of the year, it is certainly a worthy addition to its genre.

Thank you to Net Galley for the arc.. This book has the perfect proportion of everything that makes up a goodfantasy book.
And is also set in past with a dystopian setting. It is 1923 London, and there are peace protests against establishing harmony between dragons and humans.
Peaked your interest, right?
On one hand you see the protagonists quest, and is awesome how the author has used the concept of languages and translation in the story - unparalleled, and extraordinary. On the other side, is a backdrop which is political, and shows n era where media is controlled, there's widespread propaganda. The author has subtly intertwined so many paradoxical concepts, that it makes up for a great narrative.

It may be a children's book, but it's not only a children's book.

rating - 4.5

“The learning of languages—and translation in particular—is about giving a voice to people, to species and countries who have yet to be heard by the world. To learn nothing but human tongues would be to turn in on ourselves, would be like erasing the dragons and their history.”

I’m a simple person: describe a book as "dark academia," and it’s on my TBR in an instant. I’ve always been drawn to books with academic settings, dating back to my middle-grade days and my obsession with the classic magic school trope, so when I read my first dark academia book, I was hooked. Dark academia has become one of my favorite subgenres, not just because of its academic settings or vibes, but because of the richness and complexity of the themes presented.

I've noticed an issue happening a lot lately, especially with YA books: many so called "dark academia" books are NOT dark academia. In my opinion, there is a difference between the dark academia aesthetic/style and the subgenre that people read, and I think many books coming out recently fall into the former category. Though I do enjoy both types of books, I wish publishers wouldn’t treat every campus story as synonymous with dark academia.

A Language of Dragons had the potential to explore dark academia themes, but it doesn’t fully commit to them. It touches on themes similar to Babel like class, language, rebellion, and whether translations require sacrifice, but leans into being a standard YA fantasy with a campus-like setting (the setting isn’t actually a school, it’s like one though), which is fine in its own right. The problem, is that publishers take any trending phrase on social media and immediately run with it without a second thought. In A Language of Dragons, it’s more than just dark academia that is used as a buzzword for marketing (ex: enemies to lovers and slow burn - There is not a HINT of enemies or even hate to love between the characters and I’m so confused why the blurb says this.) I don’t think this is a fault with the content of the book itself, and hey, I can’t even blame the author for marketing her book in such a way. This is entirely a problem with the BookTok era of publishing, where a potential viral book is more important than anything.

My little rant aside, I still found A Language of Dragons highly entertaining, at least for a significant chunk of the book. Take it from someone who hardly read thirty pages in the span of four months: you will fly through this book. If you’re in a reading slump or need a quick, exciting book to help you meet your reading goal, A Language of Dragons is an excellent choice. It demands your attention from the very beginning and keeps the momentum going until the end. I feel like this is rare nowadays. The action begins on page one and you don’t have to slog through heaps of dense worldbuilding or complicated names. The writing is accessible, the pacing is tight, if not a little disjointed, and the side characters and plot are fun and engaging.

Many YA books nowadays feel more catered to an adult or crossover audience, and I appreciate that A Language of Dragons stays true to its intended audience. I think that teens who are new to political/revolution-inspired fantasies will really enjoy this book. If you’re already familiar with such themes in books, though, I think you’ll already know how the story panes out, and might not get much out of it.

Although I liked the side characters, the main character, Viv, is a difficult character to connect to. I wish Marquis, my star of the show, was the main character instead, or at the very least, we got to read from his perspective. Williamson even acknowledges Viv in her author’s note saying that, “For all her good intentions, loyalty, and ambition, she is selfish, impatient, and blinded by privilege.” Knowing this, however, didn’t make Viv any easier to like. I’m all for complex and realistic characters, but Viv was a whole other level of insufferable. And yes, that is precisely the point of her character, I understand, but that doesn’t mean I need to enjoy her.

