The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wiswell: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads 

The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wiswell

This is a stand-alone fantasy set in a secondary world with dragons and some steampunk elements. The main human city is a remarkable place hanging in the air, with inclusive society and tame dragons. It has been at war for a long time with a totalitarian nation that wants to subjugate it. The dragons are divided to wild dragons who live in a large hive, though each a bit solitary, and those tamed by humans of the winged city for their war. The first look down on the latter and both look down on humans.

The main character is Garrodigh, an ancient three-headed wild dragon. He used to have four heads, but one of the heads died as a casualty of the war. It has left the dragon otherwise incapacitated too, so he can’t fly or move well, and he doesn’t remember his past properly either. But he knows he’s been a great dragon. Other wild dragons disagree and shun him as a human sympathizer, which he can’t understand.

Garrodigh is a delightful protagonist. Each head has a different personality. The narrator is Centerhead who holds himself to be the most rational of the three, though Lefthead that’s now gone used to be the most intelligent. Bottomhead is a bit simple and straightforward, and cares more about food than anything else. Upperhead believes he’s a human who is only suffering from a delusion of being a three-headed dragon.

Yet another battle injures Garrodigh again. But this time Centerhead has a plan. Since humans take good care of their dragons and never leave them behind, he’ll pretend to be a tame dragon, wait until the humans have healed him, and then destroy the humans. The plan works perfectly. Up until he’s assigned a rider who turns out to be nothing Garrodigh could imagine.

Rania is one of the many refugees fled from the totalitarian society for the free country of the Winged City where people can be who they are, in her case a free spirit who believes in auras, being helpful and understanding, and protecting those she loves. But she too is shunned by her society for a reason Garrodigh cannot fathom.

Little by little, the two strike a friendship, much to Garrodigh’s bewilderment. He tries to understand her and her troubles, like her romantic life, which seems to consist of one-night stands. But there’s also heartbreak in form of a childhood friend who’s turned a cold shoulder on her. And as he learns to care for her, he also wants to defend the city against the enemy. The enemy has a new, bewildering weapon that almost destroys the city. As Garrodigh and Rania go to investigate, they discover a great secret and almost die destroying the weapon.

This was a good story. The focus was on Garrodigh and his struggle with understanding humans and himself. There’s healing and learning, grief and heartfelt moments. All three of Garrodigh’s personalities are delightful and different, and they all grow as individuals and as a whole. Rania wasn’t equally interesting, and she mostly served as an object of observation for Garrodigh. The society was understanding and inclusive, but not everyone was a nice person, which Rania learns first-hand.

I have complaints too though. I would’ve wanted there to be other dragon characters. There were plenty of dragons, but he doesn’t form friendships with any of them and they barely feature. Garrodigh is the only tame dragon who talks, and they shun him as much as the wild dragons did. I would’ve liked there to be a parallel story for him that there is for Rania of being accepted by his own kind. The story is also too long, with too much time and focus spent on Rania’s love life, which wasn’t all that interesting.

There were also moments that took me out of the story. Garrodigh occasionally knows very human concepts, while other times he’s completely clueless. Like he knows what apothecary smells like and what a trans man is. The latter has meaning for the worldbuilding—though it should’ve had more meaning for the story as well, as now it was more of a gimmick—but it would’ve made more sense if it were explained to him by humans.

This is described as a cozy fantasy, but it’s not completely so. There’s the war, with everything it entails, like death and bad injuries, and nasty people who treat others badly. Garrodigh eats people. But it has a wholesome core, growth and understanding. As long as the reader doesn’t expect things to be perfect and nice, it’s a delightful read, with Garrodigh making every scene worthwhile.

I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.