*sigh* Yet another anticipated release that let me down.

Prior to release, I was extremely hyped for this book. Queer romance and DRAGONS?? Say no more. Sadly, the book didn't live up to my expectations. Buckle up, because this is gonna be a loooong review.

Centuries ago, humans stole the dragons' magic and banished them to another realm. Everen is the last male dragon and prophesied to either save or doom his kind. When he makes it through the Veil to the human world, a spell gone wrong binds him to the human thief Arcady. Arcady himself is planning to secure a place in upper society by stealing a magical artifact and enlists Everen's help.

Overall, Everen's POV was more engaging to me compared to Arcady's since his narrative voice was more engaging. He was very much a haughty dragon looking down on the puny humans which I found very funny. As a dragon from another realm, Everen is our introduction to the world and I found his perspective easier to follow by far. That brings me to Arcady's POV: it was infodump after infodump for the first quarter. The exposition was definitely very heavy-handed with complicated terms being thrown at you left, right, and center. What with all the different gods, religions, countries and characters, I dearly needed a glossary and possibly a map. I sincerely hope the finished book has those or readers will be hopelessly lost.

Arcady himself wasn't all that memorable to me. As a thief planning a big heist, Arcady's POV should have been interesting to follow but it just wasn't. I felt like I couldn't connect to him or picture his personality very well. While I loved the non-binary representation his character offered, I didn't care for the romance between the mains at all. It wasn't that it was poorly written, exactly, I just wasn't invested at all despite popular tropes being used (like enemies-to-lovers, forbidden love and betrayals).

Another aspect that hindered my reading flow apart from the infodumps was the narration: While Everen narrates his POV like a letter written to Arcady (so addressing him as 'you' throughout), Arcady's POV was just written in normal first person POV, while another POV was written in third person. While there is somewhat of an explanation for this but I just found it confusing.

Talking POVs, I overall found the POV of the side charactes like Sorin and Magnes far more intriguing compared to the main characters. Like, Sorrin was so so fascinating as a character!! A religious acolyte who was sworn a vow of silence and secretly works as an assassin for the sect's High Priest?? Awesome! I wish we had seen more of her and hope she will play a bigger role in the sequel.

For the plot being about a heist with an impending apocalypse in the background, it was extremely boring. The middle section was mainly spent planning the heist and developing the romance and I was honestly about to DNF the book. In fact, there was nothing I cared less about than whether Arcady and Everen would bone. During the last quarter, the plot picked up enough for me to want to continue reading. It actually became almost a page-turner which gives me hope for the sequel. I say I didn't care for Everen and Arcady, but the angst in the end got to me.

Lam is clearly a capable writer, I just felt like the book needed some more polishing. Her prose flows very nicely with some beautiful descriptions and extreme attention to detail. The level of detail was what hindered some of my reading flow, however. In some instances, I couldn't picture the setting at all and some descriptions were either to detailed or too generic to invoke imagery. E.g. I could tell you what exact artifacts were lying on an altar in some random ass church, but not what the architecture in Vatra looks like. With that being said, I loved the doom and gloom that hung over the story as the veil between worlds thinned and dragons prepared for war.

Concerning the worldbuilding, I definitely had notes. First the positives: The book features an inclusive, queernorm world with people using gender neutral terms of address, multiple characters using sign language, the aforementioned queer rep and a positive (or at least non-judgemental) potrayal of a sex worker. The religious aspects in the book were also interesting. After humans stole the dragon's magic, dragons became sort of mythological figures and even gods to some. So the church centers around six dragon gods. Which brings me to my next point: There were lots of interesting aspects to the world which failed to make a satisfying whole. If you have people worshipping dragons, what would that mean for the culture and societal expectations and rules? What is dragon culture itself like? We never found out. In fact, the portrayals of religion looked pretty much like Christian worship (e.g. churches, priests and altars).

Moreover, how is a society that is so socially inclusive (with concepts like gender) still has such a rigid class system, ostracized groups and a corrupt upper class? Again, how does that translate back to worshipping dragons? Shouldn't that openess and empathy extend to braoder aspects than just sign language and gender-inclusive language? I just wanted more from the worldbuilding. Also, there was a soft magic system (if I dare call it that) where I couldn't figure out how magic was used in society at all. Some humans could shapeshift, there's memory magic that's forbidden and Everen had his own special dragon magic but that's all I could gather. When people use too much magic, they starve too death from expelling too much energy which was a cool concept but it was never really explained. There were just too many gaps in the worldbuilding for me to be satisfied.

