Thank you to Tor for an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

What a wonderful fantasy novella! I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys short fantasy reads and dragons. I flew through this book, and it was definitely worth the read!

Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame follows Yeva, the masked guildknight of Mithrandon, who is charged with protecting the kingdom from dragons. When the legendary dragon-slayer is sent to the court of the neighboring kingdom of Quanbao in search of a dragon, she is forced to question the values instilled in her by her own kingdom and the life she has led up until that point.

Yeva is an interesting character with a serious moral/internal conflict. As a dragon-slayer, her whole life has been focused on riding the kingdom of the creatures. But when she is sent to Quanbao by her emperor, where dragons are worshipped, she begins to question her life's mission. She is also conflicted over how much of herself to show to the world, having been wearing a mask for the past decade. Seeing both of these conflicts play out throughout the story while understanding her reasons for why she was the way that she was a driving and engaging plot of the story. Aside from her conflict, Yeva's relationship with Sookhee was also a beautiful part of this story.

This book was not very plot heavy, though that is not to say that there was not external conflict that was significant to the story, In my opinion, a large part of what drove the story was Yeva's internal conflict over who she was and who she could become. There were parts that I would have liked to have been fleshed out a bit more, but this was a novella, so that's not really a serious critic.

I loved the narrative style. I enjoyed the feeling of being told a story. I felt like I was a kid and someone was telling me a legend. Yeva was a fascinating character and her relationship with the girl-king was well developed. The story arc made sense and it showed that the players in political games are not always black and white, good or evil. But merely pawns themselves. Yeva's vulernability was beautifully shown.

A fast read with rich medieval Asian-inspired setting and details. The mystery to me was pretty predictable, but that also made me strive to finish much faster to see if the end result.

The end wrapped up pretty quickly for how slow the overall pace was and I would've liked a little more detailed build up in the romance, but overall I found it satisfactory.

an honest arc review ♡

This book was a beautiful book that read like a fairytale. I could easily see this being adapted onto the screen. It opened so strong, with beautiful prose that drew me into the book and captivated me from the first page. That stunning prose continued throughout the story. I also really liked our main character. She was very complex, with her dual attachment and resentment to her uniform. She had amazing development learning to be more than what the Sun Empire trained her to be. The ending for her was so amazing and perfect. However, I struggled a bit with the plot and world building, or really the lack thereof of both. I found the plot very predictable, and wanted more of a dramatic climax. I also wanted to better understand Yeva’s magic better, and the politics of Quanboa since Lady Sookhee was making some interesting changes. I think I just wanted the book to be longer and go into these topics deeper. The romance could have also used more time to develop. But overall this was a very enjoyable novella and I recommend it.

Thanks to Tor and Netgalley for the eARC of this book.

Unfortunately this one did not work for me at all. It is told like a story. I didn’t feel like I was actually IN the book, but instead that some storyteller somewhere was telling me this tale. And thus I didn’t feel connected at all to the story nor the characters.

And ultimately, this story was boring. A girl leaves her home to become a dragon slayer. She grows up, then leaves her kingdom to meet a girl-king from the neighboring kingdom. She falls in love there and discovers an incredibly obvious secret of the girl-king that I guessed before I even STARTED the book because of the cover. 😂

That’s it. That’s the whole novella. I saved you reading 176 pages! :)

3.75

For this being a short novel, it was really able to pack a punch. The narrative structure was very interesting, you find very few examples of successful writing in this point of view and writing structure. This was able to touch on some important themes, especially focused on identity. I liked the character’s allegory for transformation literally personified by the removal of a suit of armor. I also love the subtle critiques of gender norms, especially the fact that there was a matrilineal ruling structure and the author intentionally chose to use the title of king. Faced paced and enjoyable, my only real critique is that I wished it was longer!


Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest revive

Overall Rating: 3.5 / 5 stars

If you enjoyed Peter S. Beagle’s “I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons” for its nostalgic, storybook-style prose…
If you enjoyed Katrina Kwon’s “The Last Dragon of the East” for its dragon lore…
Or if you’re looking for a quick standalone read that showcases women in roles of power, you should try this out!

