Ben & Books

A Language of Dragons is a thrilling and absorbing fantasy of dragons, linguistics, and intrigue. Set in an alternative 1920s London, where dragons have evolved alongside humans, this book provides a wonderful imagining of how beautiful and magical, yet terrifying and dangerous such a world could become. A tale of codebreaking, politics, and war, A Language of Dragons takes familiar elements from other YA dystopias, such as The Hunger Games, and twists them into a uniquely fiery blend of linguistics, love, and loss that leaves the reader both thrilled and heartbroken throughout the story.

The alternative London in which A Language of Dragons is set in is a war ravaged, dystopian nightmare. An oft-mentioned war in the recent past has created a rift between humans and dragons, with older characters regularly remembering the times before the war when humans and dragons lived side by side in peace. The few dragons that are shown to be living and working with humans are either prisoners from the war or treated badly by the humans. There is a deep feeling of tension throughout the book as rebels and revelations threaten the fragile peace between humans and dragons.

But it is not just the divide between humans and dragons that creates tension in the story, as the different classes in human society threaten to clash too. Society in London is divided into three classes, with education, food, and healthcare extremely limited for those in the lowest class, with travel between the zones allocated to the classes limited to keep the people divided. Naturally, demotion to the lowest class is used as a punishment for lawbreaking and dissent, with this possibility acting as a constant threat to the main characters throughout the story, with regular reminders of how bad their lives would be, used as motivation to ensure that they complete their tasks.

One of the more interesting elements of A Language of Dragons is how language itself is used to tell the story. As dragons have evolved alongside humans, their languages have evolved in a similar way, with dragons of different countries and areas having both different languages and different accents. As this means that both humans and dragons can learn each other’s languages, this creates so many interesting scenarios centred entirely around talking. This also raises many interesting questions when reading the book, do dragons have slang? Body language? Do they swear? These possibilities left me eagerly waiting for the next bit of information that told me more about the languages of the dragons as I read through the book.

The worldbuilding in A Language of Dragons is nothing short of phenomenal. The history, society, and lore of this incredibly fascinating world is slowly revealed to the reader in between the action, politics and intrigue of the story at a pace that never feels like it is telling you too much at one time. This is a world that truly feels alive as you read it, you can feel the pain and anger of the characters as they live through the various horrors and dangers of the dystopian world they live in.

A Language of Dragons is a thrilling introduction to a beautiful world. This book hits hard from the start, with exciting action, political intrigue, and devastating betrayals. It is a truly wonderfully written YA dystopia, wrapped in fire and possibly the most interesting language system I have ever read. I am so glad that the absolutely beautiful cover caught my attention all those months ago, now I am eagerly awaiting the sequel that is due to come out at the beginning of 2026.