Review: A Language of Dragons (A Language of Dragons #1)

A Language of Dragons, Book 1 in The Language of Dragons Series by SF Williamson

Published By: Harper Collins
Publication Date: January 2, 2025
Date Read: September 20, 2025
Genre: YA – Historical Fantasy
Source: Bought
Format: Hardback
Pages: 480

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EVERY ACT OF TRANSLATION REQUIRES SACRIFICE

Welcome to Bletchley Park… with dragons.

London, 1923. Dragons soar through the skies and protests erupt on the streets, but Vivian Featherswallow isn’t worried. She’s going to follow the rules, get an internship studying dragon languages, and make sure her little sister never has to risk growing up Third Class. By midnight, Viv has started a civil war.

With her parents arrested and her sister missing, all the safety Viv has worked for is collapsing around her. So when a lifeline is offered in the form of a mysterious ‘job’, she grabs it. Arriving at Bletchley Park, Viv discovers that she has been recruited as a codebreaker helping the war effort – if she succeeds, she and her family can all go home again. If she doesn’t, they’ll all die.

At first Viv believes that her challenge, of discovering the secrets of a hidden dragon language, is doable. But the more she learns, the more she realises that the bubble she’s grown up in isn’t as safe as she thought, and eventually Viv must What war is she really fighting?

An epic, sweeping fantasy with an incredible Dark Academia setting, a clandestine, slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance, and an unputdownable story, filled with twists and turns, betrayals and secret identities, A Language of Dragons is the unmissable debut of 2025, from an extraordinary new voice.

“There’s a reason we don’t possess the same capabilities as dragons, Vivian. We are far too evil to merit them.”

As an avid dragon enthusiast, I was really intrigued about A Language of Dragons from the moment I first heard about it. I have previously loved so many historical fantasy books, and to hear about one that is in an alternate world where the world war is between humans and dragons, I was sold. Despite the fact that I was excited to read this book and I had quite high hopes already going into it, this book was a million times better than I ever could have imagined.

A Language of Dragons follows the story of Vivian, a teenager who is studying dragon languages at University and is determined to become a dragon linguist at all costs. Her world comes crashing down around her when her parents are arrested for being rebels, something Vivian cannot even comprehend. Suddenly she finds herself at Bletchley Park, trying to crack the code of a new secretive dragon language. If she succeeds she can save her family… if she doesn’t she will go right into prison alongside them. The stakes have never been higher… and the secrets have never been buried deeper.

Honestly, right from the very first page I was obsessed with this book. I don’t know what it is about S.F. Williamson’s writing but it is addictive. It was so easy to find myself completely lost in this world and everything going on in it. This is a pretty chunky book, and I devoured it really quickly. I was actually buddy reading this with one of my closes book friends, Han, and we both raced through this book as we truly couldn’t put it down. Usually after work I manage to read around 50 pages as I’m tired after a full day of teaching. With this one, I ended up devouring 100-150 pages as I just needed to know what was going to happen next.

One of the things I loved the most about this book was the character development. Don’t get my wrong the plot is fantastic, and fast paced but the thing that made it even better was the characterisation. Vivian was most definitely a morally grey heroine, and I loved it. I know everyone goes crazy for a morally grey male main character but I am always here for a morally grey female main character. Right from the start you know she’s done some bad things, but you don’t know what they are… and I was on tenterhooks dying to find out. Her character arc in this book was phenomenal. She frustrated me but I loved her. And I felt every emotion right there with her. She makes some questionable choices throughout the book, but she has you understanding why she does. And I think that just shows how well written this character truly is. Honestly, the development of every character, even the side characters was executed to perfection and I’m dying to see what happens with them throughout the next book. It was honestly just fantastic!

A Language of Dragons was the easiest 5 stars I’ve given in a while. It was utterly perfect. I was expecting this to be like every other dragon fantasy and I’m so pleased to say it absolutely is not. It is so much better. It was such a well researched and intricate story of magic, war and language. The integration of dragons into a human land and war was done perfectly and this book mirrors so many real world issues that are going on in Britain today. I think one of the reasons I love it so much is that there is so much of a focus on linguistics, and the importance of education and language. I loved that this book was a love letter to language and the importance of learning others language as well as our own.

I honestly cannot praise this book enough and I am left dying to get my hands on book 2. I went through every emotion while reading this book. I was shocked, I fell in love, I laughed, I cried and I felt genuine fear about what was going to happen. This is all evidence of this being an absolutely fantastic book! I honestly need to know who I need to beg for a proof of book 2 as I’m not sure I can wait until January. A Language of Dragons is one of the biggest surprises for me this year, as it was just so much more than I ever could have hoped for. I definitely recommend this one to everyone. It’s a definite must-read!

“You’re right that what the rebels are trying to achieve will take years, because inequality is so deeply entrenched in the foundations of our society that it’s going to need to be dug out, rock by prejudiced rock.”