Plot -

"Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame" is a queer fantasy novella that centers on Yeva, a legendary dragon slayer. At a young age, a small dragon enters Yeva’s family’s house, and Yeva slays the dragon to protect her sister. Given her newly found aptitudes, Yeva immediately relocates to start training to become a masked guildknight.

Over a decade later, Yeva established herself as a formidable dragon slayer and is sent to Quanbao to investigate rumors of a hidden dragon. Once in Quanbao, Yeva meets Lady Sookhee, the kingdom’s monarch, and a relationship begins to form between the two. After being exposed to the culture of Quanbao, Yeva and must reconcile her past, her duty, and her newfound feelings for Lady Sookhee.

Thoughts -

I really enjoyed the quest-style journey of Yeva, the showcasing of women in powerful roles, and the mystery-driven plot of the story.

I do feel the short length of the novella led to main story elements being a bit under-developed. I found myself wanting to learn more about Yeva’s time as a guildknight, and I wished for more depth and development from the romantic subplot.

It really is hard to write a fantasy novella, because the worldbuilding and pacing suffers at the hands of the story's shortened page count. It's a shame, really, because the political landscape and mythology in this world feels so interesting, and I wish the book was novel-length so it could delve deeper into it.

The story itself was enjoyable, at least. I found the storyteller angle to the prose to be charming, and Yeva's image as the terrifying knight slayer contrasting against her anxious, awkward personality was clever. The main romance between her and Sookhee had its sweet romance but a lot of the development was explained away, the passage of time shortened to a handful of pages, rather than shown because, again, of the limited page count.

I also saw the twist/climax miles away. While this in itself isn't necessarily a bad thing, nothing else was done by the end that amazed me or anything.

All in all, this was good, but it left me wanting so much more.

I had fun with this one! It was a lot more romance than actual dragon slaying, but despite that, I still enjoyed it. And I'm saying this as a romance hater.

The worldbuilding and characterization for the FMC, Yeva, was absolutely beautiful. So many delicious little details for a novella that I wanted so much more. It was like going to a pastry shop in a city you've never been to and picking out all the little treats that you want. Good stuff. I was mesmerized.

Since it's a novella, you really have to suspend your disbelief and maybe throw logic aside to fully enjoy this story. I had several questions of this nature. Like why didn't they teach Yeva the language before they sent her to Quanbao? Since they're elite warriors, they should have that in their budget. Or why was the girl-king spending her time teaching Yeva the language? Didn't she have a kingdom to rule?

Anyway.

While the author did lose me at the romance portion, the climax and plot twist were really satisfying. And action filled! We finally got the promise of the premise and I was here for it.

I would absolutely love to read more from this world. There's so much potential to unlock here.

Thank you to Tordotcom and NetGalley for this arc.

Thank you to Tordotcompub / Tor Publishing Group for a chance to read an arc this book! 🖤

5⭐️ the inside is just as beautiful and fascinating as the cover! | tropes: sapphic novella, dragons + knights | digital

Overall Thoughts 💭:
I devoured this book in one day and feel like that's the best way to enjoy it. I loved how the prologue set the themes of the story up. I could see some people viewing it as heavy-handed but I feel like it made the story come full circle. The world-building was interesting. Even though it was a novella, I felt like the world and the side characters felt three-dimensional and fleshed out. I loved Yeva, like deeply. I think my own experiences growing up in predominately white spaces made me empathize with her from the jump. Yeva's blood from her Father being this tool that makes her a guildknight and therefore worthy while her mother's blood being what makes those around her cruel to her even as she tries to assimilate into their language and world. I really empathized with her desire to fit in and finally be accepted as her job as a guildknight becomes her whole identity. I feel like a pillar for nationalism is uniformity and she fell right into that. I loved seeing how her arrival to Quanboa changes her. Lady Sookhee was a different then I expected her to be in the best way. I thought she would be more secretive but she was so kind and allowed Yeva to break down her walls and be free to be a person. The climax and secrets revealed on this story were a little predicable but still made my heart race because I didn't truly know what Yeva was going to do and that's what made the story a real five star for me! I need to read more from Neon Yang! Their other novellas much be as queer and fun as this one!

