What to say about this book?
At the beginning, I was quite appalled by the way Everen's PoV kept talking to a "you" without it being the reader but someone else entirely, someone we still didn't know and only then recognized as Arcady. After this small setback, the read went smoothly.

Both Everen and Arcady have goals they have to - even <i>must</i> - reach in order for things to go as planned and as necessary. There are sacrifices to be made even if they sound less and less convincing as they walk the same path.

Credible, morally grey-ish characters that suffer the consequences of their actions, a queer cast in a world that completely normalizes it, a lovely final angst. "Dragonfall" promises to bewitch readers and become a big, recognized trilogy all over the world.

3.5/5 stars

This story had quite an interesting concept and I was pretty engaged the entire time. However, there were times where the writing style really stuck out as not for me.

The characters, while they all had their backstories, lacked depth to me so I couldn't invest in them the way I'd generally want to. And I wasn't into the relationship as much as I probably should have been, but I definitely wasn't against it either.

This book was entertaining and consistent all the way through, and I don't think it's bad at all. Just wasn't totally for me. Still, I'm invested enough that I'll probably check out the sequel in the future!

Thanks to NetGalley & the publisher for access to this.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me this Arc in exchange for my review.

Summary:
Everen is the last male dragon, destined to save his fellow dragons. He falls through the veil into the Hyman world and accidentally bonds with a human named Arcady. In order to fulfill the prophecy, he has to fully bond with Arcady, which comes with a lot of risks

Thoughts:
First let me say that I loved the name Everen and this book had so much potential. However, the book incredibly difficult to follow. I understand that the author was going for gender fluidity, but using the word "they" so many times in a sentence makes it awkward to read, and difficult to understand who is being talked about.
I'm really disappointed because I was really looking forward to reading this but unfortunately, I had to DNF.

I can't honestly say I would recommend this book.

I made it to 37% before I just had to call it quits.

I’m so disappointed – this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, from an author whose work I’ve enjoyed before. And every other review I’ve seen for Dragonfall is glowing with love and praise!

But I was so bored, and unimpressed, and the writing style was awful: blunt, arrhythmic, and sentences often seemed to be missing words (although hopefully that’s just an issue with the arc, and will be fixed in the final version). Everything was telling-telling-telling (which sometimes contradicted itself), the worldbuilding was incredibly simplistic, despite a few attempts to add interesting details, and then it started to turn into a freaking heist story!

I was hoping for – expecting – lush prose and detailed, interesting worldbuilding; and to be honest, I was also expecting Dragonfall to be written in third-person, not first. The voices of the main characters didn’t appeal to me, and although Arcady and Everen both have what should be interesting backstories, as characters I found both of them predictable and dull. I was genuinely annoyed that the culture of the dragons was so minimal; it felt very lazy and hand-waved, and nothing about the dragons themselves felt non-human. The only thing that differentiated Everen from any of the human characters was that he hated humans. That was it. Nothing about him felt alien, he didn’t have a unique perspective on anything, he didn’t think like someone who had never been human. He could have been a human character from a distant island, as he claimed, and it would have made almost no difference to the reading experience.

I guess a big part of the problem is that I was expecting Dragonfall to be something it isn’t. But what it is doesn’t interest me at all.

Thank you to netgalley for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I saw this book on goodreads and thought dragons?! Sign me up! But it fell kind of flat for me. It's told from alternating points of view and when I started I thought well I should like one character right? I didn't like any of them. I also found the story very slow to get moving. Which made it feel a bit like work instead. I also didn't love that it was very preachy about gender. I understand representation for characters but it didn't need to be a whole lesson. There was also a lot of overexplaining. Although the magic system was vastly underexplained.

Dragonfall by LR Lam immediately catches your eye because of the beautiful cover. It is the first book in a setup for multiple books. Everen is a dragon with heavy prophecy on them, and Arcady the human has big dreams. They become connected by magic and have to figure out their way forward.

The world that Lam has built is interesting - the roles of gender are much more fluid and respected. Language is more intertwined. The way if the magic in the world was a bit confusing to me at times, and the end a bit chaotic. I think if i read the book a second time that confusion would go away.

I am looking forward to a sequel! Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this book, the relationship between a human and a dragon made me a bit nervous at first but the author really wove the narrative together well.

With a genderfluid thief as the MC this book has a fantastic queernormative world. Waiting for children to decide their own gender and asking for pronouns is normalised - they even have their own way of showing their pronouns with hand signs.
Besides the queernormitivity of the world the way it was built was phenomenal. The magic system, the dragons rage, it was a perfect mid between plot driven and character driven. And despite not really connecting to the characters strongly, I did find their motives worked well with the plot.

Though I know people are saying they didn’t like Everen’s chapters, I really loved the way they were in second person as though he was addressing them to Arcady, it added great texture to the book. But that might be my love of Harrow the ninth peeking through. :)

Could not get into it. Didn’t find any of the characters very engaging or likeable. I’ve actually never see gender identity be so forcefully used. Seeing “They” and “Their” capitalized all over had me confused and it was a lot. I’m sure it could have been an interesting story but as of right now I can’t finish it.

