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A review by burtini
Dragonfall by L.R. Lam
2.0
If you picked up Dragonfall to read about dragons (with them literally being the cover and in the title), beware, there isn’t actually a lot of dragon content. Everen is the last male dragon, pulled through the veil from his home when Arcady performs a spell using a powerful artefact, the spell linking the 2. The problem is that for the majority of the book Everen is in human form to not be detected. While this could change as the books go on, as this is only book 1 in a trilogy and yes the ending does finally get quite busy and promising, this book focuses more on performing a heist using their combined skills than anything you expect it to be about.
Lam is very focused on gender issues which of course is absolutely fine although has been addressed more subtly elsewhere, however the vagueness in the writing when describing particularly Arcady makes it quite difficult to picture them in your mind. Throughout the book I don’t even know if I liked Arcady, I just couldn’t get a grasp of them as a rounded, vulnerable character. Everen at least reads like a dragon, he’s predatory in the sense that he wants something from Arcady and sets out to manipulatively get it, he’s cunning and arrogant at times. But he does also feel the more rounded of the characters, including Sorin the dragon hunter with a vow of silence who, sadly, doesn’t really contribute anything.
The writing style is also a little off putting, jumping from 1st, 2nd or 3rd person, which gets a little messy and confusing as the book goes on.
Of course as I’ve already said, plenty of grumbles or criticisms could easily be addressed as the series continues, including character depth and development as well as greater focus on the dragons and magic system.
Unfortunately I don’t think I will be continuing the weird to find out though. Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.
Lam is very focused on gender issues which of course is absolutely fine although has been addressed more subtly elsewhere, however the vagueness in the writing when describing particularly Arcady makes it quite difficult to picture them in your mind. Throughout the book I don’t even know if I liked Arcady, I just couldn’t get a grasp of them as a rounded, vulnerable character. Everen at least reads like a dragon, he’s predatory in the sense that he wants something from Arcady and sets out to manipulatively get it, he’s cunning and arrogant at times. But he does also feel the more rounded of the characters, including Sorin the dragon hunter with a vow of silence who, sadly, doesn’t really contribute anything.
The writing style is also a little off putting, jumping from 1st, 2nd or 3rd person, which gets a little messy and confusing as the book goes on.
Of course as I’ve already said, plenty of grumbles or criticisms could easily be addressed as the series continues, including character depth and development as well as greater focus on the dragons and magic system.
Unfortunately I don’t think I will be continuing the weird to find out though. Thank you NetGalley for the copy in exchange for an honest review.