This is just a solid fantasy. Perfectly paced with the best balance of world building I’ve seen in a long time. I was suspicious about the length of the book but this was executed so well, I’m genuinely impressed.

A guildknight and her unerring loyalty to the empire is sent on a different kind of dragon hunting quest than normal. On it she finds more than a dragon.. she finds herself and discovers what life can really be when lived freely.

Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame may have a title longer than it's page count but trust me when I say this is not a book to miss! Sitting a little under 200 pages it still weaves a beautiful story of finding one's self. I was cheering for Yeva as she slowly worked through the years of programing that learning to be and then being a guildknight put her through. Seeing her personality come through was wonderful!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will be adding the authors other books to my tbr.

I was a little worried during the long-winded intro, but I should know better by now (this isn’t my first Neon Yang novella, after all). Yeva was a fantastic main character, torn between the forced loyalty to a martial empire that has conquered nations of people who look like her and warm memories of a childhood she was forced to lock away for her own survival. Her deep-seated shame, the protection of her armor that swallows everything that reveals her to be woman, other, soft, expressive, and full of emotions the empire wouldn’t approve of.

Of course the main “twist” cannot be unexpected, but Yang does a great job of building Yeva’s undoing in a way that is tender and respectful of her complex background. All within a novella!

The fiercely independent nation of Quanbao is isolated, reclusive, and something of a mystery to the rest of the world. It is rumored that there, dragons are not feared but instead loved and worshiped. Yeva is perhaps a strange emissary to these people. Not only because their face has never been seen in public, but because they are a hero born to a birthright that makes them suited for their task—hunting dragons.

I really enjoyed this queer, Asian-inspired fantasy novella. It was very poetically written with some beautiful turns of phrase that I'm not supposed to quote because this was an unedited eARC for review, but I highlighted quite a few passages where the writing really struck me. This is a story about regret, longing, loneliness, and love, and I really enjoyed the ending of the story. Neon Yang (they/ them) is a queer non- binary author based in the UK and I have been actively seeking out more LGBTQ+ authors in my reading.

My only thing was I wish it was longer. I love novellas, I love short stories, I rarely advocate for 500+ page books. And this was wonderful, but I absolutely could have seen this entire book as a 500+ page epic fantasy. I would have loved to learn more, particularly about Yeva's mother, but about both of her parents' pasts. I also would have liked more information about the Emperor and the magic system that was Yeva's birthright. There were so many great ideas introduced and I'm not sure 170 pages was quite enough to really delve into all of them. But I did love Yeva and Sookhee and I was glad that I got to read this story.

Thank you so much to Neon Yang, Tor, and NetGalley for the free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Whimsical and like a piece of folklore, “Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame” is an enthralling and quick novella featuring everything you need: dragons, queer knights, and a bit of magic.

While I enjoyed reading this and am a fan of the fairytale-esque feel of the story, I found the main climax/twist to be very predictable so it made for a less invoking story. I love the story around the twist, but because I knew where it was heading completely, I felt like the climax had little impact and the aftermath was also very tame and easy to guess.

There were times too the author seemed to repeat themselves in their prose, like they forgot they had already reminded us/told us of a detail (though maybe this will be corrected in the final version). For instance, we get a short backstory on how the MC got her dog, and then, in a chapter or two later, we get the story again. Even though it’s only like a sentence, because it’s a novella it really stands out. There was another part like this later in the novella where the MC is basically noting how to recognize someone because of a certain characteristic, and then the next chapter also says this similar realization but twice, which feels repetitive. Minor things that are easy to fix, but when you want to write a novella and everything is moving quickly, every sentence matters.

But yes this story moves very quickly, meaning I felt like more of the characters could’ve built their relationships, but at the same time, this also adds to the fairytale feel of the story. I was hungry for more character development and world-building, speaking to the intrigue the story provides, but alas it is a novella so we are tight on space.

We love sapphic Mandalorian-like characters though, give me more!

