soooo what really sets this book apart is that the dragon has a pov. strangely enough, it works because the dragon can switch to a human form. another thing was its outlook on gender and pronouns. so basically, characters get referred to as they/them until they clarify what pronouns they prefer. i thought that was really cool, but the capitalised pronouns for people that are “higher up” the social ladder was kind of weird and annoying to read in sentences. but apart from that it was refreshing!!

now onto the story itself. so i was kind of lost a few times and don’t really know how a lot of individual scenes added up to the actual storyline, which is basically that dragons try to get free of this world they’re stuck in but the main dragon (who has a pov) has to kill a human who he falls in love with. i liked the idea but i also think their relationship could’ve developed a bit more before we came to the whole “kill this human you love or doom your own kind” conclusion. so overall i liked the book, but it could’ve been better.

i received the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Dragonfall is the first book I've read from L. R. Lam and I must say I quite enjoyed it. I thought it was different, lyrical and to be exact, a bit dreamy. It's a multiple-point-of-view narrative. Even though many people dislike that, I thought it was really helpful to get into the different character's heads in order to fully appreciate the story. I loved the perspective of the dragon. I cannot remember reading another book with a dragon narrator, so this won me!

I loved the way the story was narrated. I must say however that it did drag at times. I thought some of the scenes could have been shortened and we could have seen a bit more of the romance.

The world-building was beautifully done, atmospheric, and invoked a lot of imagery as well as emotions from me. The ending took me by surprise and I loved it! I cannot wait to read the sequel!

All in all, I really enjoyed the read and I'm very grateful to Netgalley for the arc, I'd definitely buy the book and its sequels.

Dragon Fall

Archive Date: 9 May 2023
This book takes a very narrative writing style from the perspective of been the Dragon in the story. We do have a bit of info dumping about when world bulding is occurring and a lot of new terminology which I feel could of been fed at a more paced level. Dragonfall is the first in a three-book High Fantasy trilogy telling the story of two worlds - one of dragons banished from their home world long ago, and one of humans who have forgotten their dark past. The chance of pov was a bit confusing at times for me.https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMYPQMm7V/

You'd honestly think by now that there's not much more that can be done in fantasy books where dragons are concerned, but apparently that's not the case. Dragonfall is the first of a trilogy that does something slightly different with them, set in a world where dragons were once worshipped but have mysteriously been driven into an alternate universe, one which is killing them slowly and from which they're desperate to return. Not just to save themselves, but also to get revenge on the humans who banished them there in the first place.

As for our two main characters, one (Everen) is the only male dragon of the current age and ends up arriving back in the human world, where he's ended up with a magical bond to our other protagonist (Arcady). Fortunately for the purposes of keeping his true identity hidden, these dragons also have some powers of shapeshifting and Everen looks human enough. Arcady is struggling with a number of issues as we move through the book - his attraction to Everen, his desire to vindicate his family (especially his grandfather, who was labelled as the Plaguebringer, which will give some idea of the issue at hand) and to keep himself alive despite the best efforts of the criminals he associates with to fix that latter detail.

Arcady knows he has some kind of bond with Everen, that the magic they can both use is affected by it, but doesn't know Everen's true nature for a significant part of the book or why Everen is really there. There's also another sub-plot running alongside theirs, which is an ongoing battle between the religious forces of the human world with dark powers that are trying (like the dragons themselves) to break through.

There's a lot going on in this book, as befits the first of a trilogy, and I've seen complaints of info-dumping - for me, that wasn't particularly an issue and I've seen much worse examples of that in other books. Likewise, some people will absolutely hate the stylistic device the author uses to delineate between Arcady and Everen's points of view but again, I didn't mind it. There's a really deft touch to the relationship development between the two of them, a pleasant relief from the heavy-handed way that instalove gets used in many books - Arcady is more at the 'oh no, he's hot' stage of things as we get to the end of this book, thrown a bit by discovering Everen's true nature, while Everen himself knows how manipulative his choices are.

In short, I liked this a lot and will definitely want to pick up book 2.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, via Netgalley. This is my honest review of the book in question.

So original and gripping. Dragonfall was one of my most anticipated reads and I am so glad I could read it early. L.R. Lam is exceptionally talented and I will be recommending this to all my friends

5 stars

Dragonfall is easily the best book I've read so far this year. The story draws you in with the phenomenal writing and fast-paced plot. It's enemies to lovers, featuring a human and a dragon and it's oh-so delightfully queer. Diving into the story, I felt that much sought-after reader's bliss. The moment you read the first page and you know that this story is going to be a special one. One that will stay with you for a long time. I always have a terrible time writing reviews for books I love, so bear with me.