Early on, it is revealed that Viv’s parents joined the rebellion, and she couldn’t comprehend why they could do such a thing, and sees it as a betrayal. Yet, ironically, her entire motivation for the role she is given is done supposedly “for her family.” She frames the reason why she needs to solve the code for them and for her sister’s future, but she hardly considers why her parents might have chosen to “switch sides.” She is siding with a cause that her own parents did not support. For most of the book, she refuses to challenge her worldview, even when told by others about the clear prejudices embedded in the Peace Agreement. Viv’s character arc isn’t particularly satisfying, though. While her opinions grow by the end, I feel they come too late, and even then, it feels incomplete. That said, I do applaud Williamson for crafting such a timely and relevant character. Viv is firm in her beliefs, of the propaganda she’s been fed by her government, and clings onto these comforting lies because challenging them would mean deconstructing the basis of her entire identity and what she has been raised to believe. She doesn’t begin to care about the flaws in her government until they impact her directly. We see this exact dynamic playing out in the world today and throughout history, where people turn a blind eye to injustices in the world until they’re impacted, which gives Viv’s character some merit, though it doesn’t make me like her more.

One of my biggest frustrations with Viv, aside from her personality, is how she is easily forgiven by another character after doing something harmful. If I were thar character, I don’t think I could ever forgive her. It felt like too much of a big deal to brush aside, and I didn’t think Viv being forgiven felt very deserved.

Overall, A Language of Dragons is a conflicting book. On one hand, this book ended my months-long reading slump and I had a fun time reading a good chunk of this book. On the other hand, Viv’s character ruined the experience for me. I didn’t mention this, and I don’t want to go too into depth, but I found some of the revelations Viv had with her code pretty obvious and unsurprising, even as someone who knows nothing about linguistics. Also, the book felt too similar to another book (I don’t want to name it because it would be a major spoiler), and so I feel like for a book with such an interesting, unique topic, it felt too familiar. I can see why some readers might love this book, and I might be in the minority in this one, but unfortunately, I didn’t love this. A Language of Dragons presents a unique idea, but ultimately falls flat.

*Bookstagram post pending* This book was a slow burn start for me, but the ending had me wishing I could have book two immediately. The story starts off quickly with a dramatic shift for our main character Viv. Until I would say about the 60-70% mark, the book is relatively slow as the world is built and we get to know the characters. The last 30-40% or so of the book was a sprint to the end as everything people have been working towards (or so they think) comes to a head.

Viv is a truly flawed main character. She has made choices many would say you would never do, but she could be considered a true representation of what can occur when a person feels like they have no other option. It took awhile for me to enjoy her character because inherently she makes choices I would like to think I would also never make. Her growth in the book is slow, and when she finally starts to understand those around her, a lot changes in a short time.

Atlas as a side character and love interest was good, but I wish we could have seen much more. For example, maybe less Ralph? I get he is evil, and I am not looking for a redemption arc for him lol.

Honestly, my biggest annoyance with this book is the secret Viv is holding regarding her friend Sophie. Since it is hinted at so heavily during most of the story, when the reveal finally occured it did not have a big impact for me. Sophie was an okay character.

I think for me I care about this book and what will occur not necessarily because of the characters, but I think the world itself is very interesting. I just don't feel very connected to them despite everything they endured.

Thanks to NetGalley for this eARC :’)

4.5 🌟 (rounded up)

WOW. Dragons. Politics. War. This book was amazing! Atlas and Marquis are my favs. Viv was honestly a bit insufferable but it worked for me.

The ending had me shed a little tear (and if you know me, it’s hard to get me to cry reading a book!).

This book genuinely had me fully immersed from the start.
The characters are flawed but still enjoyable. And the dragons and their language systems are so interesting.
I wish the character appearances were described a bit more, but it leaves more room for imagination I suppose.
I also wish we saw more development of the relationship the fmc forms with another character.
But overall I feel this book was well written and I very much enjoyed it

DNF @ 25%

I loved the idea of this book but unfortunately, the FMC started to become insufferable to me. I could not bear to see Sophie's name or anything closely resembling or seemingly related to Sophie as it resulted in the FMC telling us how she did something terrible to ruin Sophie's life. I wanted her to stop complaining about it and show me she was actively trying to fix what she did, if she truly felt that distraught over it. Other than that, I truly enjoyed the plot and the premise of the story but I could not bring myself to keep reading.

(I may pick this back up at a later time but as it is now, Viv's character is unbearable to read).

