My teen provided this review:
Disguised as a human, Everen soon learns to regain his power and fulfill his destiny. He trusts a thief, but the farther they go the more they lose trust. This story is interesting and the first few chapters pulled me in. It keeps going to amaze me. The ending lacked the excitement I was hoping for.

Dragonfall was a unique take on the popular fantasy trope of bonds between human dragon rider and dragons. The relationship between Arcady and Everen is a slow burn enemies to lovers, and their relationship development really drives the book along. As they slowly learn to trust each other, the two plan a heist bringing characters and stories from their pasts to the forefront. I did struggle a bit with the perspective, as the narrator often addresses the reader as you, as well as the world-building which became clearer as I read on, but was confusing and difficult to initially immerse myself in.

Sadly, I can't finish the book, it's just not for me. I really liked the start, when the MC describes what it's like to fly. For that and for the world building I've seen so far I'm giving it 2 stars, because I did like the world building. But there are parts during the dragon MC chapters where he talks about a second human character in second person singular when describing what the character does that felt weird and creepy.

This is a brilliantly written novel. The characters have depth and the world vibrancy. It drew me in from the beginning and carried me through the entire book. I loved it. The main country has a wonderful acceptance of gender diversity and one of our main characters is non-binary. I very much enjoy when my characters are realistic like that. I cannot wait for the next book in this series. A bit of background is dragons are thought of as gods in this world, where they originated. But in reality they were driven into another world/dimension by humans who betrayed their magical bond with these personable creatures. Now they are in a dying world and need to get back to their home world or they will go extinct. Due to magic and fates one dragon is ripped from this other world and returned to a much changed world. A bond is formed by between the dragon and his "summoner" and they must navigate this bond and each other for each to survive and achieve their goals. Since the summoner is a thief trying to further their magic to find out the truth behind their ancestor's "betrayal" this leads to all sorts of adventure. I recommend this book as I could not put it down. I received an ARC in exchange for a fair review.

Sadly, I’m dnf’ng this book :(

book - dragonfall
author - l.r. lam
rating - 2/5 (did not finish)

I really really really wanted to like this book. I think my reading style & the authors writing style just aren’t on the same page, which is totally fine! Ultimately the biggest disconnect for me was I could never stay focused on the text, I kept having to reread sentences because I would get bored and drift off.

Fantasy is my favorite genre and dragons are always a must-read for me, the confusion of narrators is where I got lost.

I would recommend this to readers who enjoy a slow-paced story, intrinsic world building, and dragons.

Thank you to NetGalley & DAW Books for sharing this reviewers copy with me, all opinions are my own!

This 2023 begins pretty badly with this dnf. I downloaded the e-book of this book thanks to NetGalley letting the cover snd the plot inspire me. First of all, I didn’t like the fact that it was written by a first person narrator (seriously you authors can’t write a book with a “neutral” point of view?) but it could be interesting since the narrator is a dragon who falls and, by falling, turns into a human, if it wasn’t for the fact that the key of the plot is a prophecy and its text is pretty unclear. I gave two stars because I felt generous.

Unfortunately, I did not love this book. I struggled to get absorbed into this fantasy world and to care about any of the characters. While there were a lot of interesting features of the world, the writing style just did not draw me into it.

I do think that some people will love this, it has a main character who doubles as a thief, a heist, some romance, LGBTQ+ themes, enemies to lovers to enemies tropes.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an eARC of this book.

I loved the description of this book and it sounds like an amazing and unique world however; I really struggled to get absorbed into this world, I had to reread the first set of chapters a few times but I still felt myself confused in parts, mostly about the different types of magic and who was who in this world. It was also quite slow and took a while to get into the action, I feel like the ending of the book should have happened earlier maybe and some of the middle was not needed. I really wanted to enjoy this but it wasn't for me sadly.

I was sold from the moment I read, "long-banished dragons, revered as gods, return to the mortal world..."

So thank you to L. R. Lam, the publishers of this book and NetGalley for this ARC. I was granted a free copy of this book prior to its publication date in return for an honest review.

Okay, so I read a lot of books. A lot of them fall under that fantasy genre. So I have read many books about magic, dragons, and danger. Now this book had all of that, but it had more. There was this modernised, inclusive feel to the writing. It was passionate, and you could feel that the author put a lot of work into making this story unique.

A dragon posing as a human, he is the last male dragon with the hope of saving his kind. All he has to do is gain his true power, but to do that, he needs to bond... in all possible ways... and then kill them. But lines blur, and the danger amps up, and there is a risk to both of their worlds now.

There were quite a few unique ideas in this story that I hadn't really heard of before, and I want to blurt them all out and tell you all about them, but that would take the joy out of reading the book completely blind.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for this ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I loved the description of this book when it looked to be right up my alley and was so excited when I was approved for the E-ARC, but has ended up being a bust for me. I just can’t seem to get into the story so far and am struggling to follow along and enjoy. It’s a no for me, but maybe I’ll come back later and try again another time and hopefully it’ll work better for me then. Sad that I’m just not getting into this one.

