Unfortunately, I had a hard time with this one. And it's simply because it wasn't for me. I tried to get into a few different times, but could never make it farther than a few pages at a time before getting distracted. If I really like a book, I'll disappear into for hours and finish it quickly.

I struggled to get interest in either of the main characters: Arcady or Everen's. They were very similar and would take me a while to get back into who was who if I stepped away from the book for a bit. Everen also didn't feel like a dragon to me - he was almost too human. If that makes sense.

The world building fell a little short for me as well. I had a hard time putting myself in it.

The premise of this book sounded amazing and wonderful and I'm sure it's just me that was having a hard time with it as it just didn't fit well with me.

Dragonfall was not quite what I was expecting, but in the best way. I loved the dragon magic system and the mythology of the relationship between dragons and humans. The tension between Arcady and Everen was fantastic. I can’t wait to read the sequel!

I needed quite a few attempts to read this book... and I only did so as I hate not ending books - this is my pet peeve for a VERY long time. So when I saw this cover (dragons) and read the blurb of Ms. Lam's book I knew I wanted to read it!
And here I am - so disappointed as my expectations were at a normal level and there were beaten to the ground with the first part of the story where I did not know what was going on. Like a student that came for his lesson after a whole year of not attending this lecture. And not someone in front of something new that is ready to be followed and discovered, but here I got a completely different idea of introducing the book - with lots of descriptions, almost zero conversations, and information that would not make sense in future events (or their interpretation would change).
Characters overall fell flat and I was not interested in any of them, main or second ones, they were well... all the same to me as I got bombarded at the beginning with a bunch of names that did not make sense or matter to me in the end.
In the beginning, I wanted to at least like it, but as much as I wanted to it was not something to my tastes. With expectations I had it did not live to what I wanted to receive from it.

Detailed descriptions are not always world building- I never thought I would say that. The writing was very beautiful at times, but there are moments where that level of description made the book feel like it was dragging, and I quickly found myself wanting to DNF. The writing also made the characters seem boring, or maybe they would've been boring either way, but I did not have a good time.

I really struggled to get into the dragon's "voice" but I love that it was used. It's extremely creative, but I do think it could've been edited a bit more.

Dragonfall is a queernormative high fantasy full of adventure, heists and most importantly, dragons. This was one of my most anticipated 2023 releases, and while I loved the concept and the style the author was going for, I did feel as though the execution lacked a little something - particularly in the world building. I struggled a lot to get into and follow this world, which ended up being rather disappointing. I still intend to continue with the series, but I didn't love this one as much as I had hoped.

Read for:

- Dragons
- Political Intrigue
- Heists
- Secret Identities
- Enemies to lovers
- Reluctant allies

----3/5 stars!


Thank you to netgalley for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review,

I was quite intrigued by the premise of this book and it has dragons, so it's an instant must-read! This is the first book in an epic fantasy that takes dragons to the next level. We have a dual POV of a human, Arcady, and a dragon, Everen. Everen is disguised as a human, the beings that betrayed the dragons years ago and who stole their magic.
Everen is connected to Arcady by a spell and we experience their interaction from both human and dragon POV. I loved reading Everen's POV, I felt it makes the story more unique as you don't find many books with the POV of a dragon. At times the tension was palpable and I was keen to know what happened to the dragons and why the humans betrayed them. Any history about dragons is always interesting.

I felt the pace was a bit slow, but since this is the first book in the series, the pace was needed to set the scene and introduce the characters. There are heists that gave me Six of Crows vibes and the bond between Arcady and Everen developed in such a brilliant way. I absolutely loved Sorin!
I enjoyed this book and can't wait to continue with the series! I need more of this world and these characters.

Read this if you like:
- enemies to lovers
- dragons
- genderfluid thief
- heists
- prophecies
- Queer rep

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for a digital gifted copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

To get straight to the point: This book was not for me.
I quit at about 12%.

I loved the short description and what the book was trying to achieve.
However, I didn't even get far enough into the story to really get into the plot. The descriptions left me rather confused and even after thinking about it for a few days, I couldn't really recap what the story was about. Not to mention some language choices and words where I didn't know what they were supposed to mean. There was no balance between words or concepts that should have been explained (instead of expecting the reader to already know them for some reason) and what should have been shortened because it veered into info dumping.
The three different POVs from three different narrative perspectives were honestly quite irritating. I think I could have adjusted to it over time, but it felt like they were written in the same language style, so you couldn't really tell them apart.
I liked the effort to make the story gender-neutral or gender-inclusive, I just don't see why “they” had to be written with a capital letter. And at times, “they” was mentioned or used so often that I wished some sentences had been rewritten because it got so distracting.
Since I haven't finished reading the book, I can't really say anything about the plot.
But maybe I'll pick it up at some point again.

