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The writing throughout the book was decent. Detailed, not overly flowery but descriptive, with some cool choices of words. I particularly liked the first few chapters in Everen's (the dragon's) POV, where he uses very distinctively "dragon" concepts to describe things, such as "a few wing-lengths away" for distance, "it" to refer to humans, "mammary glands" to refer to breasts, etc. I haven't read too many books with dragons, so I'm not sure how original such language is, but I did find it quite interesting and characteristic. This is a novel which certainly flourishes in enriching the narrative with historical authenticity, tense drama, and a dark atmosphere whereby Thomas effortlessly holds her audience captive until the final curtain falls. The Revels enlightened me in many ways, this is a debut not to be missed. They aren't a very competent thief, and they frequently overreact, scream, and generally cause a scene. Thomas said: “ The Revelswas inspired by the victims of the English witch-hunts and the real-life witchfinders who hunted them. I’m so excited to share The Revelswith the world and want to thank my agent Liza, my editor Katie and the HQ family for being such fierce champions of my story.”
This book, like many other fantasy books, fell victim to this. The first few chapters were ONLY written for info-dumping. Not only that but they were also way too confusing. I felt like an idiot, and I am an idiot most of the time, but believe me when I say even Einstein would roll in his grave trying to understand what was happening. I get that it is needed to set the world and the scene but it could’ve been written better. I’m glad they were short though. Many are still damned and many enjoy the spectacle of death. The year is 1645 and a macabre witch-hunt takes the stage in this beguiling post-Jacobean novel by Stacey Thomas✨ His sister Cassia's face is "draconic." No shit, she's a dragon. What does that actually look like? The romance, therefore, was a hard sell for me, since I wasn't invested enough to care about what happened. I didn't get the chemistry between them, nor did I feel emotionally affected by the angst. Though in a way, the pining of a lowly thief for a beautiful-looking prince reminded me a bit of The Song of Achilles, which I also didn't like, so maybe there's some level of personal preference there. While witches are real, women and families are treated unfairly, being blamed for witchcraft over small neighbourly disputes and sentenced to death. When an overly enthusiastic and headstrong witch hunter rides into town, Nicholas and Will have to work together to bring him down. The dead have secrets to tell and Nicholas has to put his fear aside to speak up for justice.I was very interested to find that the POV of this is a male character – the brother of the infamous Witch hunter of the time. At the time, the country was completely wrapped up and taken over by the fear of witchcraft. This fear had infiltrated the highest levels of government and the royal household. King James I for example, felt that witches were plotting to assasinate him in a plot with the devil. With a leader as mad as this, you can understand why the whole country was soon involved in a witch hunt of any woman suspected of wrongdoing. Most women accused died as a result of the treatment she got. Set in 1645, at the height of the witch hunts, we follow Nicholas, who has been dragged into the realm of hunting after the death of his brother. Dragonfall is a submersive, atmospheric epic fantasy with high stakes, slow burn, and gorgeous writing. Come for the dragons, stay for the gay pining. Storytelling at its best. Set in 1645, I felt this book transported me there immediately. Such was the feel of the book, I found myself sitting beside a lute player in a castle, whilst a motley crew of witchunters prepared to go out and hunt down women. The calm before the storm….
Arcady, a human, and Everen, a dragon, have become bonded through a magical accident where Arcady pulled Everen from his world and trapped him in his human form, power diminished. They have to work together to complete the bond, complicated by their romantic tension and opposing goals. With The Revels , Stacey Thomas has created an original take on this murky, violent episode of British history. It’s a satisfyingly eerie debut from a writer with a keen sense for atmosphere and the darker threads of human motivation.I am fascinated by the history of witch trials and if we truly grasp the line of history, we can see there were underlying misogny towards women deemed abnormal or acting out of behaviours. Women who were thought as witched are hunted & burned at stakes, its horrible, despicable and ultimately discriminatory bcus it was pepretrated against women only. Beware of some triggering scenes in here bcus the punishments are violent and graphic. What attracted me to the book is the potrayal of the main character as he was fascinating to follow, his fondness with Althamia is quite charming and i love her too. Her strong will & passion in her interest really shined here, a very clever girl that doesnt feel afraid to be vocal about her thoughts amidst the whole event. Although, one confounding factor that detract a comfortable reading for me is the writing style, its complex & poetic nature, sometimes can get hard to read as i have to reread the sentences just to understand whats going on. Its not simple, its superflous with whimsy proses which may worked for others but a bit difficult for me. However, apple skins have a lot of tannin. Tannins are bitter and astringent, not sweet and fizzy. I've never been fizzed by an apple. This quote had me sighing at the irony that reflects the contemporary life of women. How many times are women scapegoats for the acts of their male counterparts. For example, the MeToo movement and a woman coming out to speak against a more powerful male. In 1645, would the victim be accused of witchcraft? Let that sink in. Arcady lives in an abandoned shop called Loc and Key, a pun that only works in English. Their magic is done using something creatively called the Old Tongue, with phrases like, "Ar-réal vanok vaugain." It looks pretty far removed from English. How are they related? It is described as “a bewitching historical novel set in 17th-century England”. The synopsis says: “After his half-brother dies, aspiring playwright Nicholas Pearce is apprenticed to Judge William Percival, an infamous former witch-hunter who is under pressure to resume his old profession.