You know how there are some books that enchant you from the very beginning? Well this is one of them. When I realised what I had in my hands I made myself read it slowly so that it wouldn't end too quickly. This is a story that works in so many different ways. There's magic and dragons yes but also it's a heist and at its heart its about families - your own and your found family. There are obvious themes of gender fluidity (you are never quite sure if Arcady is male or female) and it's also a passionate and unfulfilled love story between this human, looking to redeem his family name and restore his lost future and fortune through a daring heist and the unexpected twists and turns that the dragon trapped in human form, Everen, brings to him through the feelings they share in a magical bond, And Everen himself has his own secrets and his own people to save, at enormous and unexpected cost to him.
I loved this book and cannot wait for part 2 - how long must I wait?!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was my first eArc and while I was really excited to dive into it, it really didn't work for me.
I stopped reading this at 20% and that is far more than I actually thought I would be able to read.

The synopsis sounded very intriguing but the writing style unfortunately didn't work for me at all.
I was confused not only with the POV's but also with the way the story was being built up. While it can be a normal thing to be confused at a beginning of a fantasy book, this was different.
Up to the part until I read, the story, as well as any kind of information is all very hazy to me. I could not properly tell you what happened until now. Overall, I was just really confused while reading.

I feel like this is one of those books with a writing style that either is for you, or not at all.

The premise of the book was interesting enough but unfortunately, I did not finish the book. I read 40% of it, but found it too slow paced and, at the same time, I did not connect with the characters.

[ ] This is a story that is woven so beautiful that the description of her words captivate you with each paragraph.
- [ ] It is a dragon theme story,a prophecy’s .. the last male dragon of his kind..
- [ ] what an interesting world.. sometimes world can be repetitive.. not this one

- [ ] extremely intriguing magic , nicely thought out
- [ ] Great world with Lots of intrigue
- [ ] Fulfilling a prophecy meeting two great POV’s

- [ ] Gently woven piece of Fantasy

Includes: dragons, magic, slow slow burn (like sloth slow), enemies to lovers (kind of), end of the world!

Synopsis: long ago, humans betrayed dragons, stealing their magic and banishing them to a dying world. This story is about a human and dragon who were destined to be together.

This was an interesting story to follow. First you have the only male dragon that has literally the dragon world on his shoulders. Second, is a lone thief who steals from the dead. On this night, they become connected and what follows is one chaotic event after another.

So many unique ideas involved in this story. That they have magic that is connected to the stones in their chest, but not enough can cause them to starve and turn into monsters (my head conjured up zombies/vampires). And that this connection between Everen and Arcady can allow them to be injured in the same spot and feel each others pain. They also refer to each other as they/them unless the person specified they want to be he/she.

This story has multiple POV. I counted 5 but I was definitely lost at times throughout the story so there might be more (Everen, Arcady, Sonia, Cassia, and the last chapter).
.
There was just a lot of information that would confuse me at times and I didn’t really understand Arcadys’ reasoning for staying. But that was my opinion. All in all, a good fantasy read.

In a spell gone awry, Arcady finds himself bound to Everen--a dragon disguised as a human in a world full of those who banished them. Though they are used to being alone, Arcady finds use in Everen in their career as thief. But perhaps Everen has motives for staying by Arcady's side as well...

This book was such a unique take on a high fantasy world that stands apart from the rest. Often in fantasy, authors create worlds very similar to our own, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a unique world built with different rules. Gender in Dragonfall exists with looser rules, breaking away from the binary and general misogyny and toxic masculinity that often comes with gender roles. The book also normalized sign language as a common way of communicating.

The beginning was fairly slow with a lot of world building and info dumping, but the payout was so worth it. I quickly found myself rooting for the characters, and I loved how the plot and each characters' backstory and motivations were revealed slowly over time, adding so much mystery and intrigue. The ending had me wrapped up throughout the night (when I should have definitely been sleeping), and left me wanting more.

I was given this as an arc from DAW publishers. It is available May 2,2023 to buy.

First off the premise is interesting but the execution falls very flat. The pacing of the book is incredibly slow then bam! Action then goes back to a snail’s pace. There are 3 POVs and in one POV the language is so odd it takes you right out of the story. It is told in this weird mash up of first and second person while the other main characters are in first person. And it is so odd and something I have never read before that it literally takes me out of the story and I cannot get back into it. I really wanted to like the story but the constant flipping of pov language and the pacing stole my enjoyment. I would honestly say that perhaps changing the Male POV language would greatly help getting people back into the story.

The humans stole their magic. Banished them to a world that was dying. Forced them where they didn’t belong. Centuries later the dragons are seen as gods by the human descendants. Worshipped. Little do the humans know, these dragons don’t forget … or forgive.

I’m a sucker for a good fantasy series and that is exactly what this is! If you enjoy fantasy worlds, and dragons especially, do yourself a favor and get this book ASAP! I am itching for the next book in the series to be released so I can see where this story takes us.

