I was expecting something more like Temeraire, I suppose. There was a lot of world-building that was hand-waved which irked me as a reader, and I am so very tired of corrupt governments being corrupt and awful for no apparent reason. Perhaps because I read this in the first month of Trump's second term, it was just too much. The political parallels made it impossible to enjoy the linguistics, which were the reason I picked it up in the first place. Although the author clearly left open the possibility of a sequel, I do not think I will seek it out. Also, why is the US cover so much less appealing than the UK cover? This is unfair.

A Language of Dragons by @sfwilliamsonauthor is such an underrated YA book that is all about language and its power.

After polyglot Vivian is arrested for treason, she is given two options: watch her family die, or help translate a secret dragon language. Given this top secret position, Vivian soon learns there’s more to this roll than just translation, there’s a revolution.

😿 my cats had a hard time distracting me. I really enjoyed this book and found the instances of incorporating real historical events and places with dragons. It was a creative take on the genre, and the mystery about this dragon language kept me turning the page. Go check this one out!

After finishing A LANGUAGE OF DRAGONS, I had to just sit and absorb it. My first thought was 'Wow!". It is one of the best coming of age tales that I have ever read. One that had me in tears at times yet angry enough to want to throw my book occasionally, One that had me totally invested in the lives of Vivian, Marquis and Atlas.

Set in 1923 in an alternate history where there are dragons, Vivian is totally focused on achieving her goals even if it means sabotaging her best friend. That is until her parents are arrested for treason and her little sister is taken away. Now Vivian is working for the government in exchange for their release. In doing so, Vivian (Viv) discovers what her parents felt was worth committing treason for, finds love and learns how to work for forgiveness for herself.

A LANGUAGE OF DRAGONS is one of those rare books where I can't find anything to criticize. The pacing is spot on, characters are wonderfully developed, the world is finely tuned and the dialogue is realistic. This was a book that I intentionally read slowly just so I could savor it. I do have some warnings about the content as there is violence and some torture as the setting is in the middle of a revolution. As far as sexual content, heavy petting is as far as it goes. Oh and it might cause you to question the status quo.

A historical fantasy set in 1920’s London?! I was leery but I was pleasantly surprised.
If you loved Babel then try this one, it has Babel vibes but with dragons. This was great!

Amazing book. I normally don't read YA, but this had me from the first few lines. If I could give this more than five stars, I easily would. I can't wait to see where the story goes next.

This was not perfect, and definitely very YA, but in the ABSOLUTE best way.

When I first read the blurb...are you kidding me? Bletchley Park, dystopian-esque historical society, DRAGONS? TRANSLATION?

And yes, it is all of those things. If you love The Hunger Games, Babel and Fourth Wing but don't mind YA romance, you will absolutely adore this. I was hooked and NEEEEED the sequel.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

I, for one, love the history of Bletchley Park. I also love dragons. Seeing a book that combined one of my favorite historical places and my favorite fantastical creatures? Immediately hit request. This story definitely hit the mark in some places, and had me asking "whyyy" in others (but not the good kind of "whyyy").

Starting off with the good:
- Set up was great. There are clear motivations for the characters, and there is an extreme sense of urgency that would create a fast-paced story.
- There were characters you were rooting for, and others you wish would be eaten by a dragon.
- Story was engaging overall, very readable.
- Honestly? Great YA story. Tackles issues that are prominent in YA books like class, socioeconomic status, right vs. wrong, privilege, in a way that is accessible to these readers.

And moving on to the not-so-good (for me, anyways)
- There are so many decisions throughout this book Viv makes that had me putting my head in my hands. Either it was because Viv is unable to think through the consequences of her actions, she's impulsive, or she's just selfish, or any combination of the above, but I was just frustrated. I understand that she is in a very high pressure situation, and the lives of many people hang in the balance, but some of the decisions were just so heavy-handed in their plot development that it took me out of the story a little.
- One of the guards and their gratuitous violence towards Viv grew to be more uncomfortable throughout the story. There is one bit of remorse they show, and it's just impossible to use that to see them as a multi-dimensional person.
- So many plot points were resolved incredibly quickly at the end of the story. While it was nice to get closure, the way the plot lines resolved felt trite at some points, and it felt like they were coming from every angle and didn't give the reader time to process it by the time the next one came up.
- The second half of the book had the pressure on the characters ramped up by 1000, and while I know that the characters needed extrinsic motivation, to me it kind of felt like it came out of nowhere.

Would I still recommend this to a YA audience? Yes. Would I still recommend this to other readers who want an action-packed story fantasy story with a fun twist on a place steeped in history? Yes. Would I recommend this to someone who wants something to be shown, not told to them? Probably not.

If a sequel does arise from this, I would read it.

Really, really nice historical fantasy. I loved Viv as the main character. I thought she was really well written. I liked the involvement of the dragons. Dragons are such a hot topic these days!