The worldbuilding is lush and I was especially intrigued by the dragon realm and its mythologies. I loved the narrative style adopted for the dragon's POV. The payoff is wonderful, and I hope the same style is adopted for the sequels, though I'm not sure considering where lam chooses to take the story next. I loved how it mirrored the prophetic nature of dragon kind in this book and came to such an emotional close at the end. The narrative style might also be the reason why I found the dragon's chapters so much more fun to read than the human's, unlike other reviewers. One thing is obvious, L. R. Lam can WRITE. This is the first book I've read by them and will probably not be the last. The story flows so effortlessly, I found myself immersed in reading it for hours on end. For a genre as over-saturated as epic fantasy, Dragonfall stands tall and distinct with the phenomenal slow burn and well-explained magic system.

I was surprised to see how big of a part the romance played in the book. Like I knew there would be a romance since I'd read the blurb, but the romance seemed to take up a pretty large chunk of the plot. So readers who are looking for less romance in their epic fantasy might not like it. I actually loved the romance. The build-up was torturously slow, but it made the payoff and the angst even better. Since this is the first book of a trilogy, I expect the romance was focused to build up the rest of the books on it.

The characters were also all pretty well written. While we primarily follow the dragon's and the human's POVs, both of which were engaging in their own ways, we also have a smattering of chapters from a warrior priest called Sorin and the dragon's sister Cassia. While they were sparse and few, I loved how the author developed Sorin's character and I am excited about what role she ends up playing in future books. At the end of the book, I don't know who I felt more sorry for Arcady (the human) or Everen (the dragon). I was obviously rooting for both of them but this book ends on a MASSIVE cliffhanger, I don't know how I'm supposed to wait for the next book because finishing this book felt like emerging out of a pool after nearly drowning.

Dragonfall is a submersive, atmospheric epic fantasy with high stakes, slow burn, and gorgeous writing. Come for the dragons, stay for the gay pining. Storytelling at its best.

Dragonfall comes out 2nd May 2023. Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder&Stroughton for sending me an advanced reader's copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. The review goes live on my blog 05/03/23.

An absorbing start to a new fantasy trilogy- I really enjoyed this new take on dragons. Strongly reminiscent of Robin Hobb’s Liveship Traders series in terms of emphasis on the relationship between humans, dragons and the natural world, Lam uses their talent for making sharp, flawed and compelling characters to open up the world for us and draw us in to the story.

I loved it and can’t wait for the next instalment- highly recommended!

I love dragons. I fell in love with the fantasy genre because of them, and this book was one of my most anticipated releases of 2023, so after finishing it and finding it didn't meet my expectations, I was dismayed.

I tend to dive into books blindly, and this book wasn't any different. I knew it was adult, queer, and had dragons, so there was no way I was missing it. However, after going through the first chapters, my curiosity got the best of me: I went into social media to find out more about the book, and what I found didn't disappoint. Sadly for me, I fell into the wrong rabbit hole.

Writing style: the narrative style is different from most of the books out there. There is a constant switch between first, second, and third persona narration, which is something that, in the beginning, I didn't mind, and I even enjoyed it. Nonetheless, that was until I got into some chapters in which I was lazily reading, and I misunderstood who the "you" was referring to. Eventually, the whole unique narrative style became a down-the-hill experience, where the first half of the book was, well, remarkable and the rest not so good.

Worldbuilding: First of all, even though both the world and the magic system have this unique feel, I never understood how it works. Moreover, it bugged me that there were so many new words whose meanings were so hard to grasp that, even after finishing the book, I'm not entirely sure I understood what each of them stands for. (I'm hoping the trade edition will include some kind of glossary)

On a side note, I adore queer norm books and am baffled to have a gender-fluid main character, so extra points for that.

Plot: is the book about a heist? A prophecy? Or maybe about forbidden romance? Probably, all of them or none.

I can enjoy books that sell with marketing campaigns filled with trope slogans such as "enemies to lovers, forced proximity, knife to the throat" and so on; but when it becomes so literal throughout the whole book, to the point that it feels forced, all you can get from me is a big eye-rolling. It seems like a crime to sacrifice a good story to have the most commercial fantasy romance ever.