Love, love, love fantasy books that don't stick to gender rules !
The MC is clearly genderqueer, and the way the topic is discussed is really good : we don't have to know if by our standards, they would have been assigned male or female at birth !!

The worldbuidling is well done and feels really new

Actual rating 4.5/5*

Arcady was such a fascinating protagonist for a dragon romance. When the story opens, dragons are a myth to them so they don't realise what they've set in motion when they attempt the ritual to change their identity and avenge their grandfather. On top of that, previous experiences have made them both complex and shy towards others. They are reluctant to make themselves vulnerable so they compartmentalise emotions and even memories within themselves. Despite having chapters in their POV, we discover them and aspects of themselves at the same time as Everen.

Everen was also a fascinating character, though not because of his personality. That is inspired by often seen dark brooding types with the added aspect that he despises humans for what they did to him and his fellow dragons. This makes being bonded to a human a particularly painful experience as he has to learn to hide this disgust at first, before realising Arcadi may not actually be all that bad. But what makes him standout was his utter lack of knowledge about everything human. In his humanoid form, he is forced to learn how to behave in a society so as not to attract attention and his chapters offer a unique perspective into our world on things we take for granted. Lam describes him having a sweet bread roll as a singular experience, or his frustrations with learning slang and societal hierarchies.

As for secondary characters, Lam makes an effort to breathe life into them as well. When Arcadi contemplates planning the heist, we get hints of her past life with a crew of thieves--one they held very close to heart. While the found family trope is a favourite of mine, seeing characters interact in a scenario where this found family has fallen apart was new to me, and extremely refreshing. I was also happily surprised by the ending to that story, given that it didn't go the way I thought it would.

Onto the worldbuilding, Dragonfall offers a world that is both new and familiar. It's one with multiple dimensions separated by a veil that grows thinner on certain days of the year and monsters live within the veil itself, ready to attack whichever dimension they can. In this first book we only get to know two of the dimensions: the human one which is a thriving geo-political mess and the dragon one which is one large island slowly being choked by a volcano.

Because of their exile centuries ago, the current humans consider dragons mythical beings and recognise five of them as gods so Everen causes some commotion before he learns enough to fit in and pass as human. Lam does a wonderful job of building up this human world through Everen's eyes, while we learn about the dragon world and their customs through his memories. Then Arcadi comes in to fill in the gaps with details and history. I was absolutely sucked into the world of Dragonfall and the revelations about it in the second half of the book not only left me wanting to know more, but set the stage for a much grander plot with our two main characters at the center.

Plot-wise, Lam sets the scene with Everen's and Arcadi's decisions to reclaim their fate, linking them across a devastating storm before winding down to introduce the heist part of the book. There is a solid third of the book that's dedicated to plotting the heist and training Everen to pull it off, while glimpses of the wider plot are presented through Everen's memories, his communications with his sister and Sorin's POV chapters. Lam even goes as far as to include what I can oonly describe as a training montage, which I greatly enjoyed because it's during this time that Everen and Arcadi's feelings for each other change and develop.

Once we get passed that, the pacing picks up and several subplots converge towards the final, heart pounding climax that involves all of our protagonists. I really enjoyed all parts of Arcadi and Everen's relationship and shenanigans, how they grow from grudging allies to actually liking each other and even more, set in a backdrop the training, then the stress of the heist and beyond.

Even Lam's writing stood out in Dragonfall. As I mentioned before, I loved the way Everen discovers the human world, especially before he finally tracks Arcadi down because that's when he learns how to blend in on a surface level. Once with Arcadi, he never stops remarking on human quirks or traditions, and their training together takes on an aspect beyond a traditional learning experience. Lam's pacing was also excellent, they balance the action well with the training, so that doesn't get boring while the gradual building of tension made the ending stand out.

Additionally, Lam begins the book as a recollection so it's told in 1st, 2nd and 3rd person POV depending on the character and situations. This made me feeling far more connected to the story, making it unfold almost in real time as I was reading it. I'm not usually a huge 2nd person POV fan, but Lam does it exceedingly well.

My one issue with the book was the other POV chapters we'd occasionally get. I couldn't relate to Sorin for the longest time, I simply didn't find her character interesting so her POV chapters in the middle of the book were somewhat boring to me, though I did come to appreciate her character in the final act of the book.

Finally, L.R. Lam has created an interesting society in Dragonfall were gender roles are much more fluid though there are still some expectations here and there. While the dragons' island maintains certain preconceptions when it comes to genders, the country Arcadi lives in has the least. As a result, Arcadi is non-binary and goes by any pronouns, while Everen has a moment of reflection before settling on he/him. As the other countries in the human world are less accepting of fluid gender identities, there are moments of reflection on gender by Arcadi both to themselves and to Everen, and I liked how it was ultimately commentary on real life perception of gender roles and gender identity.

Dragonfall by L.R. Lam is a phenomenal, swoon worthy beginning to a series that I cannot wait to read more of. Lam's loveable and complex characters paired with a plot that sucked me in from the first chapter and a swoon worthy romance that had me on the edge of my seat make this a fantastic book despite its few flaws.