A Language of Dragons Review | YA Fantasy Book Thoughts

"A translator, on the other hand, is a creature that flies with several pairs of wings."

A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson

My Rating: ⭐ 3.5/5 YA, historical fantasy, dark academia, politics, class systems, enemies-to-lovers, slow-burn, LGBT & PoC rep.

Here is my first-ever book review, and what better place to begin than with A Language of Dragons by S.F. Williamson. I had originally written, essentially, a 5-page essay on this book by accident, but managed to condense it down considerably. My review may seem a little critique-heavy, but rest assured, I did enjoy this book immensely.

⚠️ This review is going to contain spoilers, so if you'd like a shorter and spoiler-free version, head over to my YouTube channel or watch below. 🐉

✿ Spoilers Ahead ✿

The Set-Up

The world is set in an alternate early 1920's Britain wherein humans and dragons co-exist...somewhat. Society is split up into three different class systems: first class citizens are at the top and extremely privileged, second class are equivalent to middle class, and third class are the poorest of the poor, often living in halfway houses or prisons. This class system appears to only affect the human populace; however, dragons, while feared? Revered? Sorta unclear, are treated as below humans entirely. The catch here is that after every student finishes high school, they must take an "examination" and the results of the exam will determine whether or not they can stay in their class system or get demoted.

The story follows seventeen-year-old Vivien Featherswallow, a second-class citizen whose entire world collapses when her parents, uncle, and cousin Marquis are arrested under suspicion of being rebels. She’s left alone with her five-year-old sister Ursa and, in desperation, makes a dangerous choice: she frees Chumana, a dragon being held captive, in exchange for burning down Prime Minister Wyvernmire’s office, destroying the evidence against her family.

This breaks the fragile Peace Treaty between humans and dragons and puts Vivien in Wyvernmire’s crosshairs. Instead of punishment, though, Wyvernmire offers her a deal: crack the code to dragon language to help her win the war, and she’ll free Vivien’s family. Along with Marquis, Vivien is sent to Bletchley Park, where teens are divided into teams (aviation, zoology, and code-breaking). Whichever team makes the most progress gets promoted in class rank, while the others risk demotion or worse.

Meanwhile, unrest between humans and dragons grows, rebellions stir, and the truth about the Peace Treaty begins to unravel.

Characters

• Vivien Featherswallow

Vivien is both frustrating, selfish, and deeply believable. She clings stubbornly to the class system long after she learns how broken it is, and her constant internal refrains - "I have to save my family," "I betrayed Sophie," "I’m rotting fruit," - sometimes got repetitive (so much so that I feel like a lot of these moments could have been replaced with her finding out valuable information rather than having it served up to her through exposition via other characters). But she’s also seventeen, indoctrinated by her upbringing, abused by her father (who whipped her to make sure she’d pass her exam), and weighed down by guilt for what she did to her childhood best friend. As maddening as her rock-headedness was, it felt realistic, all things considered.

Her driving force is her family, though oddly enough, I didn’t care much for her parents. Ursa, her little sister, and her cousin Marquis, were far more compelling to me. And Sophie, her childhood best friend whom Vivien blames herself for demoting, was another emotional anchor. Their dynamic at Bletchley Park, especially Sophie’s justified anger and later their fragile reconciliation, was one of the stronger threads.

• Atlas King

The book was marketed as having an "enemies-to-lovers" subplot, but Atlas honestly didn’t feel much like an enemy. Vivien remarks that she finds him attractive upon first seeing him, so I got the feeling that he was to be the love interest right away, despite her also making mention of Gideon's attractiveness, which I was easily able to clock as a red herring. If not for the slight predictability there, I may have assumed Ralph would be the love interest in the beginning, although he is extremely unlikable...but it could have been an interesting redemption arc for him. Even Gideon could have been a good choice because he was a fellow code-breaker and direct competition to Vivien, but I digress. Vivien and Atlas's rapport builds almost immediately through shared notes and library encounters and he is incredibly protective of her from the get-go, so much so that he gets himself sent into isolation on her behalf on multiple occasions. I liked Atlas as a character; he's protective, gentle, and a priest-in-training, but I wanted more inner conflict when it came to his feelings for Vivien and his faith. There’s a great line where he asks Vivien, "What if God is calling me to you?" but it never really felt like he wrestled with his faith in any deep way besides pulling away in the middle of a few make-out sessions.

Still, he had some of my favorite moments, especially when he carved Vivien a pendant for a necklace out of wood. Early in the book she clings to her class pass on a ribbon as if her whole identity depends on it. Replacing it with a wooden carving from a third-class boy was such a poignant symbol of shifting values.

• Sophie

I wanted so much more of Sophie. She carried real emotional weight: her trauma after demotion, losing her boyfriend to lack of medical care, and her justified anger toward Vivien, especially when Vivien finally tells her the truth about her demotion.

When Sophie said"You’ll pay for what you did to me," before vanishing, it was foreboding and emotional. So when she randomly showed back up, agreed to help Vivien and co with joining the rebels, and seemed like she was fine with Vivien on the helicopter, I was a little disappointed. I want more of Sophie and I'm hoping there will be a delicious betrayal in the second book followed by, hopefully, a redemption arc and repaired friendship. I don't like things to be all bad, but I think it would be interesting. For the plot!!

