On seeing the pitch 'She Who Became the Sun meets The Mandalorian, with dragons', I was instantly intrigued. I also loved the idea of seeing queer characters.

On getting halfway through, I realized the pitch might have set my expectations up for a very different kind of story than what I got. From the description and the cover I was expecting action, drama and adventure but this was a very quiet story that leans more into theme and romance. Which is totally fine—I actually enjoyed the scenes between the main character and the Lady King. I liked the mythological and cultural aspects, but felt like this could have used a bit more plot round out the experience.

Part of what detracted from this experience for me was how the initial promise let me down. Why set up a dragon-hunting character only to never show them hunting dragons? I felt like we are told the MC is a warrior but never really see this happen, and I think that would have gone a long way to underline their character arc.

And while I enjoyed the queer romance, I felt like it happened too quickly and conveniently. It felt like a matter of right-place right-time, and that a bit of conflict between these characters could have crafted a more hard-won love.

I really wanted to love this, but it just felt short.
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Thank you to Tor, Net Galley and RBmedia for the advance listener copy.

To start, the cover of Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame is absolutely striking! It is a short read but it packs a punch with an engaging plot, excellent world-building, and wonderful characters! I love novellas and this one is so well done! The narrator did a wonderful job bringing the story to life and there is a clear distinction between the voices of the characters. Yeva, our main character, is sent from home at a young age to be trained as a dragon hunter then on a mission she grows close with a girl-king and ultimately must pick between her duty and her heart. If you are looking for a short, heartfelt, sapphic, engaging read with a dragon and dragon hunter this should definitely be your next read or listen! I cannot wait to pick up The Tensorate series by Neon Yang.

LESBIAN KNIGHT STRUGGLING TO MAINTAIN THEIR HONOR AND DUTY WHEN FACED WITH LOVE AND THE TRUTH. AND A DRAGON QUEEN!! AHHHH!!!

only issue i had was with the everstone and the blue fire, i feel like it wasn’t explained or used quiet enough

alc from netgalley and recorded books

Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame is a short fantasy novella with surprisingly strong world-building.

Like with many novellas, I had to work a little harder to stay focused and to get fully immersed into the story, but the character-driven plot made it worth it.
I really liked the main character, Yeva, and the tender sapphic romance between her and the girl-king Sookhee was sweet and well done.

The narrator did a great job bringing the whole story to life, and even though the ending was satisfying, I would’ve preferred had the book been longer.

Overall, a good, heartfelt listen.

The genre here is everything I could want, a sapphic, Asian-inspired fantasy about a dragon slayer where our MC has to choose between her heart or her sacred duty. Plus, the cover is GORGEOUS.

Nancy Wu delivers the narration with a lot of emotion. The character voices are expressed with a lot of personality and distinction between each character. This is a third-person narrative so most of the story is read is in her own voice which I found to be engaging.

I did find myself wishing this was a full length novel just so we have time to really build a connection between the two main characters. It is nicely written and a comforting story. I would definitely love to read more from this world.

Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame is a delightful novella that explores Yeva as she is taken from her home, trains to become a dragon slayer, and is brought into Quanbao and creates new bonds as a new guest in the Kingdom. I really enjoyed the exploration of Yeva's character and the bonds she creates in Quanbao espeically with Lady Sookhee.