Special thanks to HarperCollins for providing a digital ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review! 3.5 stars rounded up.

TL;DR: A Language of Dragons took me on a rollercoaster of thoughts and emotions. This fantasy world where humans and dragons co-exist had a fascinating premise and overall, I think the author executed it well. This has a little something for everyone—an in-depth exploration of linguistics and the power of language, political intrigue and subterfuge, romance, and dragons, and I think its comparison to Babel and The Hunger Games (or any other dystopian YA) is apt. Despite being a historical fantasy, it explores evergreen themes of social inequality, redemption, forgiveness, and justice, among others. The main struggle I had was dealing with the wildly negative feelings our protagonist, Viv, brought out in me as she's one of the most flawed and unempathetic YA characters I've ever read. Upon reflection, I appreciated what the author did with Viv and how it made her eventual growth more satisfying—even if I didn't reach that level of acceptance while reading, lol. If you're affected by unlikeable protagonists then you might not enjoy this but if you can have patience, I think you'll come to appreciate Viv too! Overall, this was a very solid debut and I can't wait to see where Williamson takes the story next!

The world-building was very interesting. This fantasy is set in an alternate post-WWI world where dragons and humans live together. In Britain, a fragile Peace Agreement allows humans and dragons to co-exist peacefully but humans are divided into strict social classes, and dragons have become “fourth class” citizens to be feared and abhorred. This dystopian Britain is a result of greed and an unmatched hunger for power that has corrupted the ruling class and resulted in a burgeoning rebellion that leads to civil war. We're gradually introduced to various elements of the world and I think it's set up brilliantly. I enjoyed learning about the various regional and familial spoken dragon dialects, but especially about Koinamens, the unknowable language of dragons that Viv spends most of the book trying to decode. You can tell how passionate the author is about linguistics and the power of language as it shines through in the writing and Viv's character who is a polyglot. This does read similarly to Babel but again, it's very clearly written for a YA audience with its simplified language, and I think that will be appreciated by all readers. The author also does a great job of exploring the heavy but important themes of social inequality, the class system and oppression, morality, forgiveness, redemption, and justice.

Once the action kicks off, tensions steadily rise as Viv finds herself placed in Bletchley Hall "fighting" for her family's survival. Might you have to suspend your disbelief that it's down to criminal teenagers (albeit with brilliant minds) who are set to save the country from war? I don't feel like it was too much of a stretch considering how eagerly the Prime Minister exploited whomever she could for personal gain. I will say that although tensions are high, it doesn't necessarily feel like we're entrenched in civil war due to Bletchley Park's "isolation" and what we do hear is through minor radio reports and news clippings interspersed in chapters. It would've also been great to get a better understanding of the PM's motive because yes, she's greedy, power-hungry, and wants full control but... To what end? The pacing also could've been better but I think that's in part due to the many pages of internal monologuing and teenage angst we're subjected to being in Viv's head. All of the explosive action that takes place towards the end is crammed into about 15% of the book and for being over 400 pages long, I think it could've been moved up to better set things up for the next book. That said, the tension was enough to propel the story forward and keep me eagerly turning the pages to find out what comes next.

When it came to the characters and the relationships, much of it was told rather than shown, which made some of the interactions and larger “shocking” events fall slightly flat as I didn’t feel the emotions needed for it to have hit harder. This most affected how I felt about the romance, which had its cute and sweet moments, but in my opinion, the depth of their feelings for each other was unbalanced with what we see of their interactions on-page. It's also very much *not* enemies-to-lovers although if you stretch the idea based on how Viv acts for most of the story, you can take it that way. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This leads me to our main character and... my very mixed thoughts about her throughout the read. To be fair, the author does pre-warn us that Viv is a very flawed character so you don't go in completely unaware. Did that warning help how I felt about her? Not particularly, lol. Viv Featherswallow is... someone who would do anything for her family and to maintain her comfortable status quo as part of the Second Class. She has done truly unforgivable things to hurt the people she claims to love and care for most in the world, and despite the guilt she suffers, she knows she'd do it again if it meant keeping her family safe and her worldview intact. She is naive to a fault, self-centred with a superiority complex, an insufferable kiss-ass, and a coward. She has made and continued to choose to make selfish decisions regardless of the impact on others, and it's fair to say that I found her wholly unlikeable and completely unempathetic for close to 90% of the book. She does eventually begin trying to make amends and essentially be a less selfish and more forgiving version of herself, which was satisfying to see.

However, it was only after I finished reading and had time to process my reading experience that I came to significantly appreciate how Williamson chose to write Viv's character. Viv is human and a teenage human at that. She makes infuriatingly naive decisions and frustratingly avoidable mistakes, and sometimes repeats them! But does that truly make her a bad person? Even if it was irritating to read, Viv's flip-flopping felt true to her because she's not going to suddenly be 100% on board with the rebellion after fighting so hard to keep her blinders on. Does this make me dislike her any less? Not really, no, but I can see what the author was trying to do with Viv's character and I'm keen to see what she will be like in the next book and where the story goes from here.