This was a fun read
I was a little disappointed by the romance subplot but that didn't stop me from enjoying the overall plot. I loved the dragons and the whole language concept of it
3.5 Stars
Will look forward to the next one

I would give 3.5 stars but think it’s a better read than 3 stars so I am inclined to upgrade to 4 stars though I admit this is generous. The setup is intriguing and the world feels flushed out with the history of the dragons and introduction of the dragon languages but I found the main character not that interesting and didn’t believe in her character journey in the final third of the book. I liked the secondary characters but the lead was bland. This very clearly felt like an opening to a larger story so I think the series has potential. I do plan to pick up the sequel despite these reservations.

This young adult novel blends historical fiction with fantasy, and I’m here for it! If I'm being honest, the author had me at the mention of dragons. 🗡️🐲

The story revolves around a war involving dragons and young linguistic experts who are desperate to decode the dragon language for an advantage in the conflict. It is surely an addictive, dark academic tale, that features a (very) slow-burn romance and morally gray, flawed yet lovable characters. This book was right up my alley. I loved every bit of the buildup, I enjoyed the plot, the characters, and of course, the dragons.

This is so close to being a five-star book but it fell flat in the high-tension moments. Just a little bit more and some of the scenes could have been epic. The other bit that I didn't love was the inconclusive ending. My understanding was that this is a single/standalone book and the way it ended just wasn't for me. However, if this is meant to be a duology or a series, then I could perhaps understand the cliffhanger.

Regardless, a huge thank you to HarperCollins for providing me with a copy of this e-arc. The publication date is set for January 07, 2025, and I still highly recommend this book to my fantasy lovers.

As always, all thoughts are my own. ✨🖤 Can't wait to share what I think with you all!! xx

I really enjoyed this book. It felt easy to follow along with plot wise and the characters were likable. Very interesting storyline. I have no read many books with dragons so I can’t compare it to the other ones out there. But a very nice YA fantasy. Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

A Language of Dragons by S. F. Williamson is a first person-POV YA historical fantasy. In this alternative history, dragons walk amongst humans and have entered a shaky peace agreement with Britain after the Massacre of Bulgaria which wiped out most Bulgarian humans. Viv is the daughter of a Bulgarian mother and a British father living in London in 1923 in a restrictive class system that has dangerous consequences for those who fall into the Third Class. When her parents are revealed to be rebels, Viv releases a dragon in exchange for them burning down the prime minister’s home.

The class system is going to be familiar to most readers who are aware of the upper, middle, lower class system. The Third Class has very few protections or opportunities and it is extremely difficult to rise into the Second Class. Viv’s family is Second Class and her parents have done whatever they deemed necessary to keep their children from being demoted, including physical punishments for poor grades which could lead to eventual demotion. The First Class has the most protections, but even they are at risk of falling a class lower and almost everyone in the First Class is implied to be white with little upward movement for people of color beyond Second Class.

Viv’s strongest platonic relationships are between her and her younger sister, Ursa, her best friend, Sophie, and her cousin Marquis. There is very little that Viv wouldn’t do for Ursa, including possibly betraying her ideals or sacrificing herself. We learn early on that Viv betrayed Sophie, sending her friend into the Third Class from the Second, something that eats at Viv constantly but what makes it worse is that Sophie is unaware of what Viv did. Marquis is half-American and believes in a lot of the ideals of the rebels due to his mother’s influence. Like with Ursa, Viv would do anything necessary to save Marquis but because he is older and has more autonomy than Ursa, he can also take care of himself and moves fairly independently from Viv’s plans.

Viv’s love interest is Atlas, a Third Class priest-in-training who is tasked with zoology in the war effort. Viv doesn’t learn exactly what this means until later as she is part of the team of codebreakers, focused on deciphering dragon echolocation, a job she is uniquely prepared to do due to her high aptitude for dragon languages. Viv’s job is intertwined with Atlas as they’re both forced to work on a team with Marquis, Sophie, and several others to defeat the dragons attacking England or else they will be sent back to the situation they were pulled out of, which, for some of them, means death. Atlas’ ideals and compassion for others is constantly at odds with Viv’s desire to save her sister, Marquis, and parents no matter the cost, but he sees past her drive to find her desire to do the right thing and she finds in him someone who refuses to bend his convictions: breaking the class system down brick by brick and a world of peace between humans and dragons.