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I was sold immediately by the synopsis, but unfortunately something about it just didn’t quite make it all the way in novella format. Perhaps it was the first person present tense or the massive time jump in the plot. I was hooked on the first few pages, where Yeva kills her first dragon but is still severely injured. But once she’s taken to the city of her mother’s birth, the plot seems to flit intriguingly but never quite land.

I was searching for more character development from Yeva - I was craving to see her grow over time - rather than it being sped over in favour of the plot. Past that point, what I enjoyed reading the most was Yeva’s growing connection with Lady Sookhee, her challenges, and changes in point of view, and even then, I would have loved to have seen it explored more in the pages of a full length novel.

I almost wonder how this book would stand if the plot began simply when she is already known as a legendary dragon hunter, with maybe a flashback to the moment she killed her first dragon - showing that she wasn’t perfect from the start, that she was wounded in her first and awkward attempt. I think then the plot would have been much tighter with the focus of her slowly changing as she spends time with Lady Sookhee, instead of promising more than what a novella has the space to give.

I enjoyed myself with this novella, but I could see the sparkles of something amazing in the distance and the story simply left me craving more.

*I received an eARC from NetGalley, Tor Publishing Group, & Tordotcom. All opinions are my own*

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was a quicker read, but one that was written in a way that does not feel lacking. I got to see the character change and build relationships without it feeling rushed. I admit I did want to strangle the main character near the end of the book, but that just added to their charm. I commend Neon Yang for this stellar book and beg for a sequel if there is not already one in the works!!

<i>First, a thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an eARC of this book.</i>

We are truly in the era of queer fantasy and I am living for it.

I am also a fan of these novellas that are coming out nowadays, like [book:The Fireborne Blade|195791340] & [book:The Dead Cat Tail Assassins|127305606]. While I also love a book that's got hundreds of pages of intrigue and content... It's also nice to have a lil break and have something short and sweet, ya know?

I really enjoyed this book. I love anything with flowery prose and I enjoy a good redemption arc.

My only complaint - and it isn't even a complaint really, since I didn't mind - is... we all knew, right? Like right away? As soon as Yeva got there? ... Right?

I guess that part of this is playing with the idea of myth and legend so for that, it makes sense since this is a classic trope, but still... The fact that Yeva hadn't considered until basically the end made me shake my head a little.

This is my first experience with Yang's work, and I look forward to reading more in the future!

Sapphic love, lady knights, and dragons? Say no more—I’m all in. Unsurprisingly, I loved this novella.

The story follows Yeva, a devoted lady knight who takes her duty so seriously that she refuses to remove her armor while out in the world. When she travels to an unfamiliar kingdom, she meets Lady Sookhee, and their connection begins to challenge the rigid life Yeva has built for herself. As secrets unravel, so does the careful control she’s maintained for so long.

The writing in this novella is breathtaking. The storytelling is stunning, and the novella format was the perfect choice for this tale—every detail feels deliberate and meaningful. Also, I have to mention the cover because wow. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Also, it is rare that I find an ending so fitting and perfect for the story but the ending of Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame was perfection

Huge thanks to Tordotcom for the advanced physical ARC and e-ARC!

3.75⭐️

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.


I started this novella with sky-high expectations, mainly because the cover is absolutely STUNNING.

It gives off a retro fantasy vibe, reminiscent of classic tales featuring knights in shining armor and dragon-slaying adventures. But here’a how Neon Yang made it different, we have an Asian female lead and a sapphic romance, adding a fresh and captivating layer to the story. I was so happy to read a fantasy with a FMC that looks like me.

The writing is incredibly easy to digest, making it a smooth and enjoyable read. The opening hooked me immediately, starting off with a strong and engaging narrative. However, as the story progressed, it became quite predictable—though this might be partly due to the super high expectations I had going in.

Overall, I still found it enjoyable. At its core, the story carries a meaningful message about stepping out of your comfort zone, embracing self-discovery, and learning to feel comfortable in your own skin. It’s about finding people who accept you for who you truly are, not just for what you can do. A heartfelt and uplifting read, despite its predictability.