3.5

Overall I did enjoy the book, I like the writing, the magic system, and most of the characters. What I'm really annoyed with is cliffhanger endings to books. It literally makes me NOT want to continue reading.

This fell short in ways that I was not expecting it to.

While the world-building is detailed and well-crafted, the same cannot be said for the characters who feel underdeveloped and lack the depth that is necessary to make them relatable or interesting to me. The author's attempts to create a unique and intricate world were well done, but the characters fell short. They felt one-dimensional, with little growth or development throughout the story. As a result, it is difficult to connect with them on any meaningful level.

The plot of Dragonfall was interesting, but it was also predictable and I struggled to pay close attention. The story moves at quite a slow pace, and the lack of narrative tension makes it hard to stay engaged. The constantly swapping perspectives at times made my head spin. I found that, while the author has a talent for description, they failed to bring the world to life in a way that felt engaging or compelling to me.

While the dense world building and elaborate descriptions gave the atmosphere of a high fantasy with queer rep, I felt that it hindered the momentum of the plot. By the end, I thought this was a pretty decent read—a heist with a scrappy group of thieves, a religious zealot and his ward-turned-assassin (wanted more from her POV!), and some good dragon-based world structure, but the beginning really dragged for me. There was a huge amount of background given to this world that just didn’t get elaborated on and didn’t seem to have any connection to the story. As a result, it was hard to get invested in the small cast of characters and it impacted my reading pace (also making it hard to follow). the bulk of this book felt very monologue-y, with characters just explaining what was happening instead of allowing the reader to feel or see what was going on and how the characters felt about it. Acknowledging that this is outside of my own experience, so others may feel differently, the queer politics and representation in this book felt inauthentic. For example, in this society, the noble class uses capitalized gender-neutral pronouns, but we never learn why it’s important. Perhaps contradictorily, the gods they worship are dragons, who have a clear matriarchal structure. (Everen, our MC is the only male dragon currently living.)

The story is (primarily) split between narration by Arcady, a thief with a chip on his shoulder, and Everen, a dragon burdened by a prophecy. When orphan Arcady steals an artifact, the two become psychically linked. Though neither wants the connection, they see how it can benefit them in the short term as they complete a heist that will set up Arcady’s future and allow Everen to build enough trust to get what he needs.

I was provided an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you so much Netgalley for the ARC!

I think I would have enjoyed the book if I could remember all the extra infos and unknown words. The beginning - while it wasn't the best, I loved that there were prophecies (reminded me of Percy Jackson), Arcady's troublesome past and humans betraying dragons. The premise seemed great and I thought the rest of the journey would be very exciting. Spoiler : it wasn't. I couldn't care less for the characters and their weird speaking styles. At one point, I couldn't even understand where it was going. The pace was so slowww and I actually love slow burn. Anyhoo, not my kinda read.

I am late to the game with this, but looking so forward to the other books in this trilogy! I'm on a bit of a dragon kick right now, so this was right up my alley.

First of all, DRAGONS. Second of all, enemies to bloody lovers. Third of all, queer rep. Yes please and thank you to all of that in every book I ever read in the fantasy genre
I wasn't a fan of the writing, I had a number of issues with the worldbuilding, but the mystery of the Veil, the character twist, and dragonrider thing going on make me willing to continue with the series.

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.