Characters: as I mentioned before, I love that there is a gender-fluid mc, but other than that, I didn't care about any of them. Yes, they are all hot, but I'm not letting my hormones take the best of me. Also, I wouldn't say there is character development, but more of a romance development, so if that's your thing, I'm sure you will love this.

Besides, if I am not mistaken there were 4 povs throughout the book, and I'm still trying to figure out what role 2 of them played. I am sure there is more to explore in the following books, but as for this first installment, I wish those two characters were there for more (applies to a particular priest).

Overall, Dragonfall is a book that has a lot to offer to the fantasy genre. It salvages some of the things that die-hard fantasy fans enjoy while also bringing some fresh new ideas to the genre. It has the potential to become an epic fantasy series, and I'll be looking forward to the next installments.

thank you to the publisher/netgalley for this advance copy!

i really enjoyed this one! in this epic fantasy novel, we mostly follow two characters, arcady and everen. arcady is a thief, trying to make enough money to take himself off the streets and into university to study magic. at the start of the novel, arcady steals an artifact from the tomb of the 'plaguebringer' to aid him along the way to his goal. in the process of stealing this artifact, he is connected to everen - the first male dragon born in 300 years (and the last according to the prophecy) - who is dragged through 'the veil' (the curtain between worlds) and bonded to arcady.

the world-building in this book is very good, if a bit info-dumpy at times (though i feel like all fantasy books that are the beginning of a series fall victim to this). i liked how the magic system was set up, though it took me a little while to understand it completely. i liked that, though arcady and everen are our main characters, the cast of supporting characters felt sufficiently fleshed out enough that i was rooting for them (to survive or to die depending on the character!) i especially liked the inclusion of sorin's occasional chapters. the final few chapters had me GASPING as the reveals were made and the ending made me angry that i had read an arc of this so now there is an EVEN longer wait for the sequel.

i'm also an absolute sucker for the soul-bonding, enemies to lovers, "i don't want to want you" vibe which this book had in spades. arcady especially was VERY easy to root for as his past up to the point that we meet him in the book became revealed. i thought his relationship with everen was developed well and enjoyed when they were getting to know each other better, especially during their training scenes at arcady's home.

i didn't 100% mesh with the writing but i think that is a me problem rather than a book problem - i am not a huge fan of first/second-person fantasy and prefer third person omniscient narration. however, i did like how the reasoning for everen's chapters, which were told in a sort of journal format, became clear at the end and tied into the story. i will definitely be picking up the sequel when it comes out, and would recommend this for fans of jenn lyons & for any lovers of fantasy books where dragons are the main character!!

4/5 Stars

I want to thank Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I've truly been blessed with a lot of ARCs recently and I'm honored to be able to read these copies.

Anyways, the book. Dragonfall is the first in a three-book High Fantasy trilogy telling the story of two worlds - one of dragons banished from their home world long ago, and one of humans who have forgotten their dark past. We are thrown into the fray with the thief Arcady, who performs a spell during their latest acquisition and thus connects to Everen, a dragon who then lets himself get spelled away to the "human world". His task: form a magical bond of trust and soul with a human, and then kill them. This human: not having it.

When I started this book, I thought it was bad. The beginning is filled with many many info-dumps in order to explain the characters, the worlds, the magic system. I truly disliked that the author told everything and left very little to show in that regard. However, this is a very common issue with Fantasy and eventually got better. I did also have issues with the magic system and truly could not tell you how exactly it worked after reading the book. It might have helped to have an informative graphic at the beginning of the book, just to have a short overview. The writing, while truly brilliant at times, felt dragging and slow-paced most of the time. A lot happens in this book, but for some reason it felt like it took me ages to get through its pages.

Enough of the bad stuff - I did give this book quite a lot of stars! While conflicted about the use of narration perspective at first, it ended up making sense the way it was written later one. It's not catering to my taste in books, but then again it does not have to. I can truly see people enjoying this story, especially the romance between Everen and Arcady. It's queer, it's enemies bonded to each other to enemies learning to coexist to lovers to ???, and the characters' perspectives are indeed quite interesting. The narration is also quite queer in that, most of the times, gender-neutral pronouns are used unless characters specifically request gendered pronouns - I thought this was something that was quite interesting to explore.

