The promise of dragons was all it took to convince me to read Dragonfall. I devoured the novel, loved the 'I Am Dragon' vibes, and am already impatiently awaiting the sequel. Just a few bullet points of what you can expect:

- fantastic worldbuilding and a queer normative society
-a genderfluid thief bent on revenge
-a dragon trapped in his preterit body who needs to bond with a human and kill them to regain his full form
-an enemies to lovers ultra slow-burn romance
-an assassin priest with a pet wyvern fighting the abuse of magic relics
-a heist plot

Definitely a new favourite, and reason to add Laura Lam to my list of auto-buy authors. 4.5 stars, rounded up to 5.

I loved so much about this book, it has dragons, prophecies, heists, and secret passages. I loved the worldbuilding and society LR Lam created, especially the portrayal of gender within the society.
However I couldn't quite love it as a whole and it took me a while to realise why; there are two main narrative voices for the majority of the book and they switched far too regularly for me. It felt slightly repetitive that we got both POVs on most scenes. Despite this I will still read the second book and overall I enjoyed Dragonfall.

Review by Dragonfall by L.R. Lam

When solitary thief Arcady casts a spell in hopes of it giving them the chance to make right by their family and climb the societal ladder, they pull a dragon through the veil without realising, inevitably binding themselves to said dragon.

Everen, the last male dragon of his kind is shucked through the veil and into the world of humans by Arcady’s spell. Hoping to fulfil his destiny and complete the prophesy to save his kind, Everen plays a careful game of his own with Arcady in order to succeed. For if he wants to save his sisters, he must kill the thief.

But the closer the two work together to break the bond between them, the stronger their affection for each other grows. Soon, they must decide if they want to save themselves and their people by killing each other, or risk everything by leaning into the feelings blooming between them.


I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED DRAGONFALL. Let me shout it from the rooftop once more; IT WAS SUCH A GREAT READ! The way Lam plays with the different point of views and their narratives was so refreshing. Everen’s second point of view in particular was a great way of placing the reader at the edge of their seat and keeping them guessing. You can’t help but fall in love with Arcady and Everen, and Sorin was such an interesting character to get to know. At the last plot point I had genuinely no idea how it was all going to end.

I think the world-building was well thought through and immersive while reading, especially the way religion and the worshipping of the dragons as gods.

I think the way Lam introduced gender and identity into the book was done with such care and genuineness. I also loved the enemies to lovers aspect of the story, and was quite intrigued by how the book ended! I think one for people to know is that the book does focus quite heavily on the enemies to loves romance aspect, and not necessarily as much on the other plot points always, but I found the character development to be great!

Highly recommend this for anyone interested in dragons, thieves stealing fancy stuff, fantasy and romance!

Thank you to @netgalley for letting me read the book ahead of its release date! All opinions are my own.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and Hodderscape for letting me read and review the eARC of Dragonfall by L. R. Lam.

The synopsis, the hype, and the presence of dragons, gave me a lot of expectations for Dragonfall. And when one does have high expectations, sometimes you're lucky enough to have met them, sometimes you are not. Unfortunately, Dragonfall by L. R. Lam did not meet my expectations. Nevertheless, this does not mean I still didn't enjoy parts of the story, because I absolutely did!

I'll be honest, I did try to read this at the start of March, however couldn't proceed past the 3rd chapter. The premise and plot fascinated me and I wanted to continue and give Dragonfall a chance. However, I just at the time wasn't compelled enough to pick up the book and read. Nevertheless, I did restart and finish in May across the span of 2-3 days. I am not sure what hadn't compelled me to begin with, but I speculate that it could be because of the lack of emotional connection to the characters in the beginning, although this is built upon more as you continue.

My only other irks with the story is that it's portrayed as a 'journal' from Everen to Arcady, however, you still gather POV chapters of Arcady, and a few later introduced characters. It just didn't really make much sense to me. Otherwise, my main issue with the 'journal' type writing, was that during Everens' POV, while he was with Arcady, everything was "you did this", "you did that". For something that can be seen to purposefully try and connect the reader with the authors characters, it just made me more disconnected from them. I definitely preferred the other POV's. Although, I did think the final chapter tied it up nicely.

Otherwise, the worldbuilding was incredibly well delivered. Not only one world, but two, and how they connect to each other. I was intrigued. The magic system, the queer-norms, the history, and the realities of not everything known and written is accurate. You get told almost immediately the goals the two main characters have, which I felt was done well, as it helped make room for the in depth world build L. R. Lam created. But not just for the reader, but also for the characters to learn of.