This felt like The Imitation Game meets Divine Rivals meets Fourth Wing. I’m obsessed! Dark academia, slow burn romance, political intrigue, all wrapped up into a beautifully written book.

I would like to thank Harper Collins for making this novel available on NetGalley. In a world that humans and dragons share, dragons have been subjugated as a result of a Peace agreement that ended a war between humans and dragons. It also led to a class system within humans. Vivian Featherswallow wants to be a translator of Dragon languages. She already speaks three human and six dragon languages. When her parents are arrested, she agrees to cut a deal with a criminal dragon and frees her. Unfortunately, her act breaks the already very fragile Peace agreement that had been reached between humans and dragons. Chaos and vying for political currency ensue. To free her parents and save her little sister, Vivian agrees to work for the government trying to analyze dragon echolocation. She soon learns that there is alot more to dragons and their language than she previously thought. I really enjoyed this story. It is one of the power, both good and bad, of language. It is a story of colonialism, activism, and preserving indigenous cultures packed into a fantasy novel with dragons. I loved the development of Vivian throughout the story. It highlights how difficult it can be to "do the right thing." There were several powerful moments in this story. I highly recommend this story.

I really enjoyed the world and setting in A Language of Dragons and I hope the author keeps exploring deeper into human-dragon relations in other countries as well as the UK post-rebellion and post Bulgarian dragons. The academia setting and the politics were really interesting in showing how media/propaganda and education can spoon feed a society’s ideas, opinions and beliefs. In such a rigid class structure it was refreshing to see a completely naive, self centered teenager because it felt incredibly realistic!

I realize that Viv is the main character and focus and I enjoyed how realistic her ignorance and guilt were but most of the other characters were very one dimensional. She’s just a kid trying to do the best she can in a society on the verge of collapse with the limited knowledge and experience she has. I definitely got a little annoyed at how black and white the other characters morality seemed however, even knowing that most of her peers were in the program because of crimes committed. But when we glimpse those crimes they aren’t unexpected/unjustifiable and didn’t really shift the characters out of the good vs evil structure. Maybe that’s not the best dichotomy to describe the characters/situations since there is just such an obvious oppressed/oppressor or victim/perpetrator vibe. No one blames predators for killing prey, how can you blame someone from defending against an abuser.

I was always expecting Viv to “do the right thing” but her privileges and naivety did mean it took longer than I expected. probably because I’m more jaded than these poor fictional teenagers but dang girl, the cognitive dissonance she was demonstrating was intense. Books and learning are inherently political and this book in general really hit home.

I had such a great time with A LANGUAGE OF DRAGONS. The dystopian world building was so interesting and gave me the same feelings and excitement as when I read classic dystopian YA books back in my youth. I was instantly engaged and excited to learn more. The addition of dragons and the politics human-human, dragon-dragon, and dragon-human was well established. I really did not want to put it down and once we got to the language/translation component - I was a goner.

I think there will be a lot of readers who will flock to this book as it really hits on so many facets we love about fantasies and does them so well.

My only drawback was the relationship felt odd. Which, perhaps, came from it being marketed as enemies to lovers and I'm not even sure you could ever call them rivals. They were just different social classes? So it kind of took me by surprise and I never quite felt engaged with that storyline.

I really tried. Our main character Viv was unbearable and had such an entitled attitude. She kept justifying the oppression so long into the book. She was very privileged and it showed through her actions many times. Also, I picked this up for dragons and they barely made an appearance. This didn’t work out for me, but hopefully others will enjoy it more.

I enjoyed the dystopian but historical feel of this novel. Williamson delivered a detailed storyline that made me feel like a world with dragons was actually a thing. The main character, Vivian, was nuanced but did occasionally tick me off with some of her decisions. I feel like that was intentional but, at times, was a bit annoying. I also feel like we didn't learn enough about some of the side characters but, at the same time, this may have been the point, as it is the first book in a series (I believe?).

