John Wiswell

Battle of the Book Covers: Part ?

| Jessica Crawford

U.S. and U.K. book covers often seem to embrace different aesthetics. Many readers (and book collectors—because as we know, BUYING books and READING books can be two separate hobbies!) tend to have a strong preference for one over the other. Personally, many of the U.K. covers utilize a style that’s a little too…cartoony for my tastes? That might not be the correct term, but they many times look like a novel I would mistake for a Middle Grade book if I had nothing more to go on. I also notice they seem to depict more concrete images of the plot, while many U.S. covers employ a style that more often consists of a design featuring motifs from the story. This is, of course, a generalization and not true in all cases.

But, at least in the internet circles I travel in, I feel as though I may be in the minority in my tastes. I’ve heard many others say they are specifically buying a book from overseas because they prefer the cover.

Here I’ll post comparisons of some of the newer books I have read this year. Images of the U.S. covers are on the left, U.K. on the right. What do you all think?

Book Review: THE DRAGON HAS SOME COMPLAINTS by John Wiswell

| Jessica Crawford

The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wiswell is a 400 page standalone novel to be published by DAW Books on July 14, 2026.

Genre

Fantasy

Description

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.”

Opening Line

What the hell was in his mouth?

My Thoughts

Sometimes that feral weirdo is an inspiration.

The Dragon Has Some Complaints is a new gritty yet humorous and heartwarming adventure from John Wiswell, author of Someone You Can Build a Nest In.

The Great Terror Garrodigh is a three-headed dragon (RIP Lefty), injured and hiding in the wilds from the ravages of human warfare. Rejected by his own kind, he winds up posing as one of the dumb tamed dragons ridden and cared for by the people of the Winged City in order to be fed and sheltered, his ailments treated. After forging a special bond with his rider, the effusive Rania, he winds up helping these humans in their fight against invaders who would steal their home and their dragons.

Although I enjoyed Garrodigh and the different personalities of each of his heads, I found all of the human characters to be more irritating than anything. I wasn’t very engaged in the parts of the story involving weird sex and awkward romance, though it was all done in the name of promoting healthy relationship dynamics, finding ones place in the world, accepting all the parts of one’s identity, and forging therapeutic connections. The parts of the story relating to the dragon goddess Polarka, on the other hand, were absolutely awesome. The rest of the book leading up to that, however, felt too long.

There is some darkness to the adventurous action in this book, but there are also a whole lot of feel good sentiments and healing. For this reader, the details of the story made for a mixed bag, and in all I’d call it a 3.5 star read.

(Seriously, though, the climax part of the story was insanely epic!)

Thank you to NetGalley and DAW Books for the eARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

Book Review: SOMEONE YOU CAN BUILD A NEST IN by John Wiswell

| Jessica Crawford

Holy moly! This is one unique story!

This is a sapphic romance where the monster falls in love with a woman in a family of monster hunters, told from the POV of the monster. It is GRISLY, full of body horror, but also rather charming and sweet. It tackles so much, including issues in regards to healthy relationships. It touches on autonomy, consent, and working through trauma; love, sexuality (and asexuality), and diverse feelings toward begetting and raising offspring. These things are masterfully woven into a story that is complete with a(n) (anti)hero, truly awful villains, romance, harrowing fights, and many things besides. This book may churn your stomach at times, but it is also guaranteed to warm the cockles of any fantasy-reader’s heart and/or egg sac (that’s a little monster humor there, you’ll have to read the book to be in on the joke.)

I can honestly say I’ve never read anything else quite like this before, and am truly impressed!

Bookshop

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