DNF at 31%. I may end up picking this back up someday, but as of right now I’ve just lost interest. I have had this arc for months and have tried so hard to push through it, but ultimately there are so many books I would rather be reading. I am curious about where the story is going to go and what Sorin’s role will be in it all (as so far her chapters have been scarce), so I will keep this book on my tbr. I just honestly don’t care enough to finish it right now.

The story started out really slow and has just started to pick up a bit, but even the slight increase in plot movement wasn’t enough to make me want to keep reading. The world within “Dragonfall” is interesting, but there is somehow an odd mix of both info dumps and not enough info.

Oddly, there is a mixture of first, second, and third person writing, which just makes the story less cohesive for me. I wasn’t sure how I felt at first about Severin’s POV; Severin is recounting events as if he is speaking to another character, so he uses “you” quite a bit. I got used to it after a while, but it took a bit to acclimate to it. Arcadia and Severin both use first person and Sorin’s chapters are in third, which I don’t really get. I think I would’ve enjoyed it better if the story remained in first person throughout.

However, if you can push through the slow start and confusing/at times hard to keep track of worldbuilding, I would say to give this one a go. The concept is interesting and the world within the story is unlike any I have read before. I would definitely say this is the type of book where your whole focus needs to be on it though. I’d also recommend highlighting/marking important worldbuilding info to refer back to later in case you get confused. Based on what I’ve read so far, I’d say a solid three stars!

Finally a 5 star read after a long time!!!
First of all, thank you Netgalley for sending me an ARC, even though it was on the day before the book was to be published, in exchange for an honest review.

I heard of this book in 2022 and had to wait almost a year to read it. Past me knew that it would not disappoint and it did not! I thoroughly enjoyed this masterpiece and cannot wait for the other books in this instalment.

Now on to the story and its characters: I loved Arcady and Everen. I loved them alone and together, when they were fighting and when they were being nice to each other. More importantly I loved them as characters that told the story. Everen and Arcady are not the only characters with a POV, although they have the most and are the more pivotal characters for the story.
Everen is the last male dragon and a prince of a dying land. A decision leads him to go through the veil and he lands in the world of humans. There he meets and half-bonds with a human thief named Arcady. Arcady also has a past that gets more intertwined with that of Everen.

The story is a mix of everything I love. We have forbidden love and deadly decisions. Heists and thievery. Political intrigue and betrayal. The story-telling is immaculate and experimental, which felt fresh. Most of the different POVs have different narrative styles. We have Arcady, where the 1st person POV is used like we would normally see and then we have Evemer who also uses the 1st person POV with a twist. He is constantly talking to a „You“, as if he is telling the story to Arcady in the future. Other POVs also include a 3rd person POV.

Overall I think this Series will be one of my favorite and I cannot wait to read the second instalment in a year (hopefully)!

An intriguing start to a new fantasy romance series. Centuries ago, the dragons were betrayed by the humans and locked away in a dying world. Everen is the last male dragon, prophesied to save his people. Arcady is a human thief, hoping to redeem their family name. These two have little in common, but one magical spell brings them together and forges a bond neither would expect. They each keep secrets, plotting their own designs. But... plans of betrayal get a little messy when feelings start to grow.

I really enjoyed this first installment in the Dragon Scales Trilogy. The dragons piqued my interest, and I found the worldbuilding to be pretty well done. I get a lot of enjoyment out of enemies to lovers stories, though this one did feel a little light on the romance in my opinion. I think I enjoyed the thievery teaching montage and heist elements the most. The ending definitely leaves you wanting more. What will happen next? I can't wait to see.

Thank you to @netgalley for an advanced copy of Dragonfall by L.R. Lam.

Blurb:
Dragons were banished centuries ago to a dying world after humans stole their magic, but now Everen, the last male dragon, has been pulled through the Veil by a spell connecting him to Arcady, a thief who wants revenge for their family. Disguised as a human, Everen, must fully bond with Arcady and then kill them to regain his true form and power to fulfill his destiny in bringing dragons back to a world that was stolen from them.

Review:
I have been dreading writing this review, I wanted to love this book so badly! Unfortunately, I do not think I am the right target audience for this story. I very rarely DNF books, but it took 10 days of forcing myself to read this every day only to make it 31% through. I tried so hard, but I think the writing style just wasn't for me and it kept pulling me from the characters and making me unable to connect with them or root for them at all.

But just because this book wasn't for me, doesn't mean it isn't for you!

Dragonfall is out now!

Thank you to L.R. Lam and Netgalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I read this after the book was published but this doesn’t affect my review in any way.

