Synopsis:
In this heartfelt and humorous fantasy from the Nebula-winning author of Someone You Can Build a Nest In, a dragon whose three heads bear rather…different…personalities finds family in the most unexpected of places.
Garrodigh was once a four-headed dragon, among the most powerful in Kardoša. After an unfortunate incident, he now has three heads, one stump, and a daily whirlwind of internal bickering. Centerhead wants to rain death upon all humanity, Bottomhead is like a feral cat, and Upperhead is under the delicate delusion that he is, in fact, human.
When a nearby battle goes awry, Garrodigh sneaks into an elite dragon rider academy, pretending to be tame to get free food and a warm bed. Lucky for him, rider Rania Albright is desperate enough for a dragon of her own that she overlooks his eccentricities.
As Garrodigh recovers under Rania’s care, all three heads start to turn, for the first time, in the same direction. Each wants to protect her from the invaders who killed their fourth head—the same invaders who seek to conquer Kardoša. When the academy comes under attack, can this wild dragon and his wilder rider save their homeland together?
This cozy fantasy intertwines epic battles with loving friendships, sharing an utterly unique perspective on what it means to be a “monster.”
Review:
Over the past two-plus years, John Wiswell has been on a heater. First, in 2024, he put out Someone You Can Build a Nest In, which went on to win the Nebula for Best Novel and Locus Award for Best First Novel. Last year, he released Wearing the Lion, a retelling of the 12 labors of Heracles that was my personal favorite novel of 2025. And now Wiswell is back with another fantasy novel about finding family that you can be yourself with, recovering from past trauma, in The Dragon Has Some Complaints. Wiswell’s latest is a comforting fantasy read with cozy aspirations while skirting the edge of a war novel.
Over the course of those three books, if I was going to point to one thing that Wiswell absolutely nails, it would be dynamic characters. Here, Wiswell gives the titular dragon, named Garrodigh, who presents the story to us throughout, namely from the perspective of Centerhead. Of Garrodigh’s three heads, Centerhead seems to be the most reasonable and balanced, although there is some PTSD and memory loss at play throughout the early stages of the book. Bottomhead is your typical dragon who will eat just about anything that moves if given the chance and Upperhead for some reason believes he is a human — not one head on a three-headed dragon.
Paired up with Garrodigh after he’s “rescued” is Rania, a girl who only wants a dragon to call her own. She’s able to offer rest, recuperation, and therapy to Garrodigh as part of the healing process, but we see that she herself is broken a little bit on the inside, too.
I was emotionally moved by certain parts of this book, and I would gladly read it again. If I had minor quibbles, it’s that this book wasn’t quite sure what it wanted to be at times. It’s a cozy for a while…then there were some rivalries that you might find in a dark academia novel…then there is the constant warfare throughout the book and Rania and Garrodigh have plenty of missions they fly on…all with an undergirding world-breaking secret that affects every single part. It all mostly works, but at times it’s a little much on what exactly This Dragon Has Some Complaints is going for.
Ultimately, I couldn’t help loving the relationship with Garrodigh and Rania and would gladly sign up for more missions with the two of them in the future if Wiswell decided to write future installments in this fantasy dragon-filled world.
Thank you to DAW for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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