Promised to a Dragon: Volume 1

by Selena Pigoni, Sara Koffi (Editor), Minori Aritani (Illustrator)

Nineteen years ago, a powerful witch aided a king in battle, and in return, she asked that his newly born daughter be promised in marriage to a dragon when she came of age. As the young princess Rhiannon grew up, however, her parents regretted that promise, so they decided to wed her to a great dragon slayer the head of their guard, Sir Brodrick. They hoped that Sir Brodrick would do away with the dragon and protect Rhiannon from a terrible fate. But Sir Brodrick is cruel, possessive, and overbearing, so on the night of her 19th birthday, Rhiannon decides she’d rather try her luck with the dragon than be married off to a man she hates and fears. During her escape from the capital city, she meets a kindly wandering bard, Taliesin, who helps her hide from her pursuers and offers to protect her on her way to the dragon’s lair. This bard is more than a simple musician, however–it turns out he is none other than her dragon fiancé in human form! As the two become closer over their journey, Taliesin introduces Rhiannon to a world of magic and wonder, and their feelings grow as they learn more about each other. But misunderstandings and self-doubt plague their relationship, and the vengeful Sir Brodrick is on their tail, prepared to slay the dragon and take back his fiancée...

A runner-up in the first-ever J-Novel Club Original LN Contest!

Genres: Light Novel, Dragons, Fantasy, Romance, Magic

202 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 10, 2025

Reviews

[Jack]

Really nice, wonderful first novel. Romantic, a hero, a princess, a promise to keep, and a dastardly villain. What fun!

[Courtney]

This book was a fun jaunt into a vivid magical world! It’s perfect if you enjoy magical journeys, forwarding expectations, quirky magical creatures, and of course, a little romance. I especially enjoyed that the main characters have periods where they can “just breathe” and enjoy their surroundings, feasting, and friendships (rather than always rushing in urgent peril).

[Holly]

Oh wow did I not actually leave a review for this on here? I could have sworn I wrote one

I liked this book! It was like a fairy tale... a new one, with a kindly dragon and actual fairies in it... more fleshed out than normal.

I'm having trouble deciding what to rate it... because a couple of things about it kind of bug me. But I'm not sure they bug me quite enough to knock the rating, especially if there's going to be potentially more than one book that will potentially fix it. Also, especially since I can come up with my own theories about how these things actually happened.

(my "beef", btw, is that a couple of things were just way too convenient... Especially a certain meeting in the beginning. But this can all be fixed by putting it on secret fairy meddling.)

(edit: oh yeah, my other "beef" is that the story overall is a little too fluffy. I have a high fluff tolerance, so it didn't bother me a lot, but I do agree the story would have benefitted a lot from, say, occasionally popping over to the villain's PoV.)

Oh what the heck I'll go with 5

[Maryellen Hess]

Promised to a Dragon is a fun read. I particularly enjoyed the play on words. When we think of a dragon we think of a dangerous being that breathes fire, not music and kindness. When we think of a knight we imagine someone brave and loyal. In this story the roles are swapped, so that the knight is the one that endangers everyone and the dragon is the one to fall in love with. The King has unintentionally promised his daughter to two dragons; it’s just that one has convinced the king he should be the princess’s protector.. Fortunately she discovers the right one. The evolution of a traveling bard to his real self was handled well, and kept me intrigued. I would have liked for the princess to experience growing used to the dragon’s features, i.e. scales, wings, etc in smaller doses. It felt like she accepted the oddities in his world a little too quickly and the author missed some opportunities for more growth in her. Overall, it’s a delightful story and I look forward to reading more from Ms. Pigoni.

[Pieter]

Promised to a Dragon starts like a traditional western fairy tale at least in feel with princesses, knights, dragons, witches and bit of whimsical in the shape of fairies of the more unpredictable and powerful kind. The plot is rather different with the main character being said princess, and the knight being the villain at least to the point that the princess prefers the dragon if only to make sure her father sticks to the promise he made before her birth. Mind you, she despises the knight as well. So she rans away with the hope of traveling to the dragon herself. Obviously, a princess is ill-prepared for such a trip, but luckily she runs across a bard who is happy to help and be her guide on her journey.

This sounds interesting enough, mostly in setup and world building. The characters are a bit more standard and I found the plot a bit too predictable and the romance a tad rushed. Maybe I have read too many light novels though were it takes few more volumes to get this far into the story. Which lead to me finding it a bit boring, although to be fair I am not a fan of romances so not the best to judge this book. So while I enjoyed the read it, it is not really the series for me.

[J-Lynn]

Two things worth noting….

One, there is no way that she can love him after knowing him for two days.
Two, they never went back for the horse.

I absolutely ate this story up, though, and will be on the look out for more if there is more!

[Lissa]

I found this boon really relaxing and cozy lol! A delightful little trip with two fun and interesting characters. I particularly liked the male lead; he was super charming! Def pick up if you need a cozy adventure where you meet fun lil characters and wanna follow a cute romance <3

[Karley Pamer]

Fun and easy read. I really liked the world building and can't wait to see what happens next. I only wished that Taliesen identity was not spoiled by the summary and we could discover what/what he is with Rhiannon.

[Lillypad A]

This was a cute cozy read but the ending felt rushed? Unfinished? Knowing what I know I’d still recommend it.

[Marisa]

I WANT MORREE!!!

[Rebecca]

Not amazing, but cute. I had fun reading it. Also the homage to a certain Welsh hero from the Mabinogion made me laugh at the end.

[nur_light]

3.75☆

🐉 🎻

This kind of read like one of those one shot mangas where it is like one chapter and it tells a whole story. The romance did felt a bit rushed, but there were like some time jumps here and there so that did affect it. But overall, just a fun little short read on a little twist to a fairytale read novel.