Content warning for mentions of child abuse, torture, and child death

I would recommend this to fans of YA fantasy that like excerpts that give details of worldbuilding, readers looking for a historical fantasy focused on class warfare, and those who love fantasy that focuses on linguistics

I wanted to love this book and hate that I couldn’t get into it. The writing is very well done and the linguistics are very interesting and I would love to read more of that, unfortunately the main character just made it unbearable to read and the book itself was very uneventful. I liked a few of the side characters and want more of the dragons but I just don’t think I can read anymore of the main characters thoughts.

Vivienne Featherswallow is a polyglot in A Language of Dragons by S. F. Williamson. Being a polyglot in London in 1923 is a hard place to be. It is a place where dragons were in the air in the past, but no more. After dragons rose up against the people of Bulgaria and killed most of the Bulgarians, they are bound by a peace agreement which no longer allows dragons and humans to coexist.

Viv is able to speak many languages including a few dragon tongues, even though she has very little exposure to actual dragons. She finds her skills necessary when her parents are jailed for being rebels, or people who think the human/dragon peace agreement needs to be dismantled. Viv is shocked. She knows there is a mistake, her uncle and cousin live in their home and her uncle is also arrested. Viv and her cousin are taken to a place called Bletchley Park where they will be held until they can break the “code” the dragons are using to communicate. This code leaves out humans, even the ones who can speak their language. If Viv and her cousin can interpret the “code” and give it to the government, they will be freed and so will their parents.

It seems they have been given the impossible task and will become food for dragons. They need to work quickly and they need to find the answers before the other kids who are also being held. It becomes a Hunger Games situation where they could be killed by one of the others, it is every man/woman for him/herself.

A Language of Dragons is a story of class system non-function, unfairness abounds. Viv is determined to keep her place in her class but at what cost?

At first I wasn’t sure about it. But I greatly appreciate the author’s note about the “morally grey-ness” of the FMC because there were moments where I wanted to shout at her. But also there are moments where I get it. I think there are a lot of elements to this books that are relevant to what is going on today.: prejudice, classism, government corruption, etc. Scary how impeccable the timing of this books release is honestly.

I simply must have the sequel!

the language of dragons by s f williamson

im going to be mean if you liked this book and get your feelings hurt scroll please!

publishers, please stop with the dragons. this is coming from a dragon lover x10 and I am sick of what we are publishing right now. this is hot garbage and you now it. it’s lazy editing, lazy marketing, lazy content that you KNOW will sell if you put some pretty sprayed edges and A PINK SPARKLY DRAGON!! on it and you should be ashamed to be pumping out trash like this especially when it is clearly TRYING to eek out some semblance of a meaning and political nuance to young impressionable readers who want it. is this truly what we have now? hand holding through the plot that clearly is trying to take a political stance but then waffles our FMC back and forth for….what? what exactly? page length? development? certainly not to show that good and evil is no so clear cut because the villains in this are CARTOONISH. nuance? who gives a shit! slap a dragon and some other hot buzz words in the synopsis and spray the edges and it’ll sell!

unreal anyways now onto the actual book itself

the first 10 minutes of narnia, babel, and the natural history of dragons. oh and forth wing because yall LOOOOVE to comp one of the worst fantasy books of all time but whatever!

10% check in. i’m having a hard time believing a teen girl setting 1 ‘prisoner of war’ free would start a civil war but go off?
I also always find it weird when we have dragons that are in a way subservient or less than humans bc bitch that’s a huge fire breathing animal? and you have soft flammable flesh, like we don’t stand a chance but then I also think maybe we have that parallel bc ‘we the people’ have power against the elected officials bc we put them there, so that MIGHT be what the author is trying to establish or I might be over intellectualizing it (spoiler to you, you are giving WAY too much credit here girl)

also why would they trust a group of ‘misfits’ to win the war??? i’m

25% check in and folks, I hate to say it but this FMC sucks ass. she’s very dumb, and not like ‘so sheltered so obviously she wouldn’t know about xyz’ because that would be her being ignorant. and she’s just straight up dumb. also the synopsis is a HUGE lie and marketing ploy this is not in anyway a ‘dark academia’ setting. there are in a military camp essentially. also where are the dragons?

more on my point above, SPOILER only ‘Brittania’ have this so called peace agreement and literally every other place in the world (and I mean literally bc it’s said explicitly in the text) is chill with dragons.

why so much emphasis on her love interest being a priest in training ew? pls ….stop. also romance? chemistry? don’t know it! next!

