The moment I saw even the barest scrap of info on this book, I was vibrating with excitement. Sapphic dragon book! Sapphic dragon book! Those are the only words I need to hear to try out a book. And when the cover was released? Woah. Those are some great vibes. My biggest worry was the YA categorization. My experiences with YA have been declining in recent years, and while some of that might be the books in question, I also just think I’m getting old. Fortunately for me, this is way more of an upper YA book, borderline adult book. If we had a proper new adult category, I’d say this falls under that umbrella. Both characters are considered adults in their societies, but the adult responsibilities they’re taking on in this book are new to them.

With that out of the way, I’m here to say: this book lived up to the hype I made up in my mind (lol). Kirek, my beloved! (She’s the Lady Dragon of the title.) Samansa, the other main character of this story, was great too, but Kirek is everything I want from a character that isn’t human. Namely: she doesn’t act human! It’s such a low bar for fantasy worldbuilding to hit, but everyone just wants to be lazy and write inhuman societies that are either barely different from our own or are different yet the people in them still act like humans (except maybe are extra “snobbish” — looking at you Dull Book About Fae Courts #9000). Lady Dragon does not torture me in this way and instead creates a society of dragons that is wonderfully unique and alien, which carries into how the dragons are characterized.

One of the comp titles of this book is Seraphina, and the moment we met Kirek, I understood exactly why. It’s not that dragon society in this book mirrors that in Seraphina’s (a significant difference is that every dragon is female), but that like in Seraphina, dragons aren’t just “human-lite” — they feel significantly culturally different from humans in ways that can be outright repugnant to human morality. Beautiful! More of this, please (lol). But seriously — it’s such a relief when a book asks you to think. An early example of this is being told Kirek is expected to kill her mother to ascend to the throne. Samansa is deeply disturbed by this; she loves her mother and can’t imagine ever killing her. She wonders what this means for Kirek’s relationship with her mother: do mother and daughter hate each other? Is Kirek’s mother evil and brutal? The answer is a definition of love that humans could never follow, but it’s one that makes sense for dragons and is written with surprising empathy. You do not feel like dragons are “wrong” for their beliefs. Samansa doesn’t swoop in and “reform” dragon society. She, like the reader, is forced to engage with dragons as they are and learn to see the beauty and logic of a very different society.

Speaking of dragon society, the big difference you learn immediately (which I referenced earlier) is that all dragons are women. And let me tell you, it’s a big reason this book isn’t just a sapphic book, but a queer book. The gender shit happening in here is terrific. Dragons are women according to humans, but what does that mean for dragons? How do you define what it means to be a woman when there’s nothing else you can be? How do those dragons then interact with a (relatively) patriarchal society? These are all ideas that get explored in the story in a really organic way. There’s a moment with a minor human character who is trans that I tensed up at (not being sure what to expect from it), and while it’s a moment of ignorance from Kirek, it’s a very innocent ignorance no different than all the other instances of human customs eluding her. Ultimately, Samansa sets her straight as she does with other situations, and I was very pleased with how it was handled — and that it was handled at all, instead of ignoring the implications of dragons being a one-gender race.

If I have any criticisms of this book, it’s that I surely would have loved to linger more in the world, especially in the first half (which was more focused on Kirek trying to interact with humans). When the conflict kicks up, it REALLY kicks up, and I felt almost sad to be met with action scenes instead of Kirek eating a bloody steak at a royal dinner (lol). Unfortunately, something something “books are supposed to have plots” blah blah blah. I say they don’t! (I’m lying; books without tension are no fun either.)

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a lot of fun worldbuilding in their sapphic dragon books. 😊 Trust. 👍

Thank you so much to Netgalley and Feiwel & Friends for providing me with an ARC of this book. Now go make some fancy special editions for me to buy, thanks.

Thanks to NetGalley & Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the early copy in exchange for an honest review.

What a great read! The two protagonists had great chemistry with each other and it was sweet seeing their relationship develop. I didn't really care *too* much for the dragon/human politics but their relationship was enough to keep me interested.

I will say it started falling off a little bit toward the end and wasn't as interesting but it was still fun.