DRAGONFALL | L. R. LAM
Hello.
Here we are again. Another day, another review. This time it is Dragonfall by L. R. Lam.
Dragonfall
Long ago, humans betrayed
dragons, stealing their magic and banishing them to a dying world.
Centuries later, their descendants worship dragons as gods. But the gods
remember, and they do not forgive.
Thief Arcady scrapes a living
on the streets of Vatra. Desperate, Arcady steals a powerful artifact
from the bones of the Plaguebringer, the most hated person in Lumet
history. Only Arcady knows the artifact's magic holds the key to a new
life among the nobles at court and a chance for revenge.
The
spell connects to Everen, the last male dragon foretold to save his
kind, dragging him through the Veil. Disguised as a human, Everen soon
learns that to regain his true power and form and fulfil his destiny, he
only needs to convince one little thief to trust him enough to bond
completely--body, mind, and soul--and then kill them.
Yet the closer the two become, the greater the risk both their worlds will shatter.
Dragonfall tells the tale of Everen and Arcady, with the story being told through this dual point of view (well on the whole, there's this assassin that pops up now and again).
Everen is a Dragon (well he is when is back in his own realm, when he is in Arcady's realm he's in human form). Prophesied to be the saviour of Dragon kind. It also involves him killing off Arcady.
Arcady is a thief. The outcast relative of a disgraced royal advisor named The Plaguebearer, who is planning to steal a fortune so they can get to magic school under a false name and attempt to prove their grandsire's innocence. Now the story has a number of tropes in it, dragons, heists and enemies to lovers, and yes there is a simmering romance between the two main protags.
Unfortunately, these were not elements that drew my interest in the book, and I found it difficult to connect with a lot in this story. Which unfortunately means that this book wasn't for me.
What initially stalled my ability to engage with this book was the beginning of the story which I felt had quite a lot of information in order to build the background world the story takes place in.
In addition to this, I found the prose quite a barrier to the story, it just didn't draw me in, resulting in me having to work hard to find a connection with the tale. It's not as though I don't like different approaches to prose, and in fact I do like something that is not the normal method of story telling. However, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't..
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what L.R. Lam is trying to do. I mean there is a fresh approach to well known tropes, and whilst I know a lot of other people enjoyed this book, I just didn't feel able to connect to this book at all.
I realised quite early on that I wasn't gelling with the story, particularly the writing style and how the points of view are conveyed, and whilst it will click with people, it didn't for me.
We tend to see Arcady through Everem's eyes with them constantly referring to Arcady in the second person. I found this switching between these two perspectives jarring and felt quite displaced from the narrative.
I felt as if I was constantly searching for the hook to reel me into this story, but I just kept swimming by.
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