I did find particularly heartening, the queer-norms that the city of Vatra had. I also loved the casual, yet caring, conversation that Arcady had with Everen in explaining their love of interchanging between genders, and how they felt in regards.
"Gender is so important, yet so inconsequential in the grand scheme of things." - Arcady.
But not only is there queer representation, but also sign-language representation. Although, the main character who utilises sign does not have a disability, she has taken a vow of silence, i thought it was nice to see multiple forms of representation, of which I hope will expand and continue into the series.

Lastly, the plot twist at the end, I definitely did not predict. Well done.

I just know the Dragons Scales trilogy will give me heartbreak, but I will definitely go into it with open arms as I plan on continuing this series.

This was well-written and set in a world with a fascinating system but I felt that it could have been developed a little bit better. This is an epic fantasy that has a lot of interesting plot points. My biggest complaint would be that I struggled to connect to the characters. It took me longer to get through this and it should and it was a little tedious in places.

This was an alright read for me.

In a world where Dragons are Gods who have been forced to live in a desolate realm and humans have stolen their power and power is currency. Arcady is surviving as a thief and resorts to stealing a powerful artefact in order to improve their circumstances. The story really begins when Arcady steals the artefact which opens a portal for Everen, the only male dragon, to fall through.

Laura Lam has created an interesting and lore-filled world with a fantastic magic system and an inclusive society where genders can be chosen rather than assigned. This is the first book I have read that contains a queer romance and use of pronouns, although initially, it took me a while to get the hang of the writing style I enjoyed it.
I did find the pacing to be quite slow due to the amount of description within the storytelling but it didn't detract from the story.

Overall the story was unique and memorable with a diverse cast of fun characters and a captivating storyline.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I've been excited about this since it was announced (as I've read almost everything else from this author, and I love dragons) so I was thrilled my ARC request was approved. and I was right to be excited! I love a good long fantasy epic and this delivered on all fronts: multiple POVs, interesting world building, engaging characters, a building plot, twists and turns... all resulting in a solid first book setting up for more. that's not to say a lot of things are left unresolved, but that while the Big Events in this book were tied up, there is definitely more to come, and I'm excited for it.

I loved Everen and Arcady and how their relationship developed (back and forth and up and down, there wasn't anything linear about it). Sorin I was less keen on, I think mainly because she didn't have as many POV scenes as Everen and Arcady, and because she's trapped in an abusive (non-sexual) relationship with her mentor, and it was painful to watch. Still, she has a strong will and I'm sure in future books to come she'll come into her own right. Also! I have to say! Magnes! I saw that coming but it's no less delicious for it.

all in all this book delivers a trademark L.R. Lam book, combining all the elements I love best from her previous books in an epic package.

I received an ARC from netgalley in exchange for a fair review.

In Dragonfall by L.R. Lam, a young thief ends up accidentally forming a bond with a dragon. There were many elements of this book that I enjoyed, such as the world-building and the unusual narrative choice of one using first person for Everen and third person for Arcady. However, the pace was just far too slow for me. Arcady is preparing for one last heist to set them up for the life they want when Everen quite literally falls into their life. As they’re stuck with him and Everen is new to town, Arcady takes the initiative, asking Everen to join them for their heist. Most of the book is taken up with Arcady teaching Everen in excruciatingly slow detail how to be a thief. While their relationship develops as alongside his training, Dragonfall is the slowest of slow burns, and it was just too slow for me.

As for the heist itself, I have mixed feelings about it. Lam weaves everything together by the end of the book, and the last twenty percent of the book is brilliant. Yet I can’t shake the feeling that in recent years there’s been an increase in heist fantasy novels, and I’m not sure that this one really needed to be one. There’s enough going on with Everen and Arcady’s storyline, as well as other sub-plots, that this just felt like a bit too much.

Despite not enjoying the way in which Lam has chosen to tell her story, I thoroughly enjoyed the unique world she created. She has created an interesting queer normative world where humans view dragons as gods, completely unaware of the true events of history or that dragons once lived alongside them. The amount of detail that Lam has gone into while creating the dragon species for Dragonfall is fascinating, and her descriptions are gorgeous.

As everything comes neatly together at the end of the novel, Dragonfall proves to be an interesting start to a new series. It just, as I said, took so long to get there. While I think it was worth it in the end, it personally wasn’t my preferred type of book. The book ends on a cliffhanger, which sets up very nicely for the next book. As a result, my attention has been caught enough to ensure I’ll be checking out book two to see what happens next.