Thank you so much, NetGalley and DAW, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Long ago, humans betrayed dragons, stealing their magic and banishing them to a dying world. Now the dragons are workshipped as gods, but remember and do not forgive. Thief Arcady struggles to live in the streets of Vatra and one day Arcady steals a powerful artifact from the most hated person in their history, from the bones of the Plaguebringer. Arcady knows the artifact has magic and it's the key to a more comfortable life and a revenge. The spell, though, connects to Everen, the last dragon of his kind, foretold to save the other dragons and brings him into this world and disguised as human, he soon learns again about his powers and form and how to fulfill his destiny. The only thing to do is to convince the thief to trust him completely and bonds with him...and then kill them. Yet, the closer they become the things between them change, risking to shatter both their worlds.

Dragonfall is the first book of a romantiv epic fantasy trilogy, filled with banished dragons, now revered as gods, a foretold profecy and an intriguing world with romance, magic and queer love.
A book with dragons? I'm absolutely in. A queer book with dragons? Are you fulfilling my dreams? Dragonfall is MAGNIFICENT! I love everything about this book, from the compelling worldbuilding, wonderfully written and so involving, to the characters, the magic, the powers and the bond between Arcady and Everen and how it develops. I loved every single thing and I need the sequel asap!

This was good, but not excellent. I liked the main character but it felt a little forced. Was a fine read, but probably wouldn't purchase it for myself!

Dragonfall is an epic fantasy book which follows a dragon and a human. Both are the answer to a prophecy. Will they save their world or will they burn it to ashes?

The story was really intriguing and I haven't read something like that before. The LGBT+ romance makes it even more special. And I was eager to read it and see what happens in the end. But it didn't go as planned.

I DNF'd the book. Although the plot was *chief's kiss*, the writing style was exhausting in a way. I couldn't read more than a few pages at a time and I had to reread many parts, because I didn't understand what I was reading. The pronouns and all the new info were overwhelming for me. They got me confused many times. I tried to give it a chance, but unfortunately I couldn't.

This isn't an easy review for me, because it's the first time I'm reviewing a book I didn't finish. That's why I'm rating it with 3 stars (because it's in the middle). L. R. Lam had a great story to tell, but maybe it wasn't for me or maybe the timing was wrong.

If you like big adventures, handsome dragons who transform into humans, and magic this book is for you!

Thank you NetGalley and DAW for the opportunity to read this ARC.

This was a hard one to rate. I really wanted to love this book but it was really hard to get into. Second half of the story got really good with the semi heist storyline and the ending twist I somehow did not see coming.. Thought this was going to be a standalone but seems like its a series and I do want to know what's going to happen in the next one. The plot itself was interesting and like the idea of dragons being locked behind a veil worshiped as gods.

I enjoyed the Arcady as a character she was complex and interesting and morally grey. Everen annoyed me at times and Sorin was okay but felt like her character seemed almost unnecessary though I guess could be important in the future books.

The main issues I had with this story was that each persons POV was written in different style, first person for Arcady, third person for Sorin and second person for Everen which was weirdest of all as it seemed like he was telling the story to Arcady, also the way he said "you" so often gave me creepy "YOU" the show vibes. Another issue I had was that the names of the characters seemed like they were ripped from The Blood of Eith series. Evren is mc in that and Sorin is one of the main side characters. Hoping its just a co-incidence.

2.5 Rounded Up.

I received an advanced copy of Dragonfall by L.R Lam from the publisher DAW via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What It’s About: Long ago, humans betrayed dragons and stole their dragons, banishing them to a world that was dying. Now, it’s centuries later and humans worship dragons as gods, but the dragons do not forgive the humans. When Arcady, a thief who lost everything, goes to steal a powerful artifact from the bones of the Plaguebringer, the most hated person in Lumet history, in hopes of starting a chance for a new life among the court and the chance to prove his families innocence. However, the spell connects to Everen, the last male dragon who has been prophesized to save his kind, pulling him into the human world. Disguised as a human, Everen realizes to gain his true power back he must make Arcady trust him and then kill him.

What I Loved: This book is ambitious and I like the promise of the book. I liked the thief and heist aspects of this novel. I felt like there were a lot of good threads here that I was interested in but they never really come to fruition. I will also say the romance here, I liked. I totally bought into these characters getting to know each other and trust each other and fall for each other.

What I Didn’t Like: Gosh, for something with so much promise, it just didn’t end up work. The worldbuilding especially on the human side of the world was in complete and didn’t allow for me to fully be submerged in this world. I think that there needed to be quite a bit of set-up. Important plot points are not quite worked out and I felt like I was supposed to understand from the book, but it simply wasn’t understandable. I also found the prose to be a bit forced and descriptive without being substantive. This book could have been one of the best fantasy books I read, but lack of good world building and the style of prose made it challenging.

Who Should Read It: People who love fantasy based romance. People who don’t mind limited world building.