All in all, the book had immense potential which is why I will pick up the sequel. However, Dragonfall ultimately failed to truly capture me like I wanted it to. 3/5 stars.

I was really excited to get into this book having read False Hearts and Shattered Minds - False Hearts is one of my favourite books.

If you've read those then this is a totally different offering from Lam, I also read a lot of fantasy, so I can cope with Dragons and magic systems. Sadly I didnt think the magic system was explained all that well, and didnt really connect with any of the main characters.

The book is written from the different characters point of view, I did find myself waiting to be rid of the Dragon POV and being relieved when it was back to the Human. Those chapters just flowed a lot better.

My biggest issue with the novel is the clear 'Gender Agenda', I dont think it needed to be set out at the beginning in such a rigid way, almost as if the reader wasn't credited wnough to be able to deal with non-binary characters. It was a bit like being hit in the face with a sledge hammer and schooled in gender identity before being able to continue with the story. I don't think the over explaining was necessary. The characters are gender fluid - get over it, I can understand that from using the pronouns - huge paragraphs on gender not required!

I wanted to love this story, but I just found it slow to get to the plot, certain things were over explained and other things (magic system, prophecies) were under explained.

I sadly won't be reading the others in the series based on this one.

I'm obsessed with books about dragons and I loved the take this book took on dragons - it was really cool and very epic! I enjoyed the writing style, it was descriptive and not too flowery, which I don't think would have fit the vibes of the story. I did think that the worldbuilding was quite confusing at times - it felt very info-dumpy, and I lost track of a lot of what was going on. I did like the world, which was very inclusive particularly surrounding gender, I thought that was amazing and so cool, but it was aspects more like Starvelings that I didn't fully understand.

I also found the way that chapters flipped between first person, second person, AND third person was disorienting, and ended up taking me out of the story a lot of the time. I got to know which chapters were for which character based on the narrative styles, rather than being able to distinguish between the characters based on their personalities.

All of that being said, this book was so interesting, and I feel very invested to read the next book after that second to last chapter! Also if you love enemies to lovers, you'll definitely enjoy the romance in here, it was peak enemies to lovers!

Here be dragons, on page and by POV! Lam welcomes you to a world of gods, death and fire. An intriguing - though mealy start to a new series!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read this eARC in exchange for a fair review.

This ends up between a 3 and a 3.5 stars for me.

The first 40% was so hard to get into and I had no idea what was going on. I didn't really like the characters and the plot wasn't holding my attention. I was so close to DNF'ing this but boy am I glad I didn't! After the 40% mark, the story really picked up and I was hooked. The way all the story-lines interconnected at the end was so good!

All Everen's chapters were written in second-person and that took some time to get used to but it really worked. I liked the world and it was so nice to see a queer-norm setting.

The reason it only got 3-3.5/5 stars from me is that the beginning dragged so much and the fact that I had no clue what was going on for 200 pages. However, this series has so much potential and I'm so excited to read the next one. I highly recommend this but give it 40% before giving up on it!

I struggled with the writing style cause it did feel like it dragged on sometimes, however, I can forgive that for the romance. I still read through the book very quickly because I wanted to know more about Arcady and Everen. I will 100% read the rest of the series!

It has taken me a while to really think about and digest this read before reviewing it. I was really excited for Dragonfall when it was announced and had anticipated it being my read of the year. Perhaps this is why I was so disappointed when it fell short.

My major issue with this novel ( and it is a huge issue) was the characters. I found the characters lacking and as such couldn’t connect to them on any level. This meant my interest wasn’t peaked when any key events occurred throughout the novel as I didn’t feel invested in their story.

My second issue was the world building. Although the world appeared to be vast and interesting the details were kept vague. This meant as well as having bland characters the world they were in ended up being equally as tricky to connect to.

On the positive side, I enjoyed the details of the dragon human rivalry however I do feel this could have been delved into further. The concept of the magic system was unique and intriguing. I liked the ending best of all and hopefully if there is a further book, the characters and world will be explored to a greater extent to help make them more accessible to the reader.

