Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I think I preferred this book to the previous installment, which felt a bit exposition-y at times. This one felt much more pacey and plot-driven, which I guess is always helped by a magical contest! The relationship between Arcady and Everen also felt like it developed very naturally, which was nice. The ending felt a little contrived in places, which is why it's not a five-star read, but a solid series overall.

Okay, credit where it’s due, this is better than book one Dragonfall.

Emberclaw sees Arcady head off to school to learn about magic and harness their own power. While there Everen keeps popping up in their (often saucy) dreams despite being trapped in dragonland and pining for Arcady HARD. She is buddied up in science class with Sorin who hates Arcady’s guts. The two of them enter a set of trials to try and win a scholarship, while Arcady continues to try and clear her grandpapas name and Everen tries to get back to boning Arcady.

I liked the academy vibes and enjoyed the trials despite being kinda sick of them as a trope. There seemed to be much more going on in this book and the characters actually felt like they had a personality compared to book one where they all felt like flat cardboard.

Besides that, I absolutely HATE the “dragon scales”. The concept of balance in the world is described as a set of scales called THE DRAGON SCALES. Ick. No. I cringed every time I read it. I hated it.

Thank you, NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton | Hodderscape, for providing access to the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I should start by mentioning that I requested access to this beautiful arc (Micaela Alcaino is a legend, and everything she touches turns to gold), knowing that I had the first volume on my shelf and have been postponing it for a while. But it was fine, I knew it would have dragons, and dragon shifting and a lot of diverse characters - there was no way I wouldn't enjoy it. I was ready to finally binge the series and have a great time.

But OH. Oh no. From the first 50 pages of Dragonfall I knew that I fucked up by requesting Emberclaw blindly. I... did not enjoy Dragonfall. I might go as far as to say that it was one of my most disappointing reads of this year. I did not enjoy the characters, nor could I immerse myself in the story. Everything but the inclusivity of that world fell flat for me, and I seriously considered DNF-ing it.

However, I always try to fulfill my promises to Netgalley and the publisher, so here I was, Emberclaw in my hands, ready to feel the same painful disappointment once again.

Except... it never came. Every single redeeming quality of the main cast got enhanced to infinity and beyond, both on their own and within their relationships. I almost cried towards the end, finding Kel's and Arcady's ending beautiful. The school system, the trials, the pacing, the stakes, and flawed approaches were a joy during this book, and I am beyond happy that I pushed through to finish this duology.

The author evolved immensely from book 1. I don't think I've ever seen a development so quick and drastic in the best way possible. Kudos to them, truly.

Dragonfall might not have been for me, but Emberclaw more than compensated for that initial disappointment.

Definitely worth reading if you've read the first book, but I didn't feel hooked in by this installment unfortunately and so I don't think, at the moment anyway, that I'll be picking up the next book. I just didn't feel invested in the story - there's too many perspectives going on, I didn't really like the steamy dream chapters - it didn't feel epic enough.

This brilliant follow up once again shows why L.R Lam's popularity continues to grow and grow with my students. A fantastic read.

When I picked up Dragonfall I knew nothing about it, I got it because I liked the cover. And it turned out to be an amazing dragon book that I gave 5 starts to. I could not wait to find out what is going to happen to the both of the MCs! So my excitement was high when I got Emberclaw from Netgalley. Sadly, book two drop in quality for me. Pace was slower and action dragged towards the middle. Somewhere around 40% I even checked if it's not after all going to be trilogy after all. Was it going to be? Even tho it was technically the ending of the adventure stakes didn't feel as high as in the book one. And I felt like I barely got anything from Everen in the middle part.
The most action happened in last 25% and that was very good. I just hoped for more I am afraid.

A gripping and worthy follow up to the brilliant Dragonfall. It is worth the wait. I appreciated the recap at the beginning too - this should be standard for all fantasy novel series with long gaps in between publication dates as it makes it so much easier to dive back into the story. I loved the magical trials theme for Arcady which was exciting to read- and Everen's quest to return to Arcady's world in order to try and save his own people. It's an odd but compelling queer love story but with an added twist that it is between a human and a dragon. It is written so beautifully that in the end it is just a love story between two people who are trying to understand each other and find their way back to each other. I loved the Sorin sub-plot too - and felt every bit of her struggle to be free of her bonds - the end of her story felt very satisfying, In fact the resolution of Emberclaw was very satisfying - and left just enough open for a third installment if the author wished to tell Cassia's story! I will say no more in case I spoil the plot for others!

LOVED ✅

Thanks @netgalley for the kindle copy of Emberclaw ahead of the release! After devouring Dragonfall, I couldn't wait to jump straight in to book two!

