When Dealing With Dragons / Dana Swift / Book Review

WHEN DEALING WITH DRAGONS

Farren Walsh used to be the top of her class. Whip-smart, highly competitive: she could keep up with the best silver-crafters out there, even as lowly copper-crafter she herself. But that was before. Before she learned to keep her head down. Before she learned to keep her mouth shut. Before Nity...

One thing that hasn't changed: Farren wants to follow in her father's footsteps. As a world-class dragon veterinarian, he's one of a kind. Most skilled metal-crafters are more interested in racing dragons or, worse, harvesting their metallic scales to sell to the highest bidder. Few are interested in the well-being of these majestic beasts. And though she might have fallen off the academic radar, Farren's still leading her class in at least one subject: dragon medicine.

This summer is all about rounding out her application for collegiate scholarships. Her father might be well-respected, but dragon medicine doesn't come with money and prestige. She has to keep her eyes on the prize. But that's harder done than she thought with her arrogant silver-crafter academic rival on the property. James Murphy already has everything, but he's competing for the same scholarships as Farren. And that means he has to get a leg-up where she's definitely out-ranking him: dragon medicine. And somehow, he's wormed his way into her father's practice, into her very home, for an apprenticeship this summer. And she hasn't spent the last year flying under the radar just for James Murphy to dig up her secrets now...

THOUGHTS

This book is magic. It's the ethereal feeling of a dream, where just enough of reality has seeped into your fantasy world to make you feel grounded while you're having the time of your life. This book is dragon flight and budding romance and learning other people aren't who you thought they were this whole time. It's academic rivals with good intentions, and it's glittering dragon gold. Though I love the cover of this book, I think it sells an entirely different fantasy experience, a high-fantasy realm that this book just doesn't capture. But if you're looking for the fantasy of dreams, fantasy of tagging along with your dragon vet father or falling in love as the waves crash against the cliffs beneath your feet, definitely dive into this piece.

PROS

Animal Rights	This book is full of pro-animal messaging, of respecting the natural world and living in harmony with it. This is a society fueled by dragon metal (a strange bit of worldbuilding I'll dig into in the point right below this), and so humans need dragons. And up until this point in history, that has largely meant using dragons until their use runs out and then discarding them for the next brood to hatch. But that isn't the way it needs to be. In the history of humankind, our relationship with the natural world has been much like this (you know, a "stewardship" that has meant taking whatever we need and ignoring what the world around us needs back), and one of the many strides we as a species have toward progress has been reconciling the damage we've done with what we can do better going forward. That's a reckoning that this book is in conversation with, and I love that. I love that in a market saturated with war dragons and deadly dragon sports, this is a book that, while it includes those facets of life with dragons, focuses on dragon veterinarians and animal sanctuaries instead.
Dragon Daze	This book has some very quirky worldbuilding, in the best possible way. Dragons nesting on hoards of gold: that's the classic vision, isn't it? And this book takes that into account, except that the precious metals the dragons are hoarding are their own shed scales. Dragon metals come with healing properties, among other things, and are highly prized. But dragons don't shed enough scales naturally to keep up with the human demands. Dragon racing, de-scaling, poaching: it all gets mixed up in this economy of dragons and their precious metals. And I liked that a lot. It takes very classic draconic imagery and makes a whole world out of it, and that's exactly what fantasy should do.
Slow Romance	This book isn't a romance. Romance is secondary to it. It's character-driven, for sure, and we definitely fall in love... over time. But it's a book about much more than falling in love. I don't want to spoil too much about what's going on behind the scenes in this book, since the book itself reveals it so well! But the romance of this book? It's about getting to know each other, about bonding while working towards something bigger and better than yourself. And I liked that. More than just idealizing romantic love, it idealizes finding a partner who wants the same things and strives to create a better world right alongside you, even before you know that you'll be in this together from here on out.

CONS

Right near the end of this book, there's such a major escalation in stakes and tension that it felt, well, jarring. Extremely jarring. It was just such a tonal shift that it gave me whiplash. It's not that the characters or the plot points didn't fit into the story but that they didn't fit because they were written such a hyperbolic way. I was startled and pulled out of the world that Dana Swift built but not in a meant-to-shake-the-foundations sort of way. In a harsh and unpleasant way that didn't otherwise match the story.	High Heat
There's really one Big Bad set up in this book, and I was happy when Dana Swift made the conniving evil in this book a little more complicated than that in the end. I don't like when the obvious villain becomes the obvious conclusion, so challenging the narrative, switching it up, is appreciated... except that the new Bad Guy here didn't make sense? There just wasn't enough groundwork for this revelation, this twist on the suspected outcome, to work. The hints weren't laid, and the extreme left-turn of this character just... wasn't satisfying? I'm all for a twist villain, but the twist has to make sense in hindsight. And the hindsight here is... non-existent. It's a head-scratcher, and that's just not very fun.	Bait-and-Switch
I don't want to spoil anything, so I won't dig into why Farren has cut herself off from the rest of the world. There are reasons, good reasons, she's dropped off the academic radar and is keeping her head down. But at a certain point in the book, the amount of self-imposed (and, later, externally-imposed) limitations on her with this as the given excuse just felt... too much. Like, there are good reasons to fly under the radar, but that doesn't mean that everything has to be off the table. And I get Farren thinking that, because she's young and inexperienced, but having her parents jump aboard and agree with her conclusions on all fronts? Well, it just seems like three heads should be better than one when coming up with a solution or two to help her still live some modicum of a life, right?	Forbidden!

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
8/10

Those who loved Marissa Meyer's Instant Karma but need a touch more fantasy to their animal-rescue romance will adore this dragon fantasy. Anyone who liked Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros but wants a different take on a world of dragons will like diving into this realm of dragon-human relations.

Details Publisher: Wednesday Books Date: June 30, 2026 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.