There is a double-edged sword in shorter-format fantasy tales like novellas: on the one side, world-building and character development can be light, on the other side, you can quickly get to the plot without committing to days or even weeks of reading and perhaps even years of waiting for sequels to be published. Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame tells a complete tale in under 200 pages/ less than 5 hrs audio at 1x speed. For this length, the story establishes its protagonist rather well, a fairly stoic, loner dragon-slayer. The plot revolves around her being sent as emissary to a nearby kingdom with a covert mission to investigate its dragon of legend. Instead of uncovering a dragon, she finds love. Things get more complicated when her king actually wants a slayed dragon. I was not surprised by the reveal or much of the ending but still enjoyed the story and appreciate how the resolution worked out.
I listened to this book's audiobook and the narration and narrator really suited the story and main character. Additionally, this format is great for this length of book because it can accompany you on a long drive or commute, or keep you entertained in the kitchen while cooking.
I received the ALC thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, RBmedia) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

This was a great fantasy novella. A renowned disabled queer female dragon slayer who never takes her gear off gets sent to a neighboring kingdom to investigate the presence of dragons and ends up slowly finding her humanity instead. Well written and enjoyable I just wish I felt more connected to the characters.

4/5 Stars – A Lyrical Tale of Identity and Transformation
Beautifully crafted novella that intertwines duty, identity, and self-discovery. Yeva, is a masked dragon slayer who is sent into her mission to the land of Quanbao, where dragons are revered rather than hunted. Themes of transformation resonate profoundly with as much world building and folklore as you can punch into a novella. If You want fantasy with sapphic undertones, this short read will do the trick.

5/5 for Narration - This was beautifully narrated, I found it was engaging and flowed nicely. Easy to hear and follow along even at 1.75x speed.

Thank you so much for this ARC! I listened to it through in one go, and really enjoyed the story. I will be honest, I had no idea where the story was going until she found herself before the Queen, then it all came together for me. I did guess the queens secret pretty quickly, but that didn’t deter me from enjoying the story.

I did appreciate that the unpleasant years spent in training flew by quickly trusting that the audience would understand what was happening.

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BtS,StF is a queer novella that reads like a legend being retold after the true details were forgotten, with only word of mouth to keep it circulating. The story of a heroic and famous dragon slayer, a faceless knight with a hidden disability and a past she has forced herself to forget. To faithfully serve the Sun Emperor, she will use the blue flame in her blood to kill dragons, just like she did as a young child to save her sister. But serving her country forces her leave behind her culture, her blood ties, forgoing an identity beyond the metal of her helm, the sword in her hand. Yeva is not prepared to be sent as the envoy to Quanboa to treat with the girl-king, Lady Sookhee, who seems to have a chronic condition which leaves her sick and unable to hold court. With rumours of dragons residing in Quanboa and a culture that worships the creatures as mystical beings, Yeva must begin to unravel the secrets of her assignment, her identity, and her mother's past, and above all, the mystery of the dragon queen.

Neon Yang and Tran Nguyen cooked with this one, I fear. When you say the words "sapphic mandalorian x dragon queen" to me I just get really, really excited. And the vibes are *truly* on point. Oblivious lesbian is oblivious. Is the queen really sick or is something more going on? Well, obviously, something more is going on. But Yeva is a little bit busy trying to overcome the trauma of the gentle ethnic cleansing she received when she went into the service of the Sun Emperor. She's literally almost entirely forgotten how to speak her native language. So not only is she a fish out of water in Quanboa, she's also lost when it comes to her own roots. She's also disabled--- the armour she wears and never takes off in the presence of others is her shield against more than just dragon flame. As a child she was grievously injured in a dragon attack and is left with a claw-like hand with limited mobility and a great deal of scarring. Despite this, she is the most capable and successful knight in her guild, allowing herself to be stripped of all of the culture and personality that made her a human being and becoming nothing more than a conduit for the weapons she holds.

When Sookhee is finally able to provide Yeva a way to discard the armour while still feeling comfortable, my heart cracked in two. Wow, just wow. The yearning that Yeva feels for Sookhee's presence after they become more than associates got me good--- this gay disaster knight PINES for the girl-king whenever she locks herself away to deal with her mysterious illness.

I will admit, I got a liiiittle concerned about 80% through when the reveal I was sure about still hadn't happened, but then it DID, and I was so happy. The blurb did not lie, and it was glorious.

Nancy Wu does a fantastic job with her somewhat raspy voice, giving unique energy to both of our main characters and the supporting cast. She has the perfect tone for this type of framing where the story is being told as a legend or storybook. Absolutely 10/10.

I can't wait for people to get their hands on Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame and dive into this legendary story.

Yeva, a legendary dragonslayer, gets sent on a covert mission to a foreign kingdom, tasked with uncovering whether dragons still exist. What she finds, though, is a lot messier than just scales and fire — loyalty, identity, and a Queen who stirs memories of the culture she left behind. Forced to walk the line between the empire that forged her and the blood that calls her back, Yeva’s battle turns inward just as much as outward.

On the vibes front? Complete win: armored women with swords, slow-burn political drama, delicate tea rituals, and a forbidden romance flickering under the surface. It's sharp, it's tender, and it manages to leave a surprisingly deep mark for such a short read.

Not everything clicked, though. The folkloric style Yang uses to frame parts of the story feels a little at odds with Yeva’s more grounded narration — it jolts you out of the flow sometimes. Plus, there’s a little more exposition than I’d personally like, but that could easily shift in later drafts since this was an early copy.

A gorgeously crafted, bite-sized tale with dragons, lady knights, betrayal, and longing — everything I could ask for in a novella appetizer. I'd happily go back for a second course.


The audiobok was great.
I loved the narrator.

