A really lovely read, the kind of old-school fantasy adventure that made me remember why I fell in love with the genre in the first place. The worldbuilding with the twists on the societal structure and gender roles was pretty fun, and of course I absolutely adored all the dragons. So many dragons! Seriously, if you love dragons, you have to read this. They come in all sizes and colors here, ranging from monstrous to cute.

And then there are so many lovable human characters here, too. My favorite was definitely Robert . He’s a lovable reluctant dragon exterminator who would rather be friends with that “vermin,“ and he’s really got such a nice arc (as do other characters, to be fair—and by the way, I really enjoyed how those arc intersected and fed into each the same main theme). I started feeling for him from his very first appearance. Especially since that first scene was so relatable—“I’m dead but I’m awake“ is such a strong morning vibe.

That’s another thing I want to mention, by the way: the story is full of those small, humorous moments. Nothing outright comedic / laugh-out-loud funny, more like gently amusing. Lots of clever turns of phrase to keep the reader smile. Generally, the writing style is really warm and compassionate somehow. It gives the book this soft, cozy feel, even though it definitely doesn’t qualify for the cozy fantasy subgenre. It is, after all, quite the classic adventure where our heroes need to defeat an evil wizard and all. There are some pretty dark vibes here now and then, actually (ew, dragon market…), but still, the aftertaste the story leaves is that of kindness and comfort.