When fantasy and dragons collide, they generally follow one of two paths: either the dragons are gone and we're trying to bring them back, or the dragons are here and we're trying to get rid of them. L.R. Lam's Dragonfall, the first book in in the new Dragon Scales trilogy, introduces a potential third option: romance the dragon.

In fairness, this is more like a fourth or fifth option. The setting of this new trilogy is a world in which humans have achieved the use of magic though—as far as the humans are concerned—the blessings of dragon gods. This magic is carefully controlled through the use of seals, which are tied directly to individuals and have a degree of identity protection on them. Ask the dragons, however, and they'll see it differently: humans stole the magic of dragons, banishing the dragons to a different dimension.

That's not the only theft going on in this book, either. Our protagonist, Arcady, kicks things off by committing some light identity theft for a good cause: to prove their grandfather's innocence. But the spell required to begin using their grandfather's seal has a side effect. Everen, currently the only living male dragon, is dragged through a tear in the Veil, trapped in a weakened human form in the human world. But this has been foretold, and his kind see it as an opportunity: use Arcady to his advantage by the next big human festival, and dragons may have a chance at taking back what's rightfully theirs.

But then, Everen starts to fall for the human. And as their magical bond strengthens, so does their emotional bond... leaving Everen conflicted.

While Everen and Arcady's strange blossoming romance is the heart of Dragonfall, the bulk of the central plot is a heist. And we all love a heist. While the whole book is a fascinating read, the actual elaborate scheming of the heist is well-crafted and fun. It slots nicely into the worldbuilding that came before, with a nice balance of risk and reward colored by the setting's magic system. For example, a clever (magical) disguise is a key piece of the plan—but there are plenty of opportunities for intriguing slip-ups.

The enemies-to-lovers romance between Everen and Arcady isn't slow-burn so much as hot and cold. It's clear there's a long way to go between these two as they figure each other (and themselves) out, and the book leaves off on a tantalizing cliffhanger. Readers who are hoping for drawn-out steamy scenes may find themselves disappointed; those who are in it for the long haul will, I feel, be rewarded.

Overall, Dragonfall has a good flow, deftly balancing worldbuilding and storytelling. The plot does occasionally screech to a halt for commentary on the construct of gender—something that's already shown well as each character contends with their own identity and place in this particular corner of the human world. Short of Everen's education in hand signs for pronouns and introduction to the concept, it makes little sense for people for whom this is a normal part of life to stop and expound on how weird it would be to think otherwise. This feels more like being taken aside by the author than immersion in a world where this is the norm and we are being invited to see it as the norm. Both Arcady and Everen—one versed in this society, one having left a world where masculinity is seen as automatically violent—give ample opportunities to explore this simply by existing near and with each other.

There is a secondary plot that I am deliberately leaving out... and that is because to say much about it at all would spoil an amazing final-chapter hook. While the book's outro for our romantic leads is compelling enough to bring readers back, this finale rolls in like a mid-credits sting to insist on our presence for book 2.

There are still plenty of questions left for this trilogy to answer. What was the original relationship between humans and dragons truly like? Will we ever get to see this at full power with Arcady and Everen? What about Arcady's grandfather? Heck, what about... that final-chapter sting? There's so much more to come, all of it exciting.

Dragonfall is equal parts searing romance, heist adventure, and high fantasy. The world it introduces us to is fascinating, and one readers will be itching to return to as soon as possible.

Dragon Scales 1: Dragonfall is now available.