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.

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.

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.)