I didn’t want to start yet another on-going series, but I’d been wanting to read this for so so long, so I requested an arc. And then, it got accepted! I dropped everything I was reading to get to this.

𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵, 𝘐 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘭𝘺.

This was SUCH an amazing start to a dragon fantasy trilogy, and really makes me want to read the next book and the rest of the trilogy.

The writing is so detailed, and just so amazing. There’s no other way to put it. At times a little slow, but otherwise I loved it!

𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘐 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳. 𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘮. 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳. 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.

Sorin was a really relateable mc, or as relateable as someone can be when they’re basically a dragon, and sorin’s a huge part of why I liked this as much as I did.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Dragons, enemy-to-lovers and queer! Dragonfall was the book I didn’t know I needed!

Drangonfall is a queer high fantasy that contains three separate and unique POV’s: Arcady- a thief trying to make a life for themselves, Everen- a dragon transported and trapped in the human realm with the hopes of his entire species resting on his shoulders, and Soren.

L.R. Lam’s writing style is very different than anything I’ve previously read, and it took me a few chapters to enjoy the flow, but it was worth getting past this hump. Similarly, the plot took a little while to get rolling but the pace picked up once the initial world building was established. All information was drip-fed deliciously, and motives were clear from the beginning, allowing the story to flourish as Arcady and Everen navigate their bond. Their relationship was a slow-burn and the progression was incredibly well-written. I can’t wait to continue the series.

Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

1/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC!

DNF @ 20%

I really wanted to like this one but unfortunately I couldn’t get into it. The worldbuilding is so incredibly infodumpy and yet I still had questions. I couldn’t get into the writing style and couldn’t connect to the characters, so I didn’t care at all about what was happening. I wish I could say more but the part I read was so incredibly bland that I barely remember what happened.

DNF @38%
I really tried a lot to convince myself to finish this book......but I just can't. Although the premise was very interesting, this just didn't work for me, unfortunately. I wasn't a fan of the info dumping in the beginning, and it was a lot to keep track of. Ultimately I forgot most of the things. The magic system was also not well-established. I couldn't connect to any of the characters. I really wanted to like this, but sadly it didn't work for me. Maybe I'll give it another chance later.

WOW!
Queer enemies-to -lovers...with dragons?? Say no more.
Dragonfall was quite the journey, with incredible world building, with an interesting magic system, and captivating characters that kept you wanting to turn the pages.
I really enjoyed the different POVs, as it added depth to the story and pulled you right into this new and eclectic world.
There was a little receptiveness throughout the story with lots of information thrown at you at the very beginning, and some of the descriptions became a little repetitive. I also think Lam could have taken a little more time to explain how their magic system works and why. However, this was a new and innovative idea for a book which was a sigh of relief.
The character's interactions were so fun to read and I wish I had Sorin's mini-dragon pet.

Would definitely recommend this book and cannot wait to read the rest of the series!
Thank you so much to Netgalley and DAW Books for the ARC!

The initial draw for me towards this book was the beautiful cover art and dragons! I am a huge fan of any fantasy book that has dragons. Its even better since this book is enemies to loves WITH DRAGONS! I'm also loving the "I have to kill you but I can't now because I love you" Trope.

First of all, the first few chapters was a struggle for me with loads of world building and information. It was a little difficult to keep up but eventually it all makes sense in the end.
I really liked the multiple POVS, well three POVS to be exact. It really gave me sense of the inner minds of each character and their relationships. I loved that it was not romance heavy, the romance is there but not the main focal point. It was subtle and banter was amazing.
Overall, I think its a great way to begin the trilogy.

The twist in the end had me wishing I already had the sequal in my hands. I will be looking forward to book 2.



Thanks to NetGallery for this advanced copy in exchange for a honest review.

This book was initially on my radar for the cover art, the subject matter including dragons, and for the overall description. For lovers of all things dragons and high fantasy, this title is worth trying. I enjoyed the plot and thought the premise for the book was creative. However, as someone who enjoys fantasy with only a few years of experience diving into the genre, the book was a bit inaccessible.

The main problem I found that prevented me from becoming immersed in the story was how the world building and norms of this realm were presented to the reader. Within the first couple chapters, there are already dozens of terms that are either completely made up or perhaps have a language origin that is not my forte. It was rather confusing having so many unknown words thrown at you that either had implied meaning or would be delved into later. I do appreciate that there was a more organic approach to the world building, but it was also so much that the more natural presentation of terminology was on the more chaotic side.

At the same time that the terms were not outright explained, a ton of the history of this world was info-dumped in the same first few chapters. One one hand, I was completely lost in the new words but also overloaded with really long sections of backstory that were interrupting the characters' actions.

I found the jumps to the two main characters and the switch from first to second person POV a bit jarring. I've seen this creative decision work well in other stories. Maybe it would not be an issue for others but it was one that I struggled with in this instance.

