Book Review
A Language of Dragons by S. F Williamson
Fantasy | YA | Historical Fiction
Welcome to Bletchley Park… with dragons. It was this line alone that hooked me on this debut YA fantasy novel from S.F. Williamson. A genre-blending book set in London 1923, A Language of Dragons gives us an alternate-reality look into a dystopian world full of dragons, political corruption, and linguistics.
All Vivien Featherswallow wants is to get accepted into a summer internship program studying dragon languages. She’s studied hard. She’s followed the rules. She’s avoided being demoted to Third Class. But overnight, her orderly life is thrown into chaos and in the process of trying to right things, she accidentally starts a civil war. The only choice to save her family is to take on a mysterious job translating a hidden dragon code at Bletchley Park. But the more she learns about the peace treaty between dragons and humans, the more she starts to question everything… And Viv might just be the undoing of it all.
Marketed as “a sweeping dragon romantasy… for fans of Fourth Wing and Babel,” the premise for this book was immediately intriguing, and while I haven’t read either of its comparison novels, my expectations were high.
A Language of Dragons largely follows the character of Vivien Featherswallow, a young translator who can speak multiple human and dragon languages. The story has an academic focus to it and I found the translation work fascinating. It’s clear that the author is passionate about language and the study of dialects, and I loved the idea of dragons and humans being able to communicate in various forms.
Not being a regular fantasy reader, the idea of human and dragon societies co-existing (or not) and what that would look like, was a new concept for me and I found myself equally intrigued by the premise. But while I love the idea of an alternate reality blending of historical fiction and fantasy, I didn’t find myself fully convinced by the worldbuilding. There was mention of the “Great War” but there wasn’t a lot of clarity as to what that looked like. The Bletchley connection was interesting, but overall, the historical parallels didn’t work for me.
While I had some plausibility issues and wasn’t fully convinced by the romance or historical aspect, it was a world with (pink!) talking dragons, so I can overlook these. As a whole, this was a fun and bingeable read with political themes and discussions around class that will work well for YA readers looking for a new dystopian, fantasy series.
“People shouldn’t fear their prime ministers. Prime ministers should fear their people.“
Recommended for:
Readers looking for a fun YA fantasy featuring dragons, academia, and revolution!
This post contains affiliate links; as an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Advance copy of the book provided courtesy of the publisher, Harper Collins Canada. All opinions expressed are my own.
About the book:
(From the publisher): London, 1923. Dragons soar through the skies and protests erupt on the streets, but Vivian Featherswallow isn’t worried. She’s going to follow the rules, get an internship studying dragon languages, and make sure her little sister never has to risk growing up Third Class. By midnight, Viv has started a civil war.
With her parents arrested and her sister missing, all the safety Viv has worked for is collapsing around her. So when a lifeline is offered in the form of a mysterious ‘job’, she grabs it. Arriving at Bletchley Park, Viv discovers that she has been recruited as a codebreaker helping the war effort – if she succeeds, she and her family can all go home again. If she doesn’t, they’ll all die.
At first Viv believes that her challenge, of discovering the secrets of a hidden dragon language, is doable. But the more she learns, the more she realises that the bubble she’s grown up in isn’t as safe as she thought, and eventually Viv must What war is she really fighting?
An epic, sweeping fantasy with an incredible Dark Academia setting, a clandestine, slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance, and an unputdownable story, filled with twists and turns, betrayals and secret identities, A Language of Dragons is the unmissable debut of 2025, from an extraordinary new voice.