Many Thanks to Astra House Publishing/DAW for an advanced E-galley of this novel. All opinions are my own, of course.
This novel comes out July 14 in the US and July 16 in the UK. We do have a cover battle situation. I really was a fan of the US cover... and then out of an abundance of curiosity - I looked up the UK cover and now... I'm torn. Of course, because I had an E-galley, I don't really have any cover at this point in time. ALAS, AlACK, ALAY. I will eventually remedy that but will I find that UK cover? I want that UK Cover, and I want that US cover. And I do not have that kind of book money.
John Wiswell is an author that can really- really tell a tale. I was sure that "Someone you can Build a Nest In" was going to win the Hugo last year. It did not but it was definitely in contention.
I then picked up Wearing the Lion- and proceeded to just groan with laughter and love for our main characters.
So- when I saw this choice from DAW, I was primed to wonder - what the heck is John Wiswell up to with a straight up dragon story.
Reader friends, this is a dragon story with so much. So So Much, Heart, humor, drama, tragedy and joy that I had a hard time containing my heart. BUT... it didn't start out that way for me.
It starts off with this very cantankerous 3 headed dragon that used to be a 4 headed dragon. As a dragon, our Main dragon character is beastly. They smell bad, act cowardly and sullen, and are grumpy. Their body is broken and messy. They have terrible breath, and--- no one likes them. I didn't even like them. They are it seems in some sort of war time situation with some dragons being tamed and pampered battle steeds for a human settlement, and many more resisting working with the humans. Humans, of course, seem to eff everything up.
To be honest, I may have put this one down at this point, but Wiswell, that smart feller- he then hooked me in as our main Dragon character - MDC... finds himself wholly rejected by the Dragon community and in desperation, finds himself rescued by the humans after a battle. Once rescued, he is assigned a DISASTER HUMAN, Raina.
Wiswell had the nerve, readers- to write a character that was SO fully relatable that I thus was fully sucked right in and had to know what was going to happen to Raina, even though... she was so relatable-that I had a hard time really LIKING her. I recognized all of the parts of me that I am not particularly proud of- on display, in a book- that was not about me... but yet, was it? I had a couple of uncomfortable chapters there.
SO we start off with me feeling like our MDC is so despicable that no dragon will host him, and our MFC Raina is such a disaster that her kind also sort of shun her.
NORMALLY- as readers, we generally....feel the pangs of sorrow and understanding for those underdogs of the pages. Wiswell created such wretched creatures that I felt like I'd likely flinch away from both the dragon and the human. AND THEN... HE MADE ME FALL IN LOVE WITH BOTH OF THEM.
What the what. What did he put in this one.
Chapter after chapter, I started to love the fantastic disaster that Raina honestly is, and the transformation of our MDC (Garrodigh) from a miserable broken creature into a focused, magnificent fearsome dragon. These two magnificent and imperfect creatures take on invaders who seek to destroy them, and uncover a secret that is even more fantastical.
I had so many reactions and hot takes that I do wish I'd done a series of "video reactions" as I was reading, but alas, I do work a full time job - not in publishing or media- so you get this word vomit here.
I was locked in until the very end. I will freely admit, there's something... in this novel. I laughed, and cringed, and cried enormous tears. I shared one passage with a friend- one passage- and she was suddenly sobbing too. (ONE PASSAGE, not the whole book- she didn't know anything but that one passage). I'd love to share that with you, but but but the book isn't out yet.
PUT THIS ONE ON YOUR TBR.
Firstly because the story - as it unfolds is marvelous. There is some quirky, amazing worldbuilding and dragon lore which I am sure Wiswell got from somehow real time dragon interaction- no way he just made that all up in his head- (Dragon sleeping habits have to be observed) An inventive floating city, aloft on dragon magic (I mean, yes please!) and more.
Secondly because so many of us have said we want to read stories that represent all kinds of people. And this dragon fantasy- has organic inclusion of disability, trans persons, elderly persons, mental health struggles and more. So many novels attempt to be "representative" and it reads as inaccurate, forced or performative inclusion. Not this one. All of this just flowed in a way that made me say- of course, yes, this is the way of things.
Will I be lining up on release day? It will depend on my book money situation, but I will definitely definitely be cheering this one on no matter what.
First Published : 7/14/26
Pages: 400
Available as an Audio Book : yes
Trigger Warnings: death, xenophobia, fire, fire injury, bullying, war, war injury, Alcohol use, injury, miscommunication "trope", (this is not a full list, read responsibly)
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