Not going to lie, this really felt like the author had read R F Kuang's Babel and decided to recreate it in a YA format. Personally I found a Language of Dragons to be a little lacking in terms of plot development, especially at the start. There really wasn't any tension or build-up - things just happened. The main character lacking critical thinking skills while simultaneously critiquing other people for using theirs just really pissed me off. Although her growth was kinda the main point (there's a case to be made that it was something of a warning on how academia doesn't set you up to think for yourself in a political landscape but I digress). Overall it was kinda meh, although I fear I may just be losing interest with all YA.