Perfect magical and captivating epic fantasy
A thief with mysterious ancestors trying to finally rise from poverty. A dragon, the last of his kind, who finds himself trapped in the human world. When they are forced to work together, they form an unlikely team – any they actually have no clue what the other one actually is…
“Dragonfall” is a magical and captivating epic fantasy that drew me in right from the start. The world building was fascinating, especially if you have a soft side for dragons. But I particularly loved the two main characters: They are so different from each other, and not just because one is human and the other one a dragon, and they should not be good at working together. I loved following the development of their relationship as much as the progress of their “project”.
If you are looking to dive into a new epic fantasy (it’s the first book in a trilogy) that excels at bringing together a rich and exciting plot and a beautiful well-written love story, Dragonfall is simply perfect for you. I can’t wait to find out how this story continues!

Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sadly for me, I had to DNF this one. The setting for this one sounded amazing and I was so excited to read it. However, while this has a dual POV, the concept was that this book was written by Everen, which included elements of second-point-of-view as the dragon described the love interest;

"Eventually, you roused yourself, wincing. You seemed young, from what I could tell of humans."

This is one of my biggest pet peeves when reading, and I tried to push through it for a couple of chapters, but I just couldn't do it. I'm sure for those who don't mind this, this one will be a great hit, no doubt!

This was definitely the dragon book I wanted. I loved the plot and the way that the dragons were described, I loved the shape shifting, both the dragon's different forms and the shapeshifting that the humans could do with their magic. I loved the magic system and the dangers that come from it. I just loved everything.

This book was so inclusive as well. Not only was one of the main characters genderfluid, but there was also mentions of hearing loss and a commonly known sign language as well. Not only that but I was intrigued by the honorific They pronoun and how no one's gender was assumed until they said it themselves!

The plot was good. A nice heist and the run up to it, even though the emphasis was on the two main characters bonding. It could have been really boring, but the way it was written meant there was always some action to be had.

If you like dragons and queer representation, look no further!!

I am a fan of the author's previous work and this did not disappoint. I loved the different narration style used for Arkady and Everen's chapters and the representation of gender fluid characters. The pacing was slow at times but overall a very good read!

This is my first book by this author and to me it was just an ok read. The blurb sounds amazing dragon shifter fantasy romance but it didn’t live up to my expectations sadly. I didn’t feel much of a connection to either of the main characters which meant I wasn’t fully invested in the book. This is all personal preference so someone else might enjoy it more than me. Would still recommend to fantasy romance readers.

Dragonfall was such a unique and fun read. Full of diversity and representation, I quickly found myself immersed in this amazing world that Lam has created. ⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣
Now I'm a sucker for an enemies-to-lovers story and this one ticked all the boxes for me. I really liked the dynamic between Arcady and Everen and the fact that there were big stakes involved had me eagerly turning the pages! ⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣
I will admit that when I started this one I wasn't sure how I felt but everything quickly fell into place with Lam's world and character building. I loved that we had multiple povs, I feel like we get to know the characters more and it really helps in books like these where we have complex characters who have their own personal goals that don't align with everyone else's. ⁣⁣⁣
⁣⁣⁣
Overall an amazing, queer enemies-to-lovers fantasy with dragons and magic at its core. I definitely recommend picking this one up and I cannot wait to see where the next book takes us! ⁣⁣⁣

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Dragonfall by L.R. Lam is a stunning example of how inclusivity can elevate the fantasy genre for the better; the gender non-conforming thief by the name of Arcady is fun, rebellious, and develops rather a begrudging like of Everen, our (incredibly hot?) dragon protagonist. With a compelling plot and excellent world-building, this first entry of the Dragon Scales Trilogy sets the tone for its successors.

I would rate this 4.5 stars, just shy of 5 for its magic system which, whilst fully fleshed out, seems restricted by Arcady's knowledge - my hope is to see it fully explored in the next book in the series.

Oh, and the third POV is from the perspective of a warrior-nun-esque figure - what more could you want?

My thanks to the author, Hachette publishing, and to NetGalley for providing an electronic arc in return for honest feedback.

*I would like to thank NetGalley and the publisher Hodder&Stoughton for sending me this eARC in exchange for an honest review!*

Dragonfall is an epic fantasy romance that I enjoyed reading quite a lot despite the fact I don't read fantasy romance often. One of the biggest highlights of the book is its character work. The main characters are so well-written with such distinct voices. Through each narration their different personalities just shined through and could tell what POV we're in. Everen's POV was mainly written in the 2nd person which made his perception of a new world more interesting. Arcady was the other main narrator and their POV brought more dynamic to the story. However, Sorin's chapters were the most interesting to me as we were seeing the world from the bigger picture. There were other POVs as well but only a few times to gain a better understanding of some situations. Other thing I enjoyed was the romance between our main characters, the slow-burn tension was just a chef's kiss!