All in all, Dragonfall is indeed a book worth picking up if you're looking for queer stories about dragons and romance - a very specific corner of the bookish community indeed.

the first couple of chapters are a tad clunky and heavy on the infobuilding, but this is case with many fantasys, and once you are past that. oh wow. I loved the magic system, it was different to many others i read and i really enjoyed that, but i also liked it wasnt front and foremost in this book. It was accepted this is what magic is, and that is that.
It is a very different writing style so i can see that being hit or miss, but for me it clicked, and the style makes sense once you get to the end and bawl your eyes out.
The romance in this as well - beautofully done and i would ride or die for these characters, their development is amazing and you really feel you come to know them by the end.
overall, its queer, its got dragons, its got romance and its emotional in so many ways. 100% pick up this book

Evokes the tales of old epic fantasy, rich and character-driven.

The highlight of this book quite frankly are the main characters, Arcady and Everen, whom I've fallen in love with as soon as they entered the page. Charming voices, very distinct from one another and surprisingly, I enjoyed both equally. The worldbuilding is definitely there, if left a bit blurred for the rest of the series, which is appropriate for a part 1. I know some people found the explanations about the prophecies a bit lacking, but again, I thought this was simply because this is only the beginning and we will learn more about Everen and his role in the grand scheme of everything later.

Downfalls for me:
-So the main plot of this book (without giving too much away) is a heist. I personally dislike this trope no matter the setting and the skill of the writer. But this felt unfair to deduce a star for, as I am sure many readers enjoy this. Im more of a cloak and dagger person, and if you are too, you're in luck, because Sorin's pov provides you with just that.

- The spoonfeeding of how gender works in this universe. The book does a great job at establishing Loch as a queer-normative society, which I personally find intriguing and refreshing with the added hand signals for the characters' preferred pronouns. There was simply no need for any of the cast to start preaching about reasons for this on multiple occasions. I understand that Everen had lived under much different expectations in terms of gender, but surely he didn't need to be told this many times.

Overall, a good book, really interesting characters and great pacing! Definitely will pick up this and the next one.

I'm sorry to say but the story just didn't grab me but hopefully it appeals to fans of dragons and diverse romance.

DNF...

I hate doing this and especially with an ARC.

But this book is painful. It gave me a headache. One thing I'm looking for in a book is that it's gripping and holds my attention. This did not do that. I was falling asleep on almost every page.

It's SO info-dumpy. There's an info-dump and then there's whatever the hell this is.

The characters are not interesting and both sound the same. There are also loads of made up words in this. I'm not opposed to this IF it's clear what the words mean. I didn't get that with Dragonfall. It felt like the author had their own secret language that no one else was in on at times.

I normally love fantasty romances, and the blurb of this really grabbed me. Sadly, the actual book is a bore-fest and I won't be continuing this series.

Whilst I did enjoy this book, I really struggled with the magic system - it was so confusing at times and didn’t feel fleshed out enough. I liked how the author dealt with gender in this story, it’s queer normative and refreshing in fantasy.

I really liked the developing relationship between Arcady and Everen but felt the other POVs were unnecessary, especially Sorin.

3.5 stars and will probably pick up the sequel.

DNF @41%

I hate DNF'ing books. I usually try to push through it to see to the end, taking it as a personal challenge. I hate DNF'ing ARCs even more because I feel far more responsible for the impact of my review.
But in this case, I needed to throw the towel in. Dragonfall wasn't for me.
It is not so much that I hated it (the magic system seemed pretty original and the gender-fluid society was definitely interesting), but rather that I felt very bored. I was moving at a glacial pace and didn't feel invested in the story and its characters. The different POVs addressing different audiences (Everen's chapters were written like a letter to Arcady) didn't help. If anything, it just made the narrative feel disconnected.

I really enjoyed this book and I can see why the author calls it a spiritual follow up to their Pantomime trilogy. There was an interresting world building (would have loved to know a bit more about the magic system, but there is 2 more books to come) especially when it came to how gender was delt with. As a genderfluid person, I really enjoyed Arcady being a shapeshifter. It did took me a few chatper to get into the rhythm of the narrative but once I got there it did flow really naturally (did made me really worried for Everen however).

20% DNF
For some reason the prose and the person changes in this book isn't suiting me. The story seems interesting enough, but the prose is confusing me personally. I would love to pick up the book again later when I am able to understand it more properly.

A great kick off for a new fantasy series - the relationship between the two protagonists is the beating heart of the book and kept me hastily turning the pages. I can’t wait to dive back into this world with a sequel!

Unfortunately this book wasn’t for me!

I thought the concept was interesting: dragons, enemies to lovers, queer! But it just didn’t flow well for me and I didn’t enjoy the dragon point of view at all.