Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

With an armored, oath-bound hero reminiscent of The Mandalorian and the Asian-inspired epic fantasy of She Who Became the Sun , Neon Yang's Brighter than Scale, Swifter than Flame is a stunning q ueer novella about a dragon hunter finding home with a dragon queen.

Few know the true identity of the masked guildknight of Mithrandon.

She barely remembers herself.

The masked guildknight-- Yeva --was thirteen when she killed her first dragon. With her gift revealed, she was shipped away to the imperial capital to train in the rare art of dragon-slaying. Now a legendary dragon hunter, she has never truly felt at home--nor removed her armor in public--since that fateful day all those years ago.

Yeva must now go to Quanbao, a fiercely independent and reclusive kingdom. It is rumored that there, dragons are not feared as is right and proper, but instead loved and worshipped. It is rumored that there, they harbor a dragon behind their borders.

While Yeva searches for the dreaded beast, she is welcomed into the palace by Quanbao's monarch, Lady Sookhee. Though wary of each other, Yeva is shocked to find herself slowly opening up to the beautiful, mysterious queen.

As they grow closer, Yeva longs to let Lady Sookhee see the person behind the armor, but she knows she must fulfill her purpose and slay the dragon. Ultimately, she must decide who--or what--she is willing to betray: her own heart, or the sacred duty that she has called home for so long.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Taken from her homeland as a child, Yeva has powerful blood that makes her a useful tool for the empire. Yeva serves the Sun Emperor as his fiercest dragon slayer, a guildknight who moves through Mithrandon as something of a mystery to everyone else. Yeva rarely removes her armor and mask, preferring to interact with the world from beneath her layers of fabric and metal. When she is sent to the neighboring Quanbao in search of a dragon whom the emperor wants dead, she must face the past that she has been conditioned to forget. An oddity already, Yeva is even more so in a land that reveres dragons and is led by Lady Sookhee, whose own condition makes her sick at times and unable to hold court. Yeva must learn to reconnect with who she was before becoming the emperor's weapon and discover not only the answers to Lady Sookhee's mysteries but also her ruler's true intentions. VERDICT Yang's (The Genesis of Misery) emotion-laden novella will be a hit with fans of dragons and slow-burn romantasy. Readers of Aliette de Bodard and the "Singing Hills Cycle" series by Nghi Vo will especially enjoy Yang's prose.--Kristi Chadwick

Publishers Weekly Review

A dragon hunt goes awry in this sweet fantasy from Yang (The Genesis of Misery). Kunlin Yeva is 13 when she kills her first dragon and her proud parents send her to the Mithrandon guild to train as a dragon hunter. The decision tears Yeva away from everything she's ever known and ultimately leads her parents to split up. Now a legendary hunter known as the guildknight, Yeva mourns her lost childhood and never removes her armor. When the emperor orders her to hunt down a dragon believed to be terrorizing the neighboring kingdom of Quanbao, Yeva has no choice but to go, though she knows that in Quanbao dragons are worshipped rather than feared. There, Yeva meets Quanbao's girl-king, Lady Sookhee, and the women swiftly strike up a romance. When Yeva is tasked with guarding the entrance to the forbidden caverns beneath the palace, she discovers something that tests her loyalty both to her lover and to her guild. Yang seamlessly intertwines Yeva's search for the dragon with her longing for the home she left behind. The result is a brisk and satisfying tale full of love, hope, and yearning. (May)

Booklist Review

Yeva thinks she knows who she is. She is the masked guildknight of Mithrandon, her face a mystery to all, a strong soldier with the gift of blue fire and a long list of dragons she has slain. She has molded this character carefully, ever since she first killed a young dragon as a child and was sent away by her father to join the service. But then she is sent on a mission to Quanbao to investigate stories of a rogue dragon, in case an excuse presents itself for her country to invade. Once there, she finds herself enchanted both by the sickly girl-king and the familiar land, so familiar to the one where she grew up and has neglected to visit since. The nostalgia and the companionship begin to challenge her image of who she is, and who she could be. Yang (The Genesis of Misery, 2022) presents readers with a folklore-inspired tale complete with queer love and a coming-of-age story. Some longtime folklore readers will guess the main twist, but it's unlikely to impact their enjoyment of this lush, mythological novella.