Dragon Physician, Joyce Chng
Dragon Physician had some pretty awesome stuff going on: a bunch of trans people choosing to stand up and break gender boundaries, a dragon vet, elements very reminiscent of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern books (come on, Linking vs Impression, these are the same picture).
The problem is mostly the pacing: it’s fairly quick all the way through, but it speeds up to a dead run in the last couple of chapters, covering world-changing events in a couple of pages. Massive social change doesn’t generally happen that quickly, and it felt like there was a lot of detail missing in how that change came about. For one Rookery to change and accept them wouldn’t be too much of a stretch, but the societal change feels odd against the generally personal background of the rest of the book.
It also felt like it needed some more work editing-wise. Sometimes it was just sentences that were missing words, and sometimes it was an odd word choice that felt more like confusion than innovation (you can move “gingerly”, but movement can’t typically be “gingerly movement” and definitely not “gingery movement”; the word “gingerly” is not related to “ginger”, so it feels like confusion about how that word should be used). It’s possible that it was on purpose, but given the word “gingerly” exists and almost fits, using the word “gingery” instead felt odd.
I think it’s a fun world and a fun read, but I was left wanting a bit more. I’d definitely have given it more stars if the pace and detail of the first chapters had been maintained; loved the stuff about treating the dragons and taking care of them.
