Dragonfall

Thank you to Netgalley and DAW for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review! In Dragonfall, we meet the last male dragon, Everen. He is prophesied to save his kind after they were banished centuries ago. Meanwhile, humans have harnessed the magic they stole from dragons, have forgotten all about their betrayal and instead started worshipping them as gods. Enter genderfluid thief Arcady who hasn’t been dealt the kindest card in life and is hellbent on taking back what’s been stolen from them. When they accidentally magically bond and Everen is dragged into the human world, the path seems clear: find a way to break the bond, as far as Arcady knows. Get the human to trust him and then kill them, as far as Everen is concerned. Growing close is not a part of any those plans, but it sure complicates them. It’s been a minute since I last read any High Fantasy, I hadn’t realised how much I missed it. What drew me in immediately with this one: it’s really, really funny. Things properly hit off once Arcady and Everen meet - I’ve been saying this before but I genuinely don’t care about the plot as long as the characters work for me, and work they do. There’s a romance subplot and watching them get to know and trust each other while holding back their respective secrets (and knowing there’s tragedy ahead since Everen is supposed to kill Arcady!) has been such a delightful experience. Turns out I do enjoy romance after all. Apart from that, the book‘s just exciting. Conflicted relationships (many of them), a heist, world-threatening events - it’s „Merry Crisis!“ in a literal sense. Dragonfall had me at the edge of my seat by the end of it, with a touch of heartbreak and exciting revelations along the way. And I haven’t even started on the smaller details I loved! At least that part of Dragonfall‘s world is queernorm with gender being something you yourself figure out over time and no one else. A sign language has established itself as a sort of lingua franca and is frequently used in the book. A magic system with an interesting price to pay for humans. Commentary about rich people doing infuriating rich people things is just the icing on the cake. So yeah. I loved this one and already can’t wait for book 2!

Dragonfall hat mich mit seiner queeren Repräsentation und der frischen Perspektive im Fantasy-Genre begeistert. Endlich mehr Sichtbarkeit dort, wo sie oft fehlt! Die Welt ist spannend, die Figuren vielseitig – aber die Story war stellenweise etwas verwirrend und schwer zu greifen. Trotzdem: ein mutiger, wichtiger Beitrag zur queeren Fantasy.

Das Buch wird in drei verschiedenen Erzähler-Perspektiven erzählt und zudem in gestochener Fantasy-Sprache. Meiner Meinung nach eher alte/hohe Sprache. Es ist schwierig, dem Buch zu folgen. Ich habe mich wirklich sehr auf die Reihe gefreut, aber das Buch hat mich einfach nicht gepackt. Ganz gleich, wie sehr ich mich konzentriert habe, so wirklich in die Geschichte rein, kommt man nicht.. Immer wieder die Konzentration verloren. Ich bin nicht wirklich schlauer, als vorher und durch die verschiedene Erzählweise hatte ich noch mehr Fragezeichen im Kopf.