While I was super excited about Dragonfall, as soon as I picked up the book I realized this book was not going to be for me. Nothing about those first few chapters grabbed my attention. In the end I decided to DNF it.

A thief, a dragon, and an assassin.
Arcady has spent her life scraping a living as a thief since her family died from the Strike. It left her marked and hiding from everyone.
Everen is the last male dragon. His life has been shadowed by prophecies, decreeing that he will bring dragons back to their world from the dying land they’ve been exiled to.
Sorin is an acolyte, but she’s also secretly an assassin for the head priest, Magnus, who has a secret of his own.
When their paths cross and their lives intermingle, the fate of their worlds depends on their choices.

Dragonfall has such interesting concept and a wonderful magic system. I really like the intricacies of the bond between Arcady and Everen, and that they discovered more about it as time went on. I enjoyed how scrying was brought in as a way for Everen to communicate with his family across the worlds, and I loved that the use of magic if the body didn’t have enough fuel ran the risk of turning humans into monsters - starvlings - and that this is simply accepted as a fact of life.

Unfortunately, the story didn’t grip me, and I’m struggling to articulate why. I found the plot and the characters compelling, but I think the prose got in the way of my enjoyment. I even tried switching to the audiobook, and while that was somewhat better, it still didn’t draw me in the way I hoped it would.

Overall, Dragonfall was an intriguing fantasy concept which just fell slightly flat for me.

The excellent start of a new series, original and well written. There's inclusivity, great characters and a plot that kept me hooked.
I love this story and can't wait to read the next in this series.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

3.5

There is so much to love and enjoy about Dragonfall. A queer-normative world that was layered and intricate and ended up being one of my favourite aspects (despite the issues that I had with it; more on that later), an intriguing plot, and the characters felt fleshed out and complex and I particularly enjoyed Everen and Arcady’s interactions and development.

However, I did struggle to be fully invested in the story because I found a few basics confusing, such as the social hierarchy and dragon culture (especially when it was used to make comparisons), which caused a bit of distance to the story. There was also more info-dumping than I preferred that sometimes elements felt less seamlessly incorporated and I would have favoured experiencing more of the world rather than been told it. However, once the story began picking up for me, I couldn’t stop turning the page.

The ending was also fantastic, so I’ll definitely be continuing the series.

Unfortunately I had to dnf this at 22%. I had zero investment in the story, and I felt like nothing had happened yet. I really wanted to love this, and I'm really saddened that I didn't.

A dragon high fantasy novel set within a great gender fluid culture.

World’s collide as Everen, the last male dragon, is pulled through to Arcady’s city in the human world, where dragons are revered as gods. They both have hidden agendas, but can they learn to trust each other?

I loved the gender fluidity of Vatra and how being non-binary was a normalised part of society. Using hand signs to indicate your pronouns and how you identify yourself was a fantastic idea.

Dragonfall’s pacing was quite slow, with things not really kicking off until later in the book. There was great world-building and history. I also liked the magic system.

Lam uses unusual perspective techniques. I liked that Everen’s point of view was written as if he was addressing Arcady. It felt more intimate and kept the different points of view distinct, but could be jarring when the point of view changed.

I would have liked to see more explanation of new terms in the books, as it was confusing at times, which hindered my enjoyment.

I love dragons, so I'm always immediately intrigued by the mention of them. With Dragonfall, it was the cover and the premise that lured me in - sadly, the story did not meet my expectations.

Considering there's a dragon on the cover, in the title of the book, and one of the main POVs is a literal dragon, there was a lot less dragon content in it than I thought there would be. I didn't get a sense from Everen what it actually meant to be a dragon - he felt more human than anything else. Their culture or history wasn't really explained and descriptions in general were very vague. Funnily enough, there was a lot of info dumping but more so in the form of made-up words, which just added a lot of confusion. There was no depth to the world-building and the characters, I felt disconnected a lot. Also, the different narrative styles made no sense to me. I was having a hard time with the prose in general, but the jumping between Arcady's first person and Everen's second person chapters interrupted the flow of the story even more. And the addition of a third POV (in third person) later on seemed to serve no purpose. Maybe that's something that will be revealed in book 2? I guess, I'll never know.

