Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame by Neon Yang

TL;DR: While fun and well written, it lacked some ‘umph’ for me.
Source: NetGalley – thank you so much to the publisher!

Plot: Yeva is sent to investigate another kingdom for dragons and learns some hard truth.
Characters: I’m not sure if it was the narrative structure or the writing but they felt rather flat.
Setting: It was a lovely setting, that perhaps needed a bit more attention.
Fantasy: Given a full novel treatment this could have been a very epic fantasy.

Summary:

The fiercely independent nation of Quanbao is isolated, reclusive, and something of a mystery to the rest of the world. It is rumored that there, dragons are not feared as is right and proper but instead loved and worshiped.

Yeva is perhaps a strange emissary to these people. Not only because their face has never been seen in public, but because they are a hero born to a birthright that makes them suited for their task—hunting dragons.

And so the dragon hunter must woo Quanbao’s queen—the Lady Sookhee—to understand what secrets she is hiding. A woman reasonably suspicious of Yeva’s intentions, and the imperial might of the throne she represents, Sookhee bears the burden of the safety of her entire people. How can she trust this stranger newly arrived to her court, a weapon forged in blood and fire, to understand what her people need and how best to safeguard their future?

Thoughts:

If you think Asian Fantasy with a touch of the Mandalorian it’s hard not to get excited. Plus with this cover? Stunning. And while I did enjoy the story here, I think it sadly lacked a lot of the punchy power we could have gotten.

The story here is told as if to a youngster, an oral story starting something like ‘Have you heard the tale…’. I immediately was concerned, and with good reason. There is a distance to the story, a few steps removed that makes the reader feel as if perhaps they are looking through frosted glass at the story before them. While sometimes this can work, more often than not it feels flat, the problem here. So much of this held so much promise, but because of the structure and length the vibrancy we are teased with is missing in the meat of the story.

Add to this a very predictable plot and a somewhat lackluster climax this one ended up feeling very dull to me. I expected to fly through this and eat it up. Instead I dozed off half way through (it’s less than 200 pages!) and had to remind myself to pick it up the next day.

While this sounds fairly negative it does hold a lot of promise. It’s setup as if for a sequel and I would give the sequel a try! It’s certainly not a bad book, but one that perhaps I expected more from. That cover is still absolutely stunning.