• Ralph

Ralph was one of the most insufferable characters in the entire book. He was a textbook sociopath just for the sake of it and felt flat as a character. He exists mostly to torment Vivien, even breaking her arm shortly after she gets to Bletchley, and really, for what? Apparently, he was jealous of her because she got to be a code-breaker and he didn't, despite being Wyvernmire's nephew (which was a neat little twist - even his own aunt doesn't like him). It's clear as the book progresses that Ralph wouldn't even know what to do as a code-breaker, or what to do on any other team, for that matter. He is quick-tempered and kind of dumb as rocks, but maybe that was the point - he was self-absorbed enough to feel like he deserved things he didn't, while Vivien was so self-absorbed all she could think about was the things she DID deserve, even if they were negative. In the climax, Ralph kills Atlas, so I guess he served his purpose as a plot device. He's just not layered enough to be interesting as a person.

• Marquis

Marquis was one of my favorites. He brought comic relief and heart, and his romance with Karim felt natural (even if it wasn’t much of a "reveal" that he was gay, it was obvious, but I appreciate it not being some cliched "coming out"). His dynamic with Vivien, especially his attempts to convince her of the rebels’ cause, was well done.

• Chumana

I adored Chumana. A dragon wracked by guilt over her past, seeking atonement by joining the coalition - what an awesome concept! Unfortunately, she was used too often as an exposition device instead of being allowed to shine as her own character. I’m hoping the sequel gives her more space. When Vivien figures out that Chumana is trying to speak to her via echolocation, I got tingles! It was so exciting watching her figure it out.

• Others

There are several other teens at Bletchley besides the aforementioned - Dodie, Katherine, and Serena. Dodie dies while trying to escape, which I found momentarily emotional as I was swept into the immersion of the book, but did not miss her when all was said and done. Katherine attempts to kill Vivien later on but accidentally kills herself in the process, which, again, I didn't care much about. It was shocking to read due to the sudden violence among supposed friends, but these characters were very minor to me. Serena was oddly hated by Vivien from the very beginning for kind of no reason (perhaps it was projection?). She was pretty minor and like the other characters, vanished only to reappear randomly later on when it suited the plot. Dr. Seymour’s coalition reveal was a pleasant surprise. Wyvernmire, while a strong manipulator, often leaned on exposition that made her feel less sinister and more like a plot convenience, especially because she was constantly revealing all of her plans to Vivien, which kind of made no sense. All I have to say about Rita Hollingsworth: mengkhenyass.

Worldbuilding & Atmosphere

The alternate 1920s Britain setting was fascinating, especially the rigid human class system contrasted with dragons, who are both revered and subjugated. It was refreshing to read a fantasy book not set in some medieval time period - not that I dislike that setting, but it's quite frequent. The examination system, where students’ scores could raise or lower their social class, added a chilling edge and urgency.

The linguistics were the standout worldbuilding piece for me. Dragons communicate through echolocation that can be used to hatch eggs, heal one another, or even kill. The stakes of decoding that language felt real, and as someone who studied a fair bit of linguistics in university, I wanted more of it! Williamson did a great job coming up with fake dragon languages and breaking them up in a believable way without making it too complicated for someone who doesn't have any linguistic background.

Atmosphere-wise, there were strong dark academia elements like the dusty library, blackout curtains on the windows, and shadowy woods, but the dialogue often felt too modern. The use of "gatekeeping" especially yanked me out of the setting (the term wasn’t coined until decades later). Casual f-bombs, although not frequent, still felt jarring, especially given the time period.

Writing Style & Themes

A Language of Dragons is written in first-person present tense, which took me a few chapters to settle into but remained consistent. This is simply a personal preference, as I prefer the more traditional past-tense in storytelling. Pacing was fairly solid, though the story leaned heavily on exposition at times and could feel a little rushed.

The themes explored throughout the book included:

• Classism and privilege

• The danger of blind loyalty to corrupt systems

• Guilt, forgiveness, and identity

• Family loyalty vs. the greater good

One exchange that stuck with me comes when Vivien reflects on herself and asks, "Do you think maybe I was born bad?" and Atlas replies, "I don't think anyone is born bad. I think we've all got good and bad inside of us, don't you?" It's a simple but touching moment that reflects Vivien's core struggle with her guilt for what she had done to Sophie and her selfishness in trying to climb the social ladder.

Symbolism shone in small ways (like the necklace from Atlas replacing the class pass). But I also felt like Vivien sat on the fence for way too long and her "big revelation" that the government was corrupt came far too late and too abruptly, despite all the evidence leading up to it. On page 339 of a 420-page book, she tells Marquis, "You were right about everything you said. I've been wrong my whole life. I want to join the coalition," and he even half-jokingly asks her if it's just because of Atlas - which tells me even Marquis was somewhat exasperated that it took her that long to choose a side.

Personal Thoughts

Despite my critiques, I enjoyed this book so much. There were nights I couldn’t stop reading, telling myself "just one more chapter" until it was suddenly three or four later. It made me laugh (thank you, Marquis), it made me cry (Atlas's death had me ugly sobbing at 2am, not gonna lie), and it kept me on the edge of my seat (the glasshouse scene with Ralph and Chumana was fantastic).

I don’t dislike Vivien, even though she made me want to shake her half the time. She’s flawed, messy, and frustrating, but she’s also deeply relatable. I saw parts of myself in her, especially that teenage certainty that you have life figured out when really, you don’t. She is just a young girl trying to make what she feels are the right decisions, and sometimes the right ones aren't as clear when your prejudgement is clouded.

Final Thoughts

⭐ 3.5/5

A Language of Dragons isn’t perfect. It leans too hard on exposition at times, has rushed character turns, and occasionally stumbles in tone. But it’s also imaginative, thought-provoking, and emotionally compelling.

I’d recommend it to readers who enjoy YA fantasy with political intrigue, class commentary, and dragons. Despite its flaws, I was hooked and I’m eager to see where the sequel takes these characters.

🌸 Spoiler-free Bujo video review here!

xoxo,

Emilie