This duo has everything I wanted in a fantasy novel - unique world building, an interesting magic system, found family, heists, DRAGONS, prophecies, forbidden romance, little dabbles of spice, massive plot twists, multiple worlds and POVs...

I really loved the gender fluidity in this as well, with the hand gesturing to indicate pronouns. Our MC, Arcady, identifies as "They"

A fabulous, refreshing enemies to lovers I would definitely read again and recommend 💜

Loved the conclusion to Arcady and Everen's story, I love the relationship between the two, it is so sweet!

There are a lot of romantasy smut books (which I love) at the moment, but I very rarely see ones with such a cute love story. The physical intimacy of this book is there but it is second to the love, which was so refreshing and lovely.

If you haven't read this duology, I would wholeheartedly recommned!

I adored this sequel!

I felt like this was the perfect follow up to Dragonfall. If you enjoyed the first one, you will LOVE this. The story continues to be wonderful and the pacing perfect. The writing itself is good with wonderful prose. I especially enjoyed the characters which continue to be well developed and feel real. I was fully invested all throughout and cannot wait for more from this author.

All in all, this was a highly enjoyable read and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys high fantasy.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own and I am leaving a review voluntarily.

I enjoyed this just as much as Dragonfall, if not more. I really liked going back into the world that Lam has created, with its different approach to gender and its queer-normative society. It’s just lovely to sink into a world in which all this stuff is just normal and not blinked at.

I also loved the plot of this one a lot. I thought when I started that maybe I would be bored by the magic competition angle, because I’ve read a lot of books with that sort of thing, but it felt unique and fresh. Especially, I think, because the magic competition ended up not being the focus of the book and the politics of the whole thing took centre stage by the end.

It was really exciting to see all the threads that have been teased throughout both books coming together and being resolved. The ending was definitely satisfying and it is just a great duology.

<i>Thank you Netgally for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.<i>

Overall rating: 4.5 Stars

I have to confess that I had a really hard time getting into the ARC. As it was an early edition and not the finalized version, it had some formating issues that made it hard to focus. Also: I did not reread the first book and had forgotten most of the important plot points that were immediately picked up by the sequel.

The good thing was: It had a summary of the first book (THANK YOU!).

But the difficulties meant I was not far into the book when it was released. So I did the next best thing that would guarantee that I would enjoy the book: Listen to the Audiobook. And let me tell you: what a great audiobook! I was immediatly sucked into the story.

The seperation of Arcady and Everen was something that I was sure I was not going to enjoy (I hate the trope of ending book 1 with a seperation and book 2 taking too long to bring them back together), but I was surprised that I did not mind it that much. Firstly, the seperation did not take as long as I thought it would (A win for me). Secondly, the characters that were newly introduced were just so engaging. They did not take much of the focus away from the overarching plotline but gave a much needed breather once in a while to the depressing start of the book.

Now to the main characters: I honestly cannot remember if Sorrin was even as much of a main character in book 1 (I seriously needed a reread), but I loved her in this one so much. I am always a sucker for lackeys of the villians realizing how bad of a character the villian is and helping the victims (also breaking free themself).

Everen and Arcady stay as my shaylas. I am so happy with the way their relationship changes over the time. First you have them broken apart and then they come back together but there is still the distrust and then BOOM! They are meant to be, yur honor. FATE SAYS SO!

Yeah please do yourself a favour and read this duology. It has badass characters, dragons, magic, overthrowing the government, deadly games and the best romance that you can ever get.

Banished dragons, false gods, murder, magic and of course, love. Arcady and Everen are separated between worlds, but their bond is still present and their connection leads to meeting in dreams and discovering Arcady must once again cast the spell to bring Everen into his world. Distrust and confusion is expected but Arcady is finally a scholar, learning the magic he could only ever dream of and hoping to find the secrets of his grandfather, the plague bringer. Sorin is brought in to watch acardy and in doing so realises he is not the danger she has been told of, but may just be the answer to her questions. The dragons have all but rejected Everen which only pushes him to return and make things right, but the vale is under attack, and the only thing they can all agree on is the dreamer must not be awoken, but things are never as simple as they sound.

The first book in the Dragon Scales duology by L. R. Lam didn’t resonate with me completely, however, the world-building, writing style and the ending of Dragonfall had me hooked. Emberclaw starts with Arcady and Everian separated, and their bond is broken. Arcady believes he’s dead, and does her best to focus on the dream life they worked so hard to achieve as a student at the University. Everian finds himself back with the dragons, thrown in prison by his mother the Queen. But fate is not done with them yet, and to save humans and dragons they must find their way back to each other.

