Dragonfall (The Dragon Scales Series)

Dragonfall

The Dragon Scales #1

The first in an epic fantasy romance series from Sunday Times & USA Today bestselling author L.R. Lam.

Long ago, humans betrayed dragons, stealing their magic and banishing them to a dying world. Centuries later, their descendants worship dragons as gods. But the 'gods' remember, and they do not forgive.

Thief Arcady scrapes a living on the streets of Vatra. Desperate, Arcady steals a powerful artifact from the bones of the Plaguebringer, the most hated person in Lumet history. Only Arcady knows the artifact's magic holds the key to a new life among the nobles at court and a chance for revenge.

The spell connects to Everen, the last male dragon foretold to save his kind, dragging him through the Veil. Disguised as a human, Everen soon learns that to regain his true power and form and fulfil his destiny, he only needs to convince one little thief to trust him enough to bond completely—body, mind, and soul—and then kill them.

Yet the closer the two become, the greater the risk both their worlds will shatter.

Order the Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition with red sprayed edges while supplies last! Or pre-order the Exclusive Hardback Edition (March 4, 2025) to match the Exclusive Hardcover of Emberclaw.

Publishing Information:

US: DAW (Astra)

UK: Hodderscape (Hodder & Stoughton)

Translations: Romanian, Polish, Italian

Release date: May 2023 (hardback, e-book, audio), Jun 2024 (paperback)

Purchase:

Praise & Accolades

A #4 Sunday Times Bestseller in the UK
A USA Today bestseller for three weeks in the US
The Barnes & Noble Speculative Monthly Pick, July 2024
Longlisted for the British Science Fiction Award for Best Novel
A Locus Magazine Recommended Read 2023

Here there be (sexy) dragons.
― BookPage

Sumptuous epic fantasy.
― Publishers Weekly

What you will find here may be exactly what you love in fantasy: Dragonfall is an intriguing blend of magic, a thief, trickery, and an unexpected dragon.
― Robin Hobb, bestselling author of the Realm of the Elderlings series

In Dragonfall, Lam has forged a fresh and intricate world, a smouldering romance, and a fire-new take on dragons.
― Samantha Shannon, #1 NYT & Sunday Times bestselling author of Priory of the Orange Tree and A Day of Fallen Night

Dragonfall is a romance fantasy like you've never read before. A queer norm world with new ways of telling tales, L.R. Lam is breaking boundaries and binaries yet again with a brilliant fantasy book that you won't want to miss.
― Hannah Kaner, #1 Sunday Times Bestselling author of Godkiller

Dragons have never been so sexy. Lam's triumphant return to fantasy strikes the perfect balance between romance, action, high stakes heists, and betrayal, in a richly imagined world that's brimming with magic and heart. You can't help but fall for this book
― Kate Dylan, author of Mindwalker

With a queernorm cast that challenges the roles of gender and sexuality, Dragonfall is a page-turner that keeps you on the edge of your seat with phenomenal worldbuilding and jaw-dropping twists. Leaves you as breathless as flying on dragonback.
― Linden A. Lewis, author of The First Sister

A romance featuring a sexy dragon, stabbing, and kissing ― what’s not to love?
― Aliette de Bodard, award-winning author of A Fire Born in Exile

Lam's Dragonfall is a powerful all-new imagining of dragons and humans and the wild magic burning between them, set in a divided world as brilliantly original as it is convincing. With striking, beautiful prose and characters that will own your heart, this book - and those to follow in the trilogy - are must-reads.
― Julie E. Czerneda, author of the Night’s Edge series

Tight, tense, smouldering, and wonderfully queer.
― Mike Brooks, author of The God-King Chronicles

Set in a unique and wondrous world, Dragonfall is a soaring and fiery love story that will burn or melt your heart. Lam's prose is delicate and gorgeous yet sharp, and will leave readers pining for the next book.
—Wesley Chu, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of the War Arts Saga

“Dragonfall is a brilliant, beautifully paced page turner of a novel, up there with the best fantasy and one of my favorite reads of the year so far.”
—J.D. Oswald, author of The Ballad of Sir Benfro

Dragonfall is fresh and exciting fantasy, full of treachery, romance and kaleidoscopic world-building. You will gladly lose yourself in L. R. Lam's creation
― Jen Williams, author of The Poison Song and Talonsister

Dragonfall is a soaring good time from start to finish, and has plenty for fantasy fans to love: an intriguing world, forbidden romance, unique magic, and of course, as many dragons as your heart could possibly desire
― Tara Sim, author of The City of Dusk

Hudsons

Foyles

Signed copies are available through most Edinburgh bookstores, like Transreal Books, Argonaut Books, and Portobello Books.

Emberclaw

The Dragon Scales #2

Long-banished dragons, revered as gods, return to the mortal realm in the second book in this magical, romantic, epic fantasy series from a Sunday Times & USA Today bestselling author.

Arcady faces their greatest heist yet: posing as a noble student at the arcane University of Vatra. When the University announces the reinstatement of archaic trials of magic, the ever-penniless Arcady seizes the chance. If they win, they not only prove their worth, but the scholarship will give them more time to unlock secrets and reveal, once and for all, that their grandsire was not the Plaguebringer. Yet grief still leaves Arcady broken, and when they close their eyes, they dream of a certain dragon.

Everen, once the hope of dragons, is now hated by his kind. When he is eventually released from his prison, the Queen is clear: while he may help protect the island from wraith attacks, he is no longer a prince of the realm. As he struggles to find his place in Vere Celene, visions of the past, the future, and tantalizing glimpses of Arcady still haunt him. If he steers the wrong path through fate’s storm, he may never be able to create a future where both humans and dragons live in harmony.

Arcady soon realizes that to survive the rising threats from both their old life and their new one, they must use every trick at their disposal—even magic stolen from a dragon they thought dead. And as time runs out before an ancient danger awakens, Everen must fight his way back to Arcady, earn their forgiveness, and learn what it truly means to be an Emberclaw.