Summary: A dragon and a thief and a connection that could break

As expected I really enjoyed this! Especially the dragons since those are always a plus in for me. The world building and magic was really interesting however it still left me with some confusion. I also really liked the characters. I did have a little trouble differentiating between the POVs sometimes but that is a common issue for me. Overall I think it was a really solid first book to this series and I can’t wait to see where it goes!

well, this is a weird one to review.

first half was ROUGH. so much that i just set the book aside for months because the writing and story simply weren't compelling enough to turn one more page. it did get better and once i started reading again i finished it all in one sitting - but that was mostly because my expectations had been adjusted accordingly.

because you know what? this is the least dragon-y dragon book i've read in a long time. no, not because the dragons in question rarely take dragon form or anything like that - but because these dragons do not feel like dragons at all! they could have been elves, or fairies or some made up race and the story wouldn't change much, if at all. the worst thing is, i don't find them interesting. most dragon characters just... didn't have anything going for them. they were boring which is just bonkers. these are dragons!!

this was the big disappointment that eventually made me put this book aside for a long time.

the writing didn't help much in this regard. again, expectations. i was under the impression that this would a fast paced adventure... and that's partly my fault, since i thought this was YA. it isn't. so the slow pace is fine. i was just expecting something different.

as for the povs, i was not a big fan of every single one being narrated in a different style - first person for arcady, third person for sorin, second person for everen - not because they are different exactly, but because the book doesn't have a reason to do this. why is arcady in first person and sorin in third? why is everen telling the story to arcady (implying he's doing so after it already happened)? it doesn't feel natural. but this was mostly a small annoyance, to be honest.

surprisingly, once i came back to the story without these first expectations, i actually had a good time. the romance between arcady and everen didn't bother me much and by the end i was mostly pleased with their relationship. i liked them both as characters as well and was kind of pissed on their behalf by the time i finished the story, which is always a good sign. some dialogue was a bit of a miss for me here and there (especially for arcady's reasoning to not trust anyone) and i don't feel like i have a good grasp of how this world works (that months-long break might have something to do with it, to be honest) but overall i ended the story kinda curious about the next book.

will i read it? maybe. depends on the blurb and so far i can't find it anywhere. but we will see, i guess.

2/5 stars. I was really excited to read this book because 1. I love dragons 2. I love queer fantasy stories. However this book was very confusing and downright boring. It didn't help that the author info dumped for the first 60% of the book before any sort of action or plot point seemed to finally materialize and make sense.
I will say I love Lam's way of world building in regards to gender and identity. I thought it was very creative for the world and different from other fantasy novels.
Beyond that, I really don't see myself enjoying the rest of the trilogy. It felt like a chore to get through and that's something I don't want to have to see in a book with dragons.

Sometimes, there are books you are super excited about that just don't work for you. This is one of them. I was really excited for Dragonfall, because who doesn't want books about dragons.
I ended up DNFing it a little over halfway through, because I just couldn't get into it. The multiple POV just wasn't it for me, and the change from first person, to third person, to second person just took me out of the book.
I guess my expectations were just too high, and it just didn't give me what I wanted. I know many readers will love it. For me, it just wasn't it. I struggled with whether or not I should even post about it, but, honestly I find that sometimes it helps me keep my expectations in check to see not so shiny reviews, and not scare me from trying it out. So this book might be for you, but it just wasn't for me.

It took me a bit longer to read this book through no fault of its own – the siren call of Dreamlight Valley & Diablo IV was just too strong for a while. Just like the author’s last novel, Goldilocks, I thoroughly enjoyed Dragonfall. The world-building and character-building were lush and engaging. This book contains a new origin story for the battle of dragons and humans – one where human history made them into gods and humanity has forgotten their own origin story. The dragons, however; have not forgotten – and they’re looking for a way back home and some payback.

I like how the author chose to portray gender in this book, it was a unique way to describe it that I tucked away for further thought. We see also a representation of a form of sign language called Trade, which is sometimes used to communicate whether the person cannot speak or to bridge a language barrier. I would have loved more exploration into how the magic system works, I really cringe at the “relics”, and how they work. I’m going to guess that we will see more of an in-depth look at the magic system in the next book. My hopes are high for more world and history-building with the next book in the trilogy.

I liked Arcady and Everen – I definitely understood their initial purpose for doing the things that they did. I did not actually mind the romantic aspects between Arcady and Everen, which surprised me – I’m generally not a fan of romantasy novels. I wasn’t a big fan of the chapters with Sorin – I’m guessing that she will have a larger part to play later. The twist at the end with Magnus – I did not see coming.

I shall be adding this trilogy to my TBR and if it piques your interest at all, I would highly recommend checking it out. I will definitely be scooping up the next two books and I am excited to hopefully learn more about their story and the story of their world(s). I would like to thank DAW Books, L.R. Lam, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this unique dive into a world with dragons.

Now this was a fun book to read. I feel like books that have dragons in it are just instantly better than books that don't have dragons. This was a wonderful read. I loved the characters. The world building was top tier and the pacing of the book was basically perfect. this was super good. Definitely recommend it.

The author is so good at worlbuilding! I absolutely loved the worldbuilding in this.

I was hooked from the first page with great writing and memorable characters.

This book was everything!!! The characters felt so real and I loved the writing style. It was so interesting to read from a combined first and second persective but it made so much sense, because Acardy uses any pronouns so ciurcumvent the use of pronouns Everen basically tells Arcady the story and uses "you" when he talks about Arcady.
I can't wait for the next book.