Reviews tagging 'Hate crime'

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

47 reviews

ethuiliel's review against another edition

challenging inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime and Colonisation

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Confinement, Death, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Slavery, Suicide, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, and Pandemic/Epidemic

nerp's review

adventurous dark hopeful reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This and So Let Them Burn should be THE dragon books of the decade, but I digress: To Shape a Dragon’s Breath was absolutely fabulous, and I cannot wait for the sequel.

There’s no attempt here to make the cultures in the book unrecognizable, and for a story about colonization, it works. Yet even so, there’s a complexity and acknowledgment of the heterogenous nature of empire that I rarely see, and that was deeply refreshing. 

What I also love about this is how unapologetic Anequs is about herself and her people. In some ways, she doesn’t quite grow in this book—just becomes more firm