This high-fantasy novel was the first book that I read that focused solely on the lore of dragons, which were creatures out of my field of interest under the genre. Overall, I certainly had regrets about this book because it was incredibly tiring to read. I did not hate it, yet I also don’t consider it memorable. The premise of this book was very appealing since it had multiple POVs which helped me know different perspectives throughout the book. I loved the non-binary representation, the little bit of romance on the side, together with the existence of sign language in a fictional world; these were elements that I considered enjoyable and very intuitive. However, the extensive details in the world-building and heavy info-dumping on the magic system throughout this book made it exhausting to read. It was the reason I really hated my reading experience with Dragonfall. I think if the narration was toned down, the book would’ve been shorter, and I would’ve enjoyed it more. Nevertheless, I think Arcady and Everen’s story have wonderful potential. Happy Pride Month to them!

This is the kind of book that I honestly wasn’t sure if I was going to like it for most of it. It does start off a little slow as we get to know both the world and our characters, but I’m here to tell you it is worth pushing through to get to the story. Once the plot picked up, I was wholly invested in what was happening. I also really loved learning about this world and the magic system that the author has created, and how it was based on/focused on the dragons. I also came to really love our characters, and seeing them have to learn how to work together. The chapters from the dragon’s perspective were probably my favorite, as the author uses second-person perspective, which I found added an interesting layer to the storytelling. I definitely need the second one ASAP after that ending.

the parts I enjoyed:
- second-person POV? Well it's technically first person but addressed to "you" (Arcady). It's not something you find often and I did feel Lam used it to their advantage
- prophecies! I love me a cool prophecy that ties it all together

neutral:
- readable, understandable fantasy. It's nothing groundbreaking but perfectly serviceable for the world and I enjoyed that we made it queernormative. I think it falls short at times to build on its original ideas but there two more books to come that might do that.
- the romance. Maybe it just took too many expected steps that offered nothing fresh that left me with lukewarm feelings about their relationship. The highlight-worthy moments were few.

what did not work for me:
- the stakes? The story felt at odds with one part being about the dragon's dying home and the second part focusing on a minor heist. I needed more of the building narrative to thread throughout the primary heist story to make me care for it
- weak indistinct characters; Everen and Arcady blended too much together for not even both being human. I also really felt like Arcady's profession was much more an aesthetic choice than anything else - yes, they can steal but
- the third act reveals. Won't say too much but it plays into the second point and how downplayed that entire situation ended up being when the world-building suggests it's a much bigger
deal

To conclude, I have a hard time pinpointing any particular reason why this was just an okay series starter and not as great as the premise had me hoping for. The summary is absolutely accurate - and that might be part of the problem. For a trilogy, it does not offer the foundational information I would like to be truly invested in this world's outcome, for a romance, its characters don't stand out and for a fantasy, there are good ideas but little else.

I have to say I really enjoyed this book!

I love how it was a gender-fluid world and the slow burn between the characters. I think the way this story is narrated is pretty interesting since it seems all of this already happened.

I really enjoyed all point of views but Everen's the most because of his internal struggle for doing the right thing for his people at the cost of someones' life.

I feel like we did not learn a lot about the veil but I'm super curious about it so I really hope it gets explored more in the next installment. I think making dragons shifters was a brilliant idea and now I just need mooooreeee of it haha.

DNFing. I just can’t continue. The world building is clunky and overly detailed. Like ridiculously detailed. Too much detail. And still so confusing.

This was like a 4.75 for me? I loved it so much more than I even expected I would! I mean, I love dragons so I had a feeling it would be great, but I was honestly not expecting it to really impact me the way it did. I LOVED Arcady and Everen. The side characters were interesting as well. One thing that kept me from giving this 5 stars was that I was bored with Sorin's chapters in the middle? There were definitely times when I just wanted to skip her POV and go back to the main story. Her story fits into this one and it all ties together, and I actually loved her POVs in the beginning, but those middle ones dragged on just a bit. Otherwise, I was really captivated in this story pretty much from start to finish. I thought the pacing was great and the events leading up to the finale were amazing!

I thought this book was written very interestingly? I can tell a lot of readers won't like the way it's written, but I think it is such a cool method of storytelling. The different POVs in different styles took some getting used to, but it was a refreshing way to tell this story and I think it added insight to the characters. The way everything was done was really smart to me, so I commend L.R. Lam for writing it like this, as it's so cool. This book is meant to be a series, and I'm so thankful for that. I truly can't wait to read the rest and I'll be anxiously awaiting book 2!

OMG Dragons! This was truly a favorite read of 2023. After a serious slump of just DNF after DNF, diving into Lam's world of magic and dragons, lies and fate, love and betrayal was such a breath of fresh air I nearly cried. And to think the story is just starting?! I am desperate for the 2nd installment already. Really, I can't say enough good about this story. The world building was solid without being overly complicated, the characters were well-rounded with clear signs that we will learn even more about them as the story continues, and the pacing was spot on to keep you hooked. Think level 2 or 3 fantasy if Eragon is level 1. The lore alone is a dream to unravel and the twists, though not entirely a surprise, are just an amazing feature of the setup of this world. For being a book 1, this is by no means simply an intro; it's action packed to the brim and ends with a cliffhanger that leaves you wanting more without being angry, IYKWIM.

