Dragonfall by L.R. Lam is a dragon-shifter romance pulling double duty as a fantasy novel and succeeds in both admirably. If the phrase ‘soulbonded enemies to lovers’ makes joyful siren noises go off in your head, Dragonfall may just be for you.

The novel follows Arcady, a genderfluid thief who is determined to overcome their family’s reputation and earn their place in society at any cost, and Everen, the last male dragon leashed to an ominous prophesy and unable to access his true form. While I found the worldbuilding confusing and scattered at times, there’s still a lot to love about this novel: biting antagonistic banter, characters overcoming trauma, magic and mayhem in heist format, and of course, a slow-burn romance with an ache you’ll feel in the back of your teeth.

Thank you to DAW and NetGalley for an advance review copy. All thoughts are my own.

i was waiting for a big ol dragon epic to relive my childhood passion i did like this especially the dragon povs and liked the bond between the two main characters and how it used with the twist but i felt it went on quite long and looses tension along the way i would be read the next one though

Sadly the execution of this just fell short. I tried restarting it several times and just found myself quite lost in the world, but not in a good way. It felt at times this had too much detail without much happening, and at others like information was dropped in on the reader without full clarity and context.

This felt confused, overly complicated, and very slowly paced which made this a struggle.

I guess I didn't like dragons as much as I thought I did. Dragonfall by L.R. Lam is an epic dragon saga full of relics and shapeshifters and other magic. It was a deeply interesting book, but it didn't quite hit the mark for me. The pacing felt slow to start and I had to set it down and pick it back up several times. I'll be interested to see what comes next.

I wanted to really love this because, hello, DRAGONS! But I was left a bit disappointed, I had a bit of an issue with the pacing of the book that made it drag on. I found myself skimming pages just to try to finish this. I will say that I was in a bit of a reading funk when reading this, so I'm not sure if that also didn't help me with this read.

This wasn’t at all what I expected but I found it really fun. The beginning was especially cinematic and I like an MC who fights for what she wants. That cover is beautiful as well!

DNF

Ugh, I don’t know if it’s my mood or what but some of my recent ARCs have not been meeting my expectations. I really wanted to like this book because the premise seems right up my alley. I love dragons and enemies to lovers and queer fantasy books, but this one just did not suck me in like I had hoped it would. There’s so much info dumping and name/term dropping with little explanation that it doesn’t make me want to keep going. I wanted to fall asleep every single time I opened this book up because it’s just so boring.

I enjoyed this to a point, but it felt a little confusing when reading and trying to keep track of the story. There seemed to be a lot of unnecessary parts.

What a unique story! Filled with characters that really drive the story and create a fun place to be immersed!

"I'm going through a dragon phase. I'm obsessed with them... The truth is, I fell in love with this book from the moment I saw the cover. But it's been a bit of a tumultuous relationship. The writing style was both, satisfying and frustrating; while the constant flow between one style and another was too jarring for me, I recognize that it was masterfully employed to differentiate personalities. I had a similar experience with the world-building. I loved the richness of the society that was depicted, but at times the descriptions felt excessive. As for the love story, I have to say that I loved it, I have no complaints."

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Unfortunately I just couldn’t get into this one, I think others will enjoy it but I found myself very confused while reading this and I couldn’t quite understand what was going on.

This was a 5 star for me. The world building was epic, i loved each and every character. The story was facinating and beautifully written. I loved every second of time that I put into reading this. The story was well thought out, the world was beautifully described, and i cant wait to read more.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. I love a good dragon story but this was only just okay. There was a lot of angst and maybe I just wasn't in the mood for that much at the moment. It just felt like a little bit too much angst.

Everyn is the last male dragon, all hope for dragonkind has lain heavy on his shoulders for his whole life.

Arcady is a thief, trying to make better of their life and prove the innocence of their ancestor in being responsible for a great plague.

Arcadys actions to achieve this brings the pair together and an unwilling bond is formed, each side getting something from it. So in order to strengthen this bond, the hesitatant duo have to team up with some old Companions of Arcadys and orcastrate a heist for a dragon relic

These two paths are prophesied to cross, and a bond between them could change both of their worlds... for better or worse is the question. And can they trust each other enough to see things through.