This was a super quick and easy novella to listen to!
I really enjoyed the story and it was a great introduction to Neon's work.

The narrator did a wonderful job as well!

I adored the storyline and the characters development was wonderful.
I found the narrator was really lovely the pacing was very even and easy to follow, and everything was spoken very clearly.
I look forward to more books from this Author and to hearing more from this Narrator

Thank you RBMedia and NetGalley for the ARC!

4-stars

Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame was a very enjoyable fantasy novella. I love a character arc where someone's world view is challenged and they are obligated to question everything they thought they knew. And what's not to like about a female-knight, dragons, and a sweet sapphic love story?

Nancy Wu was a great audiobook narrator who was easy to listen to and not distracting. Her voice helped to propel the story along and kept my attention the entire time. Would definitely recommend!

Thank you NetGalley glue the audiobook arc. I worms have enjoyed the book more has it been a different narrator. This one seems like they were whispering while yelling and it was hard to follow along, and found that I would keep drifting my attention away from the book. I ended up DNF’ing at 43% and clubs not tell you a single thing that happened.

Overall this was a solid little novella. I'm a sucker for a lady knight protagonist; I just love some good old fashioned lesbian chivalry. I think that I would have liked this story more if it was a novel so that we could further expand the romance and the idea of reconnecting to a culture you were separated from as a child. The story is by no means bad, but more pages would have let things be fleshed out more. I wasn't a fan of Yang's sci-fi release from a couple years ago, but after picking this book up I'm planning to check out their future releases and I might even give the book I DNF'd a second try.

As far as the audiobook goes, this was a good narrator. Their work didn't exponentially add to the story like other narrators who I love, but they delivered exactly what I needed.

Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a free audio-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read/listen to this book in exchange for an honest review!

Yang does it again! Another beautiful but short tale of love and fantasy and most importantly… finding yourself. I had the usual issues I do with novellas, but overall, the story was great! I found the world building lush and exciting, and was left wanting more. The lead role was a mysterious female knight character, her love interest compelling, but again I felt a bit of a disconnect due to the length of the story and the lack of proper growth we would get in a true novel. There was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing, something I find true with a lot of mythology-based storytelling.

Overall, it was great. Nancy Wu was a fabulous narrator, even if she did startle me in the beginning by sounding like an AI. Another solid snippet of a story.

3.5/5 stars.

This was a good, enjoyable read but I think this is a book that would've benefited from being longer. I think the length of this hindered the plot and character development. This ultimately ended up feeling a bit shallow to me by the time I finished it.

That being said, I did really enjoy this. I loved the writing and the characters as well as the plot. It drew me in and I thought it was a really beautiful short story, but I just desperately wanted this to be longer. I wasn't prepared for the end by the time the end came. The start felt a little bit slow, and the end a little bit rushed. But who doesn't love a strong lesbian dragonslaying main character?

Thank you to NetGalley and RBmedia for the ALC. All opinions are my own.

I ended up DNFing this at 53%


I found myself spacing out and just listening to the words rather than absorbing and actually taking in the story and I couldn’t tell you anything that happened. I can definitely see myself going back and rereading this when I’m in a different mood.

Thank you Neon Yang, Tordotcom and NetGalley for this ARC.

Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame by Neon Yang was such a fun little novella, it reminded me of The Fireborne Blade, by Charlotte Bond and Servant Mage, by Kate Elliott, both which I loved.

I didn't love this one as much as those other two, but not because I thought it was bad or anything like that, but because I think it should have been longer. The story was so rich and lush that a few more pages would have helped things not to feel so… rushed?

But still, if you ever have the opportunity to read this one, READ IT!

It's giving sapphic Mandalorian dragon slayer, and I am here for it! This was overall a great read, even if the pacing was a bit too slow for my liking.

It's very enchanting and interesting!! it definitely has that Neon Yang touch where it's short but still good at expressing such a good amount lore, magic, and conflict. The audio made me fall asleep, sometimes sleepy too.

A good quick read!! The Asian Lore mixed w/ Dragons will always do it for meeee 👹 I enjoyed this a lot & the whole Mandalorian aspect of not removing the helmet? Ugh, I ate that up lol. Yeva’s whole character growth was so nice to see as well, esp the ending!! I was over here holding my breath-Gosh… I’m glad it ended the way it did ‘cause 😮‍💨 Overall, it was an amazing novella inspired by “She Who Became The Sun” which is also another book on my TBR!!
Nancy Wu gave such a how do you say it… She gave such an air to this narration. Idk if that makes sense, but she did good lol!

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for providing a free audio arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a short fantasy novella with a female protagonist who is a dragon slayer called into find evidence of dragons in a foreign land. It is a novella, so take from it what world building you can develop in something so short, but I feel like it was done well and was interesting. The politics within the story were also intriguing, and though the twist at the end was predictable, it was still good.

I think if you like Neon Yang's work you will not be disappointed in this one. It's a good quick read through regardless.

Thank you to NetGally and RbMedia for an early audiobook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I have been recently obsessed with novellas and I really think this story was done really well for this size book. It takes a true craftsmen to identify how a story should be told, whether in trilogy or stand alone or in this case novella. I would be very interested in reading more novellas set on this world.

I think the FMC Yeva is strong and her story is well told. She kinda gets a raw deal when she is sent away to find out more about a land shrouded in secrecy. She has to gain the trust of the people there to find out more about them and their (very different) relationship with dragons while also not betraying the oaths she took. The romance was sweet and I enjoyed the different backgrounds they had. Would have liked to have seen even more of that included.

Full of emotion, sapphic romance, fantasy elements, I definitely recommend this if you’re looking for a short, fast paced fantasy bite, with the perfect amount of world building. I love the Mandalorian reference as well.

I think the audiobook narrator does a really great job as well.