In this cozy-ish fantasy, cynical three-headed wild dragon Garrodigh pretends to be a downed “tamed” war dragon from Kardosa so he can get food and medical attention. This results in his acquiring the eternally cheerful rider Rania. Garrodigh is not a fan of humanity, primarily because he was formerly a four-headed dragon until human wars took the head named Lefty. The remaining heads are dealing with that trauma in different ways, with Centerhead being the POV character.
The first half of the book was a little too slow. The focus is on world-building, but it wasn’t as engaging as I’d have liked. Garrodigh is healing, trying to connect with the other dragons in the barn and wondering if they can’t speak like he can, and learning about the politics of the city he’s come to. Rania is attentive to him and all of the heads come to care for her. I loved the progression of that relationship from “this annoying woman keeps having sex outside our barn window” to “we would die for her.” Garrodigh is a well-developed character, both as a whole and each head individually, though of course we learn the most about Centerhead. Although, as much as I liked the characters, I did become more engaged in the book when the action picked up in the second half.
I also enjoyed the humor in the novel. It doesn’t quite rise to the level of humor in Someone You Can Build a Nest In, but there were still some standout moments and lines. One of my favorites (note: this could change in the final published version) is: “Wasn’t it clear by now that humans were always wrong about everything? That anytime they were sure of something, that should be proof they were wrong and should do the opposite thing?” As with Nest, there is other commentary on humanity and what it means to be an outsider, though that is less the focus here.
Overall, this was an enjoyable if uneven book. I rated it 3.75 stars, rounded up to 4.
Thank you to NetGalley and DAW for the e-ARC. All opinions are my own.