A girl dreaming of learning the language of dragons finds herself drafted to codebreak the secrets of the rebellion with her family's lives on the line yet finds herself wavering between which side of the war she truly belongs on. In an alternate London in 1923, in a world where there are dragons and there is a 3 class system, Vivien Featherswallow is determined to get her summer internship to study dragon languages, follow the rules, and never put her status as a Second Class at risk. Yet this is all turned upside down when her parents are arrested for conspiring with the rebels and now Vivien's younger sister is taken away and Vivien is offered a trade: if she works for the military and codebreaks the language of dragons, she and her family will be protected and she can go home, if she fails, they all die. Vivien may have accidentally broken out a dragon and started a civil war... but now with the lives of everyone she loves on the line she'll do anything to protect them... but that comes at a cost, because if she succeeds and breaks the code then she is putting every single rebel and dragon in danger and threatening to destroy the livelihoods of people who are trying to fight against a system that has set them up to fail. Vivien finds herself faced with ugly truths and having her own beliefs thrown out the window as she questions what is right and wrong... and how long she can pretend to be ignorant and selfish. Throw in an ex best friend she betrayed, a priest she is falling for, a cousin who is ready to rebel.... and a dragon that keeps coming back, and what you get is a story that kind of has a similar vibe to Babel/ Divine Rivals in the sense that its an academy based setting (not a lot of dragon action) and set during a fictional war time... but without any of the actual goodness that both of those other titles offer. I did not mesh with this book in the slightest. Vivien was her own worst enemy, every decision she made just made me question her... like can you be that dumb? Also I just did not care at all for her as a protagonist, she wasn't likable, like I get where she's coming from but what she actually lacks is that kind of mentality/likability that Katniss (someone who had to go to war and do everything to protect her younger sister) had. I didn't care at all for the romance and Vivien doesn't actually grow until the last 90% of the book. I don't really see myself reading the next book or continuing the series unfortunately.

Release Date: January 7,2025

Publication/Blog: Ash and Books (ash-and-books.tumblr.com)

*Thanks Netgalley and HarperCollins Children's Books | HarperCollins for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

I have a hard time coming to terms on how I feel about this. I have some pros and cons.

Cons:
On one hand the writing wasn't anything exceptional and at some points took me out of the story with how staccato and repetitive in structure it was. Many lines begin with "I say" or "I tell him" which left no room for imagination or imagery. There was also the fact, that even though it is fantasy, it was wildly unbelievable. The fact that one girl, with one decision, unbalanced the entire nation and caused war is kinda insane. In a lot of ways it was also rather predictable. I knew that the romance was going to happen, I knew that her sister was going to be used as leverage, shocker, I knew that the bad guy was indeed bad from the beginning. There was just nothing that I didn't see coming. And one of the biggest twists of the book, and Vivian's main mission was so solvable that when she came to the conclusion that the dragons had dialects....I was like...well....of course they do. And was shocked that the 'brightest linguist of her age' didn't think of that. I also wouldn't call the romance slow burn either, as it was described to be. Since the two characters were professing their love to each other (and giving up their choice of career?) within a few weeks of knowing one another. I think a key element of slow burn is the yearning and there was no yearning here. I also would in no way ever call this enemies-to-lovers. I feel like publishers like to throw that term around as much as they can because they know it brings an audience. Truly a lie here though, they were never enemies, and barely lovers before he DIED. There was also a lot of factors about the "school" and world that just didn't make sense. This "school" was supposedly supposed to be more like a dangerous prison but every time they would make a comment of how they need to be more serious and this is important and no one should be having fun etc. they would do something to completely contradict it. I also don't think that any of the side characters, besides Atlas were very memorable. Because of that, the deaths that did occur did not shake me one bit.

Pros:
And all of that to say, there are some really excellent qualities in this book. I think the main character is fascinating. She is incredibly selfish, and quick to make truly terrible decisions, and had done a lot to hurt other people in favor of her family and herself. And while I didn't like her, being in her brain was very interesting and while she was making these awful decisions I was curious to see how the fires would play out. I think that there are some fantastic discussions and themes going on here. There is some Babel like elements when it comes to language, which was cool and I honestly enjoyed here more than I did there. But there was also the topic of being a good person and changing and some grate quotes about privilege and freedom for all and not just some.

I NEVER highlight quotes but I found myself wanting to here:
-"Peace isn’t peace if it’s only given to some."
-"'I have no interest in political debates' -- 'Only because you are privileged enough not to be concerned by them.'"

I do think that this is worth a read for some people. Personally, I am not sure if I will continue with the series though. I think that this would be better suited to readers that are actually in the YA demographic. I love reading YA but I don't think this one was very genre/age bending.

2.75/3.

Thank you to HarperCollins Children's Books and HarperCollins for the advanced copy.

I had heard rave reviews from friends who had been able to read a copy, and it did not disappoint. This allowed me a chance to escape reality for a bit and get caught up in a story.

This book just wasnt for me. I had a hard time staying interested in reading for a few reasons, but mainly because I found Vivian to be obnoxious and selfish. I honestly couldn’t stand her most of the story. 😬

The premise of this book sounded promising with the mix of dragons and academia. But I feel like the story droned on about the language part. And it honestly just fell short for me.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this book!

Oh, what fun! I was a little concerned with how slowly the depth of the story came to light, thought we might end up with an irritating cliffhanger, but Williamson quickly brought together an action-packed, satisfactory ending. I really appreciated that Viv wasn’t a typical “rebel” heroine, and had full faith in the system where she had privilege. This world was well drawn and easy to fall in love with. I would be quite happy for more of these dragon adventures!

Girls, dragons, war! What more do you need? I loved this book, and and extremely grateful for the Arc!