**Thank you NetGalley and DAW for the eARC**

While I loved the plot of this story, I found that the writing style wasn't quite for me and prevented me from diving head first into this story. However, a fantasy book with dragons is hard to be bad, so it was of course enjoyable. I would recommend perhaps getting a sample of this book and looking at the first few chapters just to see if the writing style meshes with you or not.

I don't know if it's because I had very high expectations or not, but this book fell flat for me. What irked me the most was how the main characters all felt the same for me (which is weird because one of them is supposed to be a dragon). They didn't have anything setting them apart from each other and I struggled between the first, second and third POV because they either blended into each other, or the contrast in writing was too different.

I also feel like the book suffers from not knowing what to focus on because the intention of the story is really good but execution on world building, tension, characterisation and plot felt dull and overdone for me, which made me stop caring about 16 chapters in (and nothing had happened by then either).

Many thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for the ARC.

An enjoyable story of shapeshifting dragons and taking what you think are owed by the world. I loved the dilemma about who is the bad guy: humans or dragons. What made this discussion more exciting was that we still have a knowledge of history missing, so who knows where the story might lead.

However, my main problem was the writing. I could get past some of more clunky sentences, however, there was entirely WAY TOO MUCH "They"s. I loved the idea of queernorm society, however with the lack of descriptions of the world and it's society, just using excessive amount of They pronounce just did not cut it for me. I needed more.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this novel. All opinions are, as always, my own.

I wanted to read this book mainly because of the cover. I am not familiar with the author and I usually don’t read fantasy, but I’ve been getting into more fantasy books lately. But the cover is awesome! It really pulled me in, so I had to read this one. The story itself was different from what I usually read. If you are more into character than the world or ideas then this is your book. I'm more into ideas, so I struggled. But the characters are good. The second thing I struggled with is that the whole book is in the first person, but of two characters. I found it difficult to keep it straight and kind of tedious to always be reading in first person. Finally is that the book moves along rather slow. It isn’t a fast-paced action story, but a slowly building character story. Dragonfly is very good at what it is. But if that is not what you like then it is not enjoyable. I think there are those who will love this book. I struggled with it. BuI can’t say it is bad, because it isn’t.

I love that we’re getting more books featuring dragons!
This is a great beginning for a new fantasy series, it keeps you hooked and leaves you with wanting to know what will happen next. I can't wait to read more of this trilogy

Dragons? Immediately count me in! This was a great story and I’m so excited to get a physical copy. A bit confusing but once I started highlighting on my kindle and really paying attention I figured it out. If you catch yourself feeling confused stick it out you won’t regret it!

I received a digital arc in exchange for an honest review.
I was so excited about the concept of this book: dragons, queer characters, mystery, magic. It did not disappoint!
I haven’t read very many dragon magic books (they’re kind of hard to find tbh), but I really felt like the way L. R. Lam created the magic system and the worlds of Loc and Vere Celene was very unique. I loved that there was no real “explanation” for why the queer characters were queer; they just were, it is just apart of them. I wouldn’t say this qualifies as a romance (or even having a romance subplot) there’s just a little sprinkle of attraction and desire.
The anticipation of whether or not their big heist was going to be pulled off, if Arcady and Everen could figure out the forbidden magic that held them together, and if either of their big secrets were going to be discovered captivated me from the very beginning. Not to mention a plot twist I didn’t see coming AND a cliffhanger!
L. R. Lam wrote an amazing story. Not only can I not wait to get my hands on a physical copy, but also for whenever book 2 comes out!

I really loved the concept of this book. The idea of dragons as gods and coming back to reclaim their magic sounded captivating and wonderful. Unfortunately I could not connect with the writing style and characters. I found myself constantly skimming trying to get through the book and felt the overt descriptions really bogged down the story.

I think this book can work and does work for other people but the writing style and lack of connection to characters and plot made reading this a chore.

This is a solid book, once you can get through the opening chapters that for some reason didn't engage me - I DNFed this book twice before I gave it a third try and finally managed to read it all the way through. I think Everen was the character I was having trouble connecting with as the book kicks off with his angsting over a prophecy then being sucked through a portal into another world. By contrast, Arcady's storyline kicks off with a daring theft intended to help them claim a place in a society that has rejected them and their family, in a well-motivated quest to avenge their family as well as prosper in an unforgiving world.

Once Everen and Arcady meet up, the plot really starts to move, with a distrustful partnership, malfunctioning magic, enemies on their trail, complicated past relationships, Everen's family lying to him left and right, and above all a heist to plan. By the end, I definitely was ready for book 2!