Interesting concept and I really enjoyed the magic system in this book, and the extreme consequences of magic that is part of this.

The change in writing styles between POVs was a little jarring. I generally don't have issue with a book being in either first or third person, but constantly switching was a bit of a struggle at times, pretty sure we covered first, second and third person in this book! That being said, the story was good enough to help me push through and once I got into the swing of how each characters chapter was written, I didn't notice the changes quite as much

Will definitely be picking up book 2 after all that happened towards the end!

Dragonfall by L.R. Lam is the first book in The Dragon Scales Trilogy.
 
I must preface this by saying that I read Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros and was obsessed with dragons afterwards and picked up this book immediately afterwards. That was probably not the best decision and I wish I had read something else first, because I feel like I had enjoyed this book more and wouldn’t compare the two.
 
This story is set in a world where dragons were always present and a long time ago humans hated them, but now dragons are worshiped as gods. That was such a fascinating dynamic and I loved learning about this. You also get chapters from a dragon‘s perspective and that was my favorite part of this book.
 
The protagonist Arcady grew up as a poor orphan and she always dreamed of a better life. And she gets a chance for it, and she learns of powers that change everything. I liked the concept of her character, but to me she seemed like a means to an end, and I couldn’t fully connect to her.
 
The plot starts off with the dragons, but later on revolves around magic and artifacts and shapeshifters and that was a bit much for me and I wish the focus would have been more with the dragons.
 
Overall, if you like fantasy stories with dragons, this might be for you. 3 stars.
 
(ARC kindly provided in exchange for a review.)

I feel a little bad giving this story a one star review because I had to DNF it fairly early on. I appreciated what this author was trying to do — who doesn’t love the idea of an inclusive world and dragons bent on revenge?? — but the writing and characters REALLY did not click for me. I would be interested in coming back to this in the future and seeing if my opinion changes, especially when the series is complete. I think there is something here for other readers to enjoy, but the foundation of this book wasn’t for me and so I am not going to force it.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for letting me give this a shot.

"The “gods” remember, and they do not forgive. "

Long ago humans betrayed the Dragons, banished them to a doomed world. After centuries humankind have forgotten their past transgressions and worship the Dragons as gods once again.

Arcady is a thief, living under a new identity, trying to run from her secrets and steal enough to start a new life and finally fulfill her magical potential. Little does she know she is half bonded to Everen, the last male dragon who is sent on a mission to set right the past. The Dragons want to take back what is theirs. He is disguised as a human and tasked with seducing Arcady to compete the bond and then betray them and kill them.

I wanted to love this one so much, DRAGONS, a fascinating world and magic system, and the diversity but that is basically the only parts i liked. The romance plot line did not do it for me. I did not buy it and it felt unconvincing. There was also a POV of a character that felt unnecessary and did not contribute anything to the story. The choice of the writing for Everen's point of view did not work for me. I understand why it was done but it did not vibe with me.

I would like to thank DAW for providing a digital copy of this novel via NetGalley. This was quite an eventful read. This is a story of dragon lords who were betrayed by humans--the very people who stole their magic and vanished them from their world. The plot involves a thief named Arcady who steals an artifact linked to a powerful dragon named Everen. Everen must get Arcady to trust him and then he must perish Arcady so Everen can regain his powers. I enjoyed the storytelling and pace of the novel. I found the ending satisfying and left enough promise to be interested in the next entry into the series.

I'm afraid I was underwhelmed by this one. The pacing was pretty slow (didn't pick up for me till around the 90% mark), I never fully warmed up to prickly and secretive Arcady (one of the main characters, and one whose parts of the narrative were written in first person), and I'm not sure I ever fully believed the romantic subplot. The writing itself was fine, but without liking the other book elements more, this was just a 3-star read for me.

I am *definitely* intrigued to carry on to the next book. Partway through, I wasn't 100% sure because the pacing was so off - I was really enjoying reading it, but didn't necessarily feel compelled to keep going.

Then we got some twists at the end that cemented my desire to continue! I really loved the writing and the world in this but the characters could have been better developed and the pacing was a little odd.

DEF recommend - 3.75!