By entering this competition, you also agree to the Caboodle Terms and Conditions and Caboodle Points Terms and Conditions. England, 1645. Nicholas Pearce is apprenticed to Judge William Percival, who is better known as a former witch hunter who spent his youth eradicating witches. Despite Judge Percival’s reluctance to return to such a position, there is huge pressure to resurrect the witch hunter role, and he eventually acquiesces. The Promoter accepts no responsibility for winners not receiving the prize before stated publication date due to prize unavailability from the publisher, technical issue resulting in a delay from the publisher, or for any other reason. The worldbuilding is lush and I was especially intrigued by the dragon realm and its mythologies. I loved the narrative style adopted for the dragon's POV. The payoff is wonderful, and I hope the same style is adopted for the sequels, though I'm not sure considering where lam chooses to take the story next. I loved how it mirrored the prophetic nature of dragon kind in this book and came to such an emotional close at the end. The narrative style might also be the reason why I found the dragon's chapters so much more fun to read than the human's, unlike other reviewers. One thing is obvious, L. R. Lam can WRITE. This is the first book I've read by them and will probably not be the last. The story flows so effortlessly, I found myself immersed in reading it for hours on end. For a genre as over-saturated as epic fantasy, Dragonfall stands tall and distinct with the phenomenal slow burn and well-explained magic system.
This lyrical introduction offers plenty of food for thought. The Revels, in fact, has a fresh writing style that continues throughout the story. It is filled with beautiful prose, original comparisons, rich historical references, unique and sometime treacherous characters. There are eloquent numerous lines and moving passages such as seen in the letter from Francis (when he is dying) to Nicholas. It is obvious Francis loves his brother and does not want to see him under the control of their father. Francis also regrets not knowing his brother better. Especially, Nicholas the witch— who the dead sing to. As he states: ‘Fear of the consequences made us shy of each other.’ This was a time of great accusations and hiding such truth was necessary for survival. Problems like these made the worldbuilding in this book feel very forced, unrealistic, and occasionally even didactic. Nothing ever fully came alive, and all the lengthy descriptions only made the plot drag. The Revels is a historical fiction set in London where Nicholas Pearce is an apprentice for a former witch hunter. Rumours of witches are doing the rounds and new trials are held which Judge Percival needs to attend. It's hard to believe that this is a debut novel, as I felt Thomas brought life to these characters. With vivid descriptions and imagery, the reader is transported to 1645.
Without giving a lot away, I just wanna say I can kill or be killed for Arcady and Everen. They have a hold on my heart none can break. Their banter, longing, and overall interactions got to me right from the start. They were oblivious to how much of a simp they were for one another and it was honestly adorable. Again, I NEED MORE. This is an entirely different story to the largely portrayed “cunning” woman and I love that. With many twists and turns. Men were also wrongfully accused but that is so often overlooked in favour of the traditional horror stories of women and hags who fell prey to evil. Especially the Pendle Witches who you envision as spindly old women and children flopping around the Lancashire countryside.
Summary
Ammil, the former last male dragon, went crazy hundreds of years prior. Is he still alive? Called it! How old is Everen? How was Everen conceived? It turns out the dragons reproduce asexually and the temperature determines sex. If that's the case, why does it matter that Everen is male? In most cases, this would be fine with me--great worldbuilding is always a huge plus, but I've also enjoyed books without the bonus just fine. The reason why this stood out as a major issue in Dragonfall though, is that the author is obviously trying too hard. Lots of different aspects of the world were touched upon, from lore to social hierarchy to festival celebrations, but sadly, they all stopped at simply that--touched upon. There are five dragon gods ... and then? What did they do, how did they shape the beliefs of their kind? The society is very open to gender fluidity ... great, and then? How does that affect how people express themselves or view others (other than that they have to sign their gender when introducing themselves)? It is purely coincidental that I happen to be reading The Left Hand of Darkness at the same time as this book. There, you can clearly see gender's influence in every aspect of society, from power balance to work dynamics to holidays and entertainment. I don't expect such a drastically different world in Dragonfall, of course, but one would at least think that for a society so inclusive and acceptive when it comes to gender, the same openness should be reflected in other aspects of life as well, yes? How is it that we only get to be hammered over the head repeatedly with superficial things such as inclusive gender pronouns and sign languages, but not a fundamental sense of equality that should underlie these social rules? It’s a bit ironic, but my book also explores why people choose to write about witches. King James published Daemonologie in 1597. He later—and in a time before advances!—awarded Thomas Potts the keepership of Skalme Park for his account of the Pendle Witch Trials. It’s horrendous to think about. More so, when you think that this happened a lot and many, many women were killed on the lies of one man. Thank goodness therefore for Nicolas who has empathy for these women and has a special talent and belief in why he should be the one to help them. It’s a dangerous world for a man if you believe the witches… This spellbinding debut novel is perfect for fans of Stacey Halls, Laura Purcell and Bridget Collins.
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