It took me a long time to get through this book and I almost DNF'd it but didn't wanna give up, 'cause I was determined to find something to hang onto. I really liked the idea of the story and some of the plot points were interesting, however, the execution fell flat for me. The pace dragged on a lot, very little was explained (world, magic system), and I couldn't warm up to the characters. Things did pick up a bit towards the end and I was surprised by a certain reveal, however, it wasn't enough for me to wanna invest more time into this series!

Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There were a lot of great elements here! I enjoyed the way gender is handled in the world, and the world-building in general was really well done. I also enjoyed Arkady as a character and found her really compelling.

However, I think Everen, the dragon character, could have been more interesting as a character. And I think the “connection” element between the two main characters ended up feeling a bit forced. Those type of magical bonds are not my favorite trope, so others who enjoy that may like the book better.

I also didn’t really connect with the writing style, which sometimes felt like it was just trying to be different for its own sake, but without much guiding purpose. But that is largely personal preference.

Thanks to netgalley for providing me with this ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the advance reader copy.

Overall I enjoyed the book and look forward to its sequels. I did find it hard to get into initially but found that the world building helped me stick with it which I’m glad I did.

There’s a lot which happens in the book and its main characters are fleshed out enough that you feel the differences in their voices and actions within the chapters.

A well written fantasy book which will lead well into the sequel.

Great characters, story, and pacing!! Looking forward to book 2! An excellent start to this trilogy!!

2.5

The book had some really good ideas and there were parts that I enjoyed. The relationship between Everen and Arcady was great with just the right amount of tension and the idea of Dragons as Gods and their banishment from Earth was a really interesting concept. However, I'm afraid this book really didn't work for me. The world building and explanation of the magic system was so vague I spent most of my time utterly confused. Parts of the story were never explained and certain things were referenced which didn't seem to make sense.

The pacing was very slow at the beginning and things didn't get interesting until Everen and Arcady actually met and started plotting the heist. We had points of view from Sorin and Cassia and I can't understand what the point of this was. It;s clear that this was setting up things for the next book in the series but it would have been nice to have a clearer sense of why Sorin was involved. Overall, it was just too muddled a story for me which is a shame because with some better editing and more explanation it could have been much more enjoyable.

Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton, Hodderscape for a free e-arc in exchange of a honest review!

This is my first dragon book and i didnt know what to expect from the dragons POV but i loved him! He was by far the best part of the book- i struggled to distinguish between the other POV and didnt feel like it kept my attention very well when it wasnt the dragons POV- because of this im putting it down for a potential DNF or untill i can get the audio book for it!

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher Hodder and Stoughton for the digital ARC, it has not affected my honest review.

"Dragonfall" is the epic fantasy, new book from L.R. Lam and I loved every moment of it. It follows Everen, the last of the male dragons whose race was banished by humanity to a world now burning, as he tries to follow the prophecy he's been destined for since he was born and release his kind from their prison. During a storm, Everen chases a golden light, only to find himself completely trapped- and mostly in human form. He is drawn into the city and discovers Arcady, who he creates a soul bond with, but it isn't that simple. Everen's sister, Cassia, knew this was coming and tells her brother to kill the humans he's bonded to, but Everen soon realises he can't do that.

Arcady is a gifted thief trying to outrun the sins of their grandfather who brought about a great plague. They were almost one of the victims but survived, though not untouched. They want to prove their grandfather innocent but only the theft of a true relic can give them the money to do so. Arcady and Everen must work together to steal a dragon claw, figure out why the universe bonded them together and try to avoid destiny so they can both stay alive. At the same time there is Sorin, a devotee of dragons who kills in their name for her order; she's close behind and following the rules lain down by her master.

I adored this book, it moved so quickly and combined so many of my favourite tropes. This isn't like any other dragon book and I don't think there'll be another like it. Everen is an excellent main character with a wonderful storyline of realising how much of his life has been dictated. I loved the earliest scenes of him interacting with the world and viewing himself as better. Arcady was definitely my favourite, I loved their confidence and power and their gradual willingness to trust again after being hurt. The tension between Everen and Arcady is palpable from their first scene and it only grew as their backgrounds and personalities clashed. I can't wait to read more in this world, to see more of Sorin and to see how much more epic the series can go after such an incredible beginning.