One of my most anticipated releases for the first half of 2025 is A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson. This is a young adult romantasy with dragons, mixed with historical fiction and dark academia, centred around the study of languages in an alternate London. Furthermore, this is this author’s debut. Books containing dragons are gaining more and more popularity these days, but this mixture of elements is something I haven’t seen before. Was this book worth all the anticipation? I got a free finished copy from the Dutch division of Harper Collins for review, this doesn’t impact my opinion in any way. Besides, my review has been changed a bit due to the difference of reviewing style between both my blogs.

About the book

A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson
Published by HarperCollins on January 7, 2025
Pages: 432
Genres: Fantasy, Romantasy, Young adult

In an alternate London in the 1923, one girl accidentally breaks the tenuous truce between dragons and humans, in this sweeping debut and epic retelling of Bletchley Park steeped in language, class, and forbidden romance, perfect for teen fans of Fourth Wing and Babel.

London, 1923. Dragons soar through the skies, and protests erupt on the streets, but Vivien Featherswallow isn’t worried. She’s going to follow the rules, get a summer internship studying dragon languages, be smart, be sweet, and make sure her little sister never, ever has to risk growing up Third Class. She just has to free one dragon.

By midnight, Viv has started a civil war.

With her parents and cousin arrested and her sister missing, Viv is brought to Bletchley Park as a codebreaker—if she succeeds, she and her family can all go home again. If she doesn’t, they’ll all die.

As Viv begins to discover the secrets of a hidden dragon language, she realizes that the fragile peace treaty that holds human and dragon societies together is corrupt, and the dangerous work Viv is doing could be the thread that unravels it.

Set in an alternative 1920s with a rigid class system and dragons on every corner, A Language of Dragons is a rich fantasy about language, loyalty, love, and redemption.

My review

Before reading

The synopsis immediately made me curious, and I therefore added this book to the TBR straight away. Romantasy is the “it” genre these days, and I enjoy such books as well. Dragon stories are often guaranteed to be action-packed. Moreover, I really enjoy a historical fiction novel every now and then. The combination of those three elements was therefore a recipe for high expectations. I was really looking forward to dive into this book and I’m glad to say that most of my expectations are met.

Characters

This story is solely told from Vivien’s POV. Her character is hard to fathom. On one hand she seems to live a calm and peaceful life, whereas on the other hand this seems not to be true at all. She has a clear goal and does everything to succeed in it. However, the capture of her family means she has to change her goal into saving them instead of becoming a professor in Dragon languages. It becomes clear quickly that Viv is willing to go to great lengths to meet her goals, even if this means making selfish choices. It takes a while before Williamson reveals the full truth about what she has done – which keeps you intrigued to continue reading –, but it’s obvious she made choices with far-reaching consequences. These choices fit her age, but they are quite stupid. Even though these were made with good intensions in mind, Viv is seventeen and unable to oversee the consequences of her actions and choices. Throughout this book, Viv is confronted with these consequences with great force, but she hardly seems to learn from them as the cycle gets repeated continuously. She makes a choice, finds out it wasn’t the best, reflects a bit on it and moves on. And makes the same mistakes again. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Viv, because her lack of self-reflection makes her quite insufferable and naïve. Making stupid and selfish choices seems to be her trademark and I therefore missed depth and character growth, something I highly value in my reading. This lack of depth applies to all characters, they are all written fine but barely seem to grow. However, this seems to be the first book in a series, so the author has much more space to add more depth to them. They now seem really morally grey to me.

Writing

Even though the characters are not my cup of tea, the writing style is. The chapters are short, which makes this book fast paced. It therefore is very accessible for younger readers. Although this novel is marketed as romantasy, I find it more suitable as a YA. This mainly is because of the characters, the writing and the lack of romance. Yes, there is romance, but it’s not spicy at all. There are a few kissing scenes, but nothing more than that. This is very different from other books within the romantasy sub genre.

Plot

However, the lack of romance provides an interesting plot. The novel jumps from action to action which provides a continuous tension arc. This attracts the younger readers, who mostly are looking for this type of book. The worldbuilding and the history of the dragons, the language and the peace pact are interesting and therefore deserve more elaboration. Williamson has laid a good foundation for this. This is just the start, there’s more to happen if I have to believe the ending. The only thing I wasn’t so keen on was the setting. The era this book is set in is mentioned multiple times but wasn’t really necessary. The world is an alternate version of the real world and therefore this story could have taken place in any time period. I didn’t get the feeling I was reading a book set in the Interbellum.

Final thoughts

A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson is a solid debut. The plot and world are interesting, the writing is accessible and attractive for the younger crowd. However, this book is more YA than romantasy, because it’s too closed-door for this sub genre. They do no mor than kissing, so if you enjoy reading spicy books this is not your cup of tea. Moreover, the characters lack a bit of depth and growth, something I seek in my reading material. This doesn’t mean that they are bad, just morally grey. Apart from main character Viv being insufferable, I was fully intrigued by this story, and it was hard for me to put it down. I’m definitely curious for more.