I can understand why some readers would enjoy this book but the approach to world building and the stylistic choices in the design were just not really for me.

I Read Dragonfall as an arc in exchange, for my honest opinion, so here's what I think about this book.  I feel pretty neutral about this book, which is pretty uncommon for me because either I like a book or I hate it. Likewise, I normally love dragons books, but Dragonfall didn't catch me. The writing style and characters weren't it for me, and I just couldn't get used to it, but that's just my personal opinion, and maybe you would love the writing style and the characters. The book was carried by characters and tropes, which is not my thing and I prefer if the focus lies on the plot. But overall it wasn't a bad book and I would still recommend it if you enjoy dragons.

I want to say the world building was amazing, but took me a while to get into it. There were new terms which I understood through context but some are still not entirely clear. Like Starveling, I hope it was explained a little better.

The story has a good blend of dragons, magic, prophecies, betrayal, schemes, and a heist. But, it's kind of slow. It felt like the first 75% of the story was just a build up leading to the heist, and that said heist happened really fast. However, that twist at the end was shocking.

Also, the exploration of queerness and gender was wonderful. Every character was introduced with the pronoun 'they', until such character acknowledged which gender they identify with.

The thing I disliked the most is it is told in switching POVs and in different persons. It confused me too many times, and had to check the chapter page to check on whose perspective I was reading.

The romance of the two main characters was not the focal point of the story, which is great. However, I found it not that believable on how they eventually fell for each other. But, once they got together, I was rooting for them.

I don't think this book amazed me enough to look forward for the sequel, but I might still read it just to know what happens.

Thank you so much DAW and @netgalley for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

It took some pushing forward to get into this story, but once I was in it, I loved it. The conflicts, the tension, the plotting, and a slow burn that finished still very much up in the air leaving a lot of potential development in books to come. The pace, past about 13% in, wasn't slow nor too quick. It was well balanced.

It was an enemies-to-lovers on one side and a forced-proximity-makes-friends-to-lovers on the other. And the friendship was real, to the point where I felt what happened to that bond. Honestly, when I requested this Arc, I had not expected the romance aspect, which was a welcomed surprise.

Now while I did love most of it and I can't wait to get my hands on book 2, I did have problems with the beginning that might have stopped short my reading had this not been an arc read.

The first few chapters were a little bit of a trial to get through. First, the prologue definitely should have been chapter 1. It's needed for an initial understanding of Everen. But beware, it is riddled with heaps of purple prose. Same goes for Everen's following two or three chapters, then suddenly the flowery prose clears up. Arcady's first two chapters are basically info dumps. Again this clears up and information is then evenly distributed. Lastly,
while an aspect I did enjoy, the gender fluidity of Loc's culture was not explained until 19% in, which made me wonder for waayyy too long why the them/they was applied in many situations but not others.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book, and I want to know what happens next, but at the same time new readers need to be willing to overcome those initial hurdles in order to dive fully into this story.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this arc. My opinions are my own.

I received a digital copy of Dragonfall through netgalley in exchange for my open and honest review:

DNF at 24%

The following contains mild spoilers for the first quarter of the book, so proceed at your own risk.

There was a lot that I liked about this book settings wise, but there was just an absolute failure to launch for me. I was hoping for a dragon based high fantasy: instead I got dragon stuck in human and/or humanoid shape while they must find the person they have accidentally become bound to.

The primary human character, Arcady, is just kind of…there. They exhibit no real elements of personality, like they do things and they consider things and consequences, but there is just no reason to care and the character doesn’t make you.

The worldbuilding and magic system has a large amount of potential, although it came in a disappointing trickle, and I could not sit through these bland characters and yet another ‘promising dragons and not delivering dragons’ story.

Also, despite the progressive (which is good) stand on world-building, a stuck polymorph really comes off as making fun of neurodivergent people by having a character clearly not able to parse social cues (with the excuse of being a dragon) and not sufficiently going into differences of culture between the species when in the “Dragons” point of view.

Everen is fated to save the dragons' dying world. Following a prophecy, he falls into the human world, bonded to a human, a thief, Arcady. Dragons despise humans thanks to their history, while humans unbeknownst to the facts, revere them as gods. With his actions, he'll either save the dragons and give them their world back, or doom them all.

Everen's plan and duty definitely don't include falling for Arcady, but the way they obliviously end up longing for each other... chef's kiss.

Getting into the book was a little bit hard at first thanks to the overwhelming amount of world-building info dump at the beginning. The history is detailed and the magic system is beautiful but a little complex, which doesn't make it easier on you at the beginning. I also felt that the style of writing aspires to be beautiful and sophisticated but ends up a little hard to read. Oftentimes I felt myself wanting to skip ahead, so we could get to the point finally.

But once you get going it's a great queer fantasy romance, with dragons, magic, and the "I should kill you but I'm falling for you" trope. So if that's up your alley, then give it a go, and don't give up after the first few chapters.