Common Sense Media Review
By Carrie R. Wheadon
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Teen learns a dangerous dragon language in decent fantasy.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In A LANGUAGE OF DRAGONS, Vivien's post-Examination dreams of an apprenticeship with the famed dragon language translator Professor Rita Hollingsworth are dashed when Vivien's parents are arrested on the very night the professor comes over for dinner—and with the professor's help. Vivien's parents beg her to leave London with her 5-year-old sister Ursa, but Vivien thinks she has a way to save them and her career. She frees an enslaved dragon who sets fire to the government building housing the evidence against her parents—and gets herself arrested. Just when she thinks her life is over, she's offered work on a secret government project with a group of other outcasts in the name of stopping a new war from starting between humans and dragons. Vivien must translate a complex echolocation-like dragon language in three months' time, or her family will be killed.
Is It Any Good?
This story isn't just about cool, smart dragons, but the power of language and the injustice of class systems—all vital themes deserving of a better main character to ponder them. Corruption reigns in this world where humans and dragons coexist, and an ambitious teen fluent in dragon languages named Vivien has choices to make after the arrest of her parents and herself. Well, she has no choice but to help the government at first, if she wants her family to live. She's dragged to a secret location and put to work learning a fascinating language much like echolocation. But then everyone she talks to there who isn't part of the government, human and dragon, warns her that her work could start a war as bad as the one her family survived back in Bulgaria, where dragons wiped out most of the humans. And still, Vivien is on the fence about what she should do. Her family comes first.
Viv's cousin Marquis or her love interest, Atlas, would both make better main characters, because they're on the same page as readers about what's right from the get-go. Vivien being stuck in her guilt over wronging her best friend and her negative self-talk—that she's no good anyway, so what does it matter—keep the story stuck in limbo for far too long. Exciting things happen—murders and dragon fights—but these actions don't build off one another smoothly. The violence is jarring and uneven. Author S.F. Williamson is a new writer, however. Her writing style is still maturing, and she has created a world worth revisiting. And maybe Vivien will be a character worth rooting for in the next book.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the class system in A Language of Dragons. How is it similar to and different from our own less-defined divides of rich, middle class, and poor? What other fantasy books have you read that tackle class divisions?
The story reminds us that to control languages and words is to control what people know. How does this play out in this world with dragons and in our own world?
Vivien is curious and ambitious, but she lacks integrity at the beginning of the story. Why is it so hard for her to change? Who helps her change?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Fantasy
- Topics : Activism , Adventures , Family Stories ( Siblings ) , Fantasy ( Magic ) , STEM
- Character Strengths : Courage , Curiosity , Integrity , Self-control
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : HarperCollins Publishers
- Publication date : January 7, 2025
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 13 - 17
- Number of pages : 432
- Available on : Audiobook (unabridged), Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : January 12, 2026
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
Suggest an Update
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate