The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wiswell Published by DAW on July 14, 2026
Genres: Cozy Fantasy, Fantasy
Pages: 400
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Source: NetGalley
In this heartfelt and humorous fantasy, a dragon whose three heads bear rather…different personalities finds family in the most unexpected of places.
From the Nebula-winning author of Someone You Can Build a Nest In!
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.’
When I read the blurb for The Dragon Has Some Complaints, I immediately pictured the classic three-headed dragon meme, where each head has a wildly different personality. Whether or not that is where the inspiration for this novel comes from, this three-headed dragon—named Garrodigh—does have very distinct personalities. Each head is referred to by their position on the body of the dragon—Centerhead, Upperhead, and Bottomhead, and formerly, Lefty. Centerhead is the most cunning and complex, Upperhead believes he is a human and is somehow trapped in the body of a dragon, and Bottomhead is mostly preoccupied with where his next snack is coming from.
“The heads were a part of a whole, and nothing united them like complaining about the same thing.”
With his fourth head gone, his wings unable to carry him into the sky, no shelter, and warring humans, Centerhead is exhausted, in pain, and helpless. After fleeing from yet another battle and being refused a place with the other wild dragons, Centerhead desperately comes up with a plan—pose as a battle-injured dragon whose rider has perished in the battle, and be taken up to the Winged City to live with humans. To his relief and bewilderment, his plan works, and Garrodigh is loaded onto a barge, lifted into the sky, and given a gold-covered salon amongst the other domesticated dragons in which to recover from his injuries.
At the Winged City, he is perplexed to find that he is the only dragon that speaks, hiding his loquaciousness to blend in. Before too long, he is adopted by an overly enthusiastic rider, Rania, who has been longing for a dragon of her very own. Together, the three heads and Rania embark on a healing journey, both physical and emotional. Through his relationship with Rania, Garrodigh learns that there is more to life than simply being the terror of the skies.
I guess it’s no surprise that my favorite part of The Dragon Has Some Complaints is everything having to do with the dragons. I loved the banter between the three heads. All readers have probably felt at war with themselves at some point in their lives, and seeing it on display outwardly in the form of a legendary magical creature was quite entertaining. The novel does a great job portraying Centerhead as a world-weary dragon who has learned to cope with the eccentricities of the other heads, managing to delicately balance the delusions of Upperhead and the baser instincts of Bottomhead.
“Centerhead wondered if he could eat his own head.”
I also very much enjoyed all of the aspects of Garrodigh recovering from his injuries, both physical and emotional. It feels odd to say this about a dragon’s physical well-being, but the author does a great job demonstrating living with chronic pain and the loss of confidence and identity that accompanies it. I also thought it was really interesting to see something as “mundane” as physical therapy practices for dragons in a fantasy world and to see what methods the humans had developed to help these creatures.
The world-building itself has some highlights too. I really liked the lore around why dragons can fly and how humans on the Winged City learned to harness that themselves while living in harmony with the creatures. I would have liked more detail on how these aspects worked, and how humans began to cohabitate with and fly dragons in the first place, but I realize that this novel is sort of a cozy fantasy, so expecting that level of intricacy is probably not realistic. The Dragon Has Some Complaints’ charm is truly in its details, like the dragon salons being littered with gold and jewels due to their restorative properties for dragons. And no fantasy novel is quite complete without an evil empire trying to take over the world, which is also found here.
Still, despite how much I enjoyed the dragons and the novel’s inspired premise, the execution didn’t fully come together for me. The Dragon Has Some Complaints often relies on plot armor and the power of friendship to resolve otherwise impossible conflicts. I also would have liked some more backstory involving Rania, for example. I really can’t tell you much about the character herself, other than that she’s a positive, flower-crown-loving, and aura-reading hippie with a background that alienates other characters. And, judging by how often the novel brings it up, apparently spends a great deal of time having sex. While the novel may have been trying to portray Rania as a woman confident and comfortable in her own sexuality, I found the repeated attention given to her sex life through Centerhead’s narration uncomfortable and oddly voyeuristic at times.
Though these moments are framed as humorous, the comedic angle didn’t entirely work for me from the perspective of a dragon narrator. One line even states that Centerhead would recognize her bedroom noises anywhere, which pushed the joke further than I personally found enjoyable. There is yet another line that says, “‘You’re so tight now. I can’t even get my finger in there.’ Centerhead wished she wouldn’t talk to him like that.’” I just don’t think this level of attention to her sex life from the point-of-view of a dragon was necessary or logical.
I appreciated the inclusion and normalization of LGBTQ+ identities in the world. However, some of the exposition surrounding those identities felt awkwardly inserted into the narration. Characters were identified as trans during their first introductions in ways that didn’t feel particularly grounded in the POV or worldbuilding. This pulled me out of the story because I wasn’t sure how a dragon, who had limited interaction with humans, would somehow know that someone was trans at first glance. Because the story is so closely tied to Centerhead’s POV, moments like this felt more like authorial exposition than information that the dragon himself would naturally know. I would have liked for these character facts to be handled in a way that felt more organic, rather than being simply told this information when the character was first introduced.
Another thing that stood out to me was some of the actual dialogue characters said unironically, like, “ I need to talk to you like a whale needs to come up for air.” While there’s nothing wrong with making stylistic choices, especially in such humorous novels, these kinds of quotes had me slowing down and saying, “wait, what?” And I’d need to go back and reread the sentence to make sure I read it correctly. These are the kind of lines that remind me of Harrison Ford commenting on the clunkiness of Star Wars’ script, “You can type this sh**, but you can’t say it.”
The Dragon Has Some Complaints is a quirky novel with a really great premise and an unforgettable dragon. Readers expecting a deeply layered political fantasy may find the worldbuilding fairly light, but those looking for an unconventional cozy fantasy with plenty of humor and heart will likely enjoy it. Fans of lighter and more unserious fantasy novels, such as How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler, will likely find a lot to enjoy here.
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