The Language of Spells by Garret Weyr (review)

As a young dragon, Grisha has the bad luck of meeting a powerful sorcerer and being transformed into a teapot. Still conscious, he is able to listen in on the happenings of the world through his owners, first the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph in the nineteenth century, and then banker Yakov during World War I and II. Yakov, who is able to see the teapot for what it truly is, manages to get a potion that returns Grisha to his former self and instructs him to fly to Vienna, where other dragons are being detained after their work in the wars. Decades later, Grisha meets Maggie, a precocious little girl willing to help him determine the fates of the dragons who were moved from detainment and never seen again. The story feels overstuffed and unbalanced, and the erratic pacing can often gloss over key moments while laboring over less significant details; the search for the dragons is the main action point but it stumbles over several subplots. Still, Weyr uses an interesting blend of fantasy and historical fiction to explore some thought-provoking themes: the legacy of trauma, how power can transform even the most well-intentioned people, and if there truly is an act of selfless love; Maggie and Grisha's quest also offers parallels to families' search for relatives who were victims of the Holocaust. The friendship between Maggie and Grisha is warm and moving, and there is emotional impact in Maggie's final sacrifice. Final illustrations not seen.