My thank-you to LR Lam and the Dragonscales Duology (a Review)
I used to read so much as a kid, but with the business of adulthood, and the brain-numbing scroll of the algorithm in my pocket, I've found it difficult to pick up and stick with a book.
The world has become a terrifying place. We live in a world that is post-truth and incredibly cruel. And into this world I will birth a baby.
Despite the fear and fascism around us I'm the happiest I've ever been (privilege? Most definitely). The pregnancy hormones have banished all my usual chronic anxieties, and the tiny kicks in my belly fill my heart with the most intense feeling of unrequited love, I could (and phyically am) bursting.
I don't want to be scrolling that hellscape in the palm of my hand when baby arrives. I envision breastfeeding this bub while calm, and ideally reading a book to pass the time. Something to escape into and to fill my soul with awe as only a book can.
Tonight I finished the Dragonscales Duology, and boy did I love it. I haven't been obsessed with a book for a long time, and that light yet painfully heavy feeling when you finish a good book...
I've always been a dragon-girl so I did judge this book (Emberclaw was the book I first grabbed at my local) by its cover. The writing style so easy and engaging. I refuse to buy another book to gather dust on my bookshelf, so downloaded a sample on my kindle. And was hooked.
l am so in love with Arcady, the genderfluid main character. The book is written from different narrative perspectives that tangle so expertly and build such layered characters. There's a chapter in book 2 that is from Arcady's POV, but the whole time I was imagining what the scene would look like from Everen's perspective. Arcady is so cool, and broken but strong, and somehow so awkward (picking locks? Hiding behind a pillar? at such a time?? Cmon now!). I woke in the night musing over how Lam had so expertly built up to such a simple scene, and how I was falling so obsessed with the characters and this world. Tied to the characters in my dreams, as life imitated art.
Sex vs gender have been on my mind a lot with baby coming, and my husband and I have rubbed up against all the unnecessary and troubling gendered stuff that comes with being pregnant. (Yes, we do know the sex of the baby, no, we will not be having a 'gender' reveal. That 'reveal' can solely be done by my child if & when they are ready.)
I didn't realise this book was a queer romance when I first picked it up, and perhaps if I had known I might've felt like it wasn't for me - a mainly-straight, cis, pregnant 35 yo mum-to-be.
It has been an empowering journey and exactly what I needed.
I'm so thankful to have found these books, and to have my love of reading rekindled. As the twelfth archivist of Vere Celene said, these two volumes need to live side-by-side on my bookshelf - pride of place. And when I'm hopefully feeding my babe in the near future, that beautiful golden thread of mother-infant bond pulsing between us, I'll reach for these books again and reread of the entwined fate of Arcady Dalca and Everen Emberclaw.
Thank you, @lrlamauthor. For reminding me what it is to cross the threshold of a book - to leave myself behind - but to come back hopeful and renewed.
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