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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
A Language of Dragons has a bit of everything: it's historical! it's fantasy! it's a little dystopian! it has a little romance! and now adventure!
... but while the premise was certainly intriguing, it lost me a little in the actual execution. The pacing was slow for much of the book, and the story was disappointingly lacking in actual dragons.
THE GOOD:
... but while the premise was certainly intriguing, it lost me a little in the actual execution. The pacing was slow for much of the book, and the story was disappointingly lacking in actual dragons.
THE GOOD:
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A good exploration of action and language interspersed in varying loves and ties.
Fascinating look at open and closed traditions.
Fascinating look at open and closed traditions.
A fantastic YA fantasy read with great world-building, pace and intrigue. It was focused on dragon language, which the concept was just really interesting and well explored. There was also political unrest and war in the main plot. Also with a deeper message of humans controlling the earth and every other species there is.
As a YA novel it was just lovely - I sometimes find with adult fantasy (or romantasy) the focus is so much on the love and sexual attraction that it sometimes takes away from the rest of the story, if that makes sense. I think that’s just personal preference. In this book I feel there was just the right amount of love interests there and I’m looking forward to how this develops.
I managed to read and listen to this over two days and it’s a chunky book at just under 500 pages. It was just a really immersive read for me. Towards the end I did get slightly annoyed at the main characters decision making and her naïveté, but overall a really enjoyable read that I definitely recommend!
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Promised to be Dark Academia with Enemies to Lover romance trope plus Dragons! and Languages! set in an alternative WWII setting, I was sure that A Language of Dragons was going to be a favorite.
Unfortunately, although this book did in fact contain dragons and languages, it did not really contain Dark Academia, but instead a not-so-super-secret government department charged with unlocking not-so-hidden-secrets of the dragons in order to win the war. Using a Hunger Games stylized approach, the recruits are asked to complete their tasks before other recruits else their loved ones and they themselves will be killed.
Now, I'm not an expert on war by any means, but recruiting and relying on barely legal young adults with criminal and suspect backgrounds to complete complicated codebreaking seems like a unintelligent idea from the start. The idea that they will imprison one of the best polyglots and instead recruit her daughter to complete her research seems implausible. Not to mention that Vivian Featherswallow is an absolute idiot. From the get-go, the recruits are told not to share their work with anyone else, yet at the first dinner they all talk openly about what they have been asked to do for the war effort. Where the spies and betrayals occur, the reader is completely unsurprised except our MC is all shocked Pikachu face during any "reveal".
Then we have the romance - or lack thereof. This was not in any way, shape, or form an enemies to lovers romance, but rather a forbidden love trope (he is planning on becoming a priest). To even call it a romance is a stretch. There is minimal kissing and the "love" comes completely out of left field. I did not buy their relationship at all and there was zero chemistry.
The politics between the dragons and the humans did not make any sense. If I was the dragons, I would have destroyed the humans and asked questions later rather than sign a "peace agreement" that basically enslaves dragons who are clearly larger, smarter, and much more powerful than human beings.
What I did enjoy about this book as the dragon lore and where I normally do not like academic info-dumping, in the case of this book I would have welcomed it. Language development and evolution is a strong interest of mine and I was fascinated by the dragon anthropology and physiology and wanted so much more information on that.
Overall, this is a great introduction into dragon fantasy for an upper Middle Grade reader (5th grade+) to early YA who wants a clean, political/spy thriller with dragons and minimal to no romance.
Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins, and S.F. Williamson for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately, although this book did in fact contain dragons and languages, it did not really contain Dark Academia, but instead a not-so-super-secret government department charged with unlocking not-so-hidden-secrets of the dragons in order to win the war. Using a Hunger Games stylized approach, the recruits are asked to complete their tasks before other recruits else their loved ones and they themselves will be killed.
Now, I'm not an expert on war by any means, but recruiting and relying on barely legal young adults with criminal and suspect backgrounds to complete complicated codebreaking seems like a unintelligent idea from the start. The idea that they will imprison one of the best polyglots and instead recruit her daughter to complete her research seems implausible. Not to mention that Vivian Featherswallow is an absolute idiot. From the get-go, the recruits are told not to share their work with anyone else, yet at the first dinner they all talk openly about what they have been asked to do for the war effort. Where the spies and betrayals occur, the reader is completely unsurprised except our MC is all shocked Pikachu face during any "reveal".
Then we have the romance - or lack thereof. This was not in any way, shape, or form an enemies to lovers romance, but rather a forbidden love trope (he is planning on becoming a priest). To even call it a romance is a stretch. There is minimal kissing and the "love" comes completely out of left field. I did not buy their relationship at all and there was zero chemistry.
The politics between the dragons and the humans did not make any sense. If I was the dragons, I would have destroyed the humans and asked questions later rather than sign a "peace agreement" that basically enslaves dragons who are clearly larger, smarter, and much more powerful than human beings.
What I did enjoy about this book as the dragon lore and where I normally do not like academic info-dumping, in the case of this book I would have welcomed it. Language development and evolution is a strong interest of mine and I was fascinated by the dragon anthropology and physiology and wanted so much more information on that.
Overall, this is a great introduction into dragon fantasy for an upper Middle Grade reader (5th grade+) to early YA who wants a clean, political/spy thriller with dragons and minimal to no romance.
Thank you to NetGalley, Harper Collins, and S.F. Williamson for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes