This book was not quite what I hoped for unfortunately. I was excited about this with all the hype and the fact that it has dragons in it, but this book simply wasn't for me. This isn't my kind of book. I had a hard time with some of the way the POVs of the characters switched during the story and was lost as to which character was talking some of the time. I also felt like they were trying to break the fourth wall during part of the story and it felt weird and I didn't like it. Whether they meant to break/try to break the fourth wall on purpose or not I don't know, but in this kind of story it didn't work the way they were doing it/trying to do it.
I'm sure that a lot of others will like and enjoy this story and follow the series simply because it has dragons in it. I personally expected something different because it had dragons in it. I know this will be something a lot of others like and that there are a lot who do like it already. I simply wasn't the audience for this and it's not for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and DAW books for letting me have a chance to read and review this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )

This book was not quite what I hoped for unfortunately. I was excited about this with all the hype and the fact that it has dragons in it, but this book simply wasn't for me. This isn't my kind of book. I had a hard time with some of the way the POVs of the characters switched during the story and was lost as to which character was talking some of the time. I also felt like they were trying to break the fourth wall during part of the story and it felt weird and I didn't like it. Whether they meant to break/try to break the fourth wall on purpose or not I don't know, but in this kind of story it didn't work the way they were doing it/trying to do it.
I'm sure that a lot of others will like and enjoy this story and follow the series simply because it has dragons in it. I personally expected something different because it had dragons in it. I know this will be something a lot of others like and that there are a lot who do like it already. I simply wasn't the audience for this and it's not for me.
Thanks to NetGalley and DAW books for letting me have a chance to read and review this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )

I like dragons.
This book was easy to read but I don’t understand why each POV was written differently (1st, 2nd and 3rd).
I found Sorins chapters the most boring.
I liked the romance but there wasn’t enough of it for a story that centres on a bond between a human and dragon.
In terms of the magic system, I’m still confused.
I enjoyed it but don’t feel the need to continue with the series. ( )

Originally posted on Just Geeking by.

Content warnings:
This book contains scenes of violence, murder and death, including mass murder in the form of a plague. Events from the plague are discussed throughout the book in detail. In some flashback scenes, a sick room and the death of a parent are described in detail. As a result of the plague, characters can become starved for magic and there are scenes of a cannibalistic nature.

There are scenes of bigotry, classism and ableism, with victims of the plague afflicted with long-term complications being ostracised. There is a manipulative, abusive relationship with religious ties between a young person and the mentor who rescued them when they were a child.

Additionally, parts of dragons are traded as religious relics.

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.

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Pros: interesting characters, great worldbuilding, non-binary protagonist

Cons:

Arcady Eremia wants to clear their family’s name, so they need money and a new last name. Their spell was only supposed to change their name seal, not pull someone into their world. Certainly not someone magically bonded to them.

Everen Emberclaw’s been given a chance to fulfill a prophecy to save dragonkind from their dying world. But to do it he must properly bond with Arcady and then kill them.

This is a story about trust between two broken people that involves a fun heist towards the end of the book.

The worldbuilding was excellent. The human world has a fair amount of variety, with several kingdoms that have different customs, and a religion centered on the worship of dragons.

Arcady is non-binary and the world has a nifty way of dealing with pronouns, using honourifics until you learn the correct forms of address.

There are light romance elements with a fun will they/won’t they aspect.

Arcady’s gruff and a bit unlikeable at first, but really grows on you as time goes on. I loved Everen completely, especially watching him learn about the human world and trying to fit in.

Giving dragons feathers was kind of unique, and I loved that they have a smaller -preterit- forms.

This is the first of a series so while it ties up some loose ends it’s only part of a larger story. ( )