To be honest though, the worldbuilding could be much better. At the beginning, the author threw all the details, new vocabulary and mentions of different legends associated with different places. But that's about it. A few things were explained further into the story, but the world just felt flat. I don't think enough details were shown, majority of it was just mentioned. However, the world has a great potential to be more immersive and richer in other books of the trilogy so I hope I'll be right. Also, the story was really interesting but I expected much more of the ending. It felt like nothing was actually resolved and only tiny portions of stories got answered. The book had a great start but it lost me at the end.

Anyway, I loved the romance aspect and the narrative style. Not sure if I continue the series though as it had a great potential that just wasn't delivered in this first book. I'm kind of disappointed as it was just a low average reading experience for me.

Years ago, humans had stolen the dragons' magic and banished them to a dying realm. Now centuries later they are worshipped as gods. Arcady, a thief, steals a powerful artifact to change his life. It's magic connects him to Everen, the last male dragon trying to fulfill a prophecy and brings him to the mortal realm. Everen, in 'human form', needs to bond wit Arcady completely and tries to gain his trust, for otherwise he may doom or save his world, possibly both worlds.

This is a mostly dual 1st person POVs narrative and it starts with the dragon's, Ereven's POV which is a wonder to read, presenting a singular, almost poetic way of thinking. And surliness. I really liked that Arcady was referred to as you, made it more personal. Arcady's is more grounded and somewhat enthusiastic. He is clearly clever and goal-oriented. Has his very own mission. There is a less-used third POV in 3rd person, the mysterious and solemn Sorin, that mystifies us in how it is connected to the others.

I really liked how it dug deep into the characters. Just one answer to a question made to them would say so much.

The writing is simultaneously ethereal in its beauty and branded with a sense of gravitas, rising adventurous in spirit and soaring in epicness. Rich in creative ways to describe things and quite detail-oriented, inviting us into this world. The author's imagination roars when it comes to the mythology and magic system. They are explained well enough and presented so that their traits seem natural.

If the story is intriguing in the beginning as it breathes and we learn about the protagonists, when they finally come together it sets on fire. The way they antagonize each other is as entertaining as expected. They share a slyness and undercurrent of sarcasm. There is a gradual & captivating evolution of the relationship and the characters themselves. The story is laced in anticipation for all hell to break loose and when it does it really does deliver.

Generally, there are parts or things that I would have appreciated if they had been clarified a bit more. The seals for example are very interesting but confusing at times for me. There were parts I had to reread to really ensure I understood what was going on.

The book is ultimately about fulfilling your potential. It ponders the question of fate and if it exists. If so, is it set in stone or can we change it? Knowing something before we judge it, is also an important theme here.

Enemies forced to work together is always fun. Different worlds on a collision course rife with jaw-dropping surprises, betrayals, lessons in thievery and inconvenient feelings. This is the beginning of a wonderful ride.

A stunningly beautiful start to a new series.
Dragonfly by L.R Lam shows off the very best of queer fantasy and honestly the second I knew there was a POV from a dragon I was ready to commit.

Instead of an action packed revenge story however I got a beautifully tender queer normative heist story and I cannot wait to get my hands on the next chapter.
Though the book is paced slow the intricate characters and the stunning world building more than makes up for it, and if nothing else the wonderful writing will hold you glued to the last page.

3.5, rounded up.
God, this one gave me another crisis. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the book itself! The concept is interesting, the world building is fun and vivid and drip fed to you rather than infodumped, and the characters are - well, I was going to say delightful, which is not true, but they are very fun to read about! I genuinely cannot think of a single thing about this book that I actively disliked. And yet, I could just not get invested in it, and I don't understand *why* (and also why this has somehow happened with two ARCs in a row). I am almost certain that this is a Me problem, because the book itself is really quite good, hence the high rating. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who's craving some fun draconic drama. I am really hoping to revisit this once it releases and my brain stops acting up so that I can enjoy it properly!

Thank you netgalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a great start to a new trilogy, and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review, you made my dragon heart very happy!
The story was well paced and kept me entertained. The romance was angsty and left me wanting more! Bring it on in book 2 please!!
The world building was sometimes a bit too heavy/info dump for my taste, but I found that most of it was still brought in organically so that was nice!
A really cool feature of this book is the inclusive society, where assuming someone's gender is rude, and when introducing yourself you would do a hand signal to notify of your preferred pronouns, which also add to the aspect this society uses sign language as standard! Very refreshing! I will look forward to book 2 and will pick up this on in physical copy as soon as it is out!