I found the pacing of Emberclaw to be a lot better than the first book. Arcady’s start at the University and the structure of her new academic life help to keep the story flowing and interesting. The new characters introduced were great, as were their backstories and related sub-plots. Likewise, the addition of Sorin as a narrator gave that character more depth.

Everything comes together in this sequel, and I enjoyed it a lot. The new characters and Arcady’s growing relationships with them and Sorin lead to some wonderful scenes. Lam writes their growing friendships wonderfully, their camaraderie feels genuine and leads to some heartfelt conversations about serious topics.

The end of the Dragon Scales duology by L. R. Lam comes to a fantastic end, filled with drama and suspense. This is a duology fantasy fans do not want to miss!

Thank you for Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an eARC of this book.

I knew I was going to be heartbroken going into this due to how Dragonfall ended but WHOA. The aching and longing (alongside Arcady's rightful upset over what happened in Dragonfall) was EXACTLY what I wanted out of this book and L. R. Lam absolutely delivered.

This book contains trials which is one of my favourite things, alongside learning more about the brilliant wolrlds and magic that goes alongside it. Everen and Cassia were brilliant characters, and I enjoyed having Cassia's POV so I didnt feel like I was missing anything when we moved from different locations on the map. The villian in this book was also fab, he wasn't your normal straight up EVIL EVIL which I loved. Sorin is also wonderful and I would love another book just to see what she does next.

This was an intricately woven story with a slow burn romance that spans both books in the duology that doesn't take away from the main plot of the book. I often wish I had more duologies to read but in this case, I do wish it was longer as I dont think i'm ready to leave these characters behind!

In this sequel to Dragonfall series, Lam continues to build on an already rich world. With characters driven by a series of overlapping and conflicting desires, Emberclaw delivers a satisfying conclusion to the complex web of story set up in book one. Highly recommend to fans of dragons, fantasy with a hint of romance, and queer-norm worlds!!

This was as amazing as book one, I loved getting to catch up with the characters and see where they were now. I adored the duo logy and i really hope the author may return to the world in the future.

Wow, what a follow on from Dragonfall.. I thoroughly enjoyed the books and read them back to back. Such an intriguing writing style, it took me a little while to get into but once I did I really enjoyed the plot, character build up and highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys fantasy !

This book has everything that is needed for a good fantasy, dragons, trials and fated lovers. It follows on from the cliffhanger at the end of book one.

Despite the broken bond between Everen and Aracady, fate still finds a way to push them together so that they can accomplish their individual goals.

I really enjoyed the character development from book one to book two and how you get to see how they overcome the difficulties.

It is a lovely duology that will have you shocked, excited and laughing.

The second book in the Dragonfall duology picks up months after the first, with Everen imprisoned for treason among the dragons and Arcady finally at university, determined to clear their grandsire’s name once and for all. But while they’ve both been moving forward in their own ways, the past is far from behind them.

From the start, we see how Arcady has changed. Losing Everen—and believing him dead—has left its mark. They try to focus on their goals, but in their dreams, their desires won’t stay buried. I loved their first reunion, even if it was only in a dream, because it brought back all the uncertainty, longing, and fear they hadn’t been ready to face. The way the author explores self-doubt and the fear of being enough (or not being enough) in love felt incredibly real and relatable.

That said, I wish the book had picked up speed a little faster. Since we already know most of the characters and the world isn’t expanding much, I would have liked the action to start sooner. I especially hoped Arcady and Everen’s real reunion would have come earlier—there was space to let their relationship develop a little more before the fast-paced final stretch. Once they do reunite, though, the story takes off, and the tension doesn’t let up until the end.

What I found most fascinating about this book was how past and present came crashing together in the final act. The entire duology is built on prophecies, but here, we finally see how they came to be—what created them, how they shaped the world, and what became of them. Seeing the threads of fate come together so powerfully made for a gripping conclusion.

That said, while I enjoyed the reunion between Arcady and Everen in the moment, looking back, it felt a bit shallow, as did the ending. I expected more introspection, especially since the story is told from both their perspectives. Instead, those crucial emotional moments were swept up in the rush of events. The theme of choice and consequence is even more central in Emberclaw than in Dragonfall—now that we understand the full stakes, every decision carries even more weight. However, once the immediate danger was over, so was the story. We get glimpses of the romance and what comes next, but only in broad strokes. I would have liked more time to sit with the aftermath.

Even so, I really enjoyed this duology. If you love intricate storytelling, complex characters, and a slow-burn romance that doesn’t overshadow the plot, it’s well worth the read.