50% update and hi! i’m hating this! WHERE. ARE. THE. DRAGONS. PLEASE. I BEG.

75% damn so this bitch is dumb and can’t make a choice to save her (or her families) life huh? yall really want me to hate women like this that’s terrible
but also maybe it’s bc she is 17? and like I was also a 17 year old girl once and if I had to make a decision like that I too would waffle but can we make it more elegant? or even just written in a way that doesn’t make me want to punch a 17 year old??? that makes ME the bad guy cmon

this was so overwhelming predictable and unnecessary. if you are trying to write about heavy themes like class, education, war, political systems, etc., can you please do it well or at least make some portion of your characters or plot interesting? is this so hard to ask from authors and publishers I mean seriously. ALSO note to publishers, PLEASE stop fully lying in your synopsis’ because dark academia where? babel comp where? hunger games comp where? where? please point it out and i’ll admit my wrongs but so far the most disappointing thing you’ll read in 2025 is right here!

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the ARC

I really enjoyed this one. The separation of and the politics between dragon and human were intriguing. The FMC is a bit naive and flawed in the beginning but she learns and grows through the book when she is forced to question what she believes and knows as new information is presented to her.

This was an easy read that kept me intrigued and reading on. Will definitely be reading the next one to see what happens next and would definitely recommend if you like dragons and stories that include a bit of rebellion against a corrupt government. Thanks to NetGalley for the arc.

This book was very well written. I thought the storyline was very different from anything I have read recently and unique. The beginning and end were really good and kept my interest. Parts of the middle slowed down a lot for my taste. But overall, I really enjoyed the story. If I second book is coming I will definitely be reading it. I recommend this if you like historical fantasy, political stories, and anything with dragons.

Thank you Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books for the digital arc in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 Great start. The author establishes the world well. With what we know of history and WWI usage of secret codes and languages, we understand the inspiration. The main character speaks a lot of languages, including the Dragons'. She is clever enough to understand more than decoding a secret one. Evil (human) forces will threaten her family to get what they want from the dragons. She accepts to work for them until she understands the weight of her actions and consequences that can do true harm. 

War, prejudice, lack of equality, language, love interest, new friendships, protecting siblings and family, morally grey main character, academy vibes, but also steampunkish. Parallel Earth, WWI, love for languages.

Ps. Awesome pink dragon.

I think Viv, the main character, is going to be polarizing for people. She is selfish (even admits that), narrow minded, and naive (willfully naive). I admit that by about 70% through the book I was starting to become annoyed with her because she is WILLFULLY naive. Like, girl, I understand where you're coming from, but REALLY?! On the other hand, though, I thought it was kind of refreshing that a SEVENTEEN YEAR OLD is actually not the perfect heroine. She's focused on her family and not the "greater good." She doesn't make all the "correct" "hard" decisions. She makes ones that are impulsive (in ways) that she thinks will save her family. She doesn't care about the greater good or about what's happening in the world beyond how it affects her family. Honestly, this is SUCH an honest reaction for a 17yo that I liked it. We get so many of these fantasy books where the teenagers are making the hard decisions, but they're all the CORRECT ones. They don't make wrong turns for the most part and somehow fall into the hands of the "good guys" and goes with it. In this case, Viv, ends up with the "bad" people and has to learn there is a greater good she's ignoring despite the fact she truly doesn't agree with the position she's in.

I enjoyed the linguistics we get from Viv and the dragons (the title of the book). I thought it was interesting and different, especially how we learn language is important to identity. It sometimes got a little tedious for me, but it was an interesting take. This book's atmosphere, though, is very much 1920's World War 1 England feeling. We've got dragons instead of planes and bombs, but it has a very strong war times feeling to the entire book and I think the language "code breaking" was an interesting thing.

With that said, this book is a lot about privilege since everyone is put into a 3 class system and it's partially why the rebellion starts. It's about Viv learning her ambition, fear, and naiveté have consequences. It's about learning that there are bigger things than our immediate worlds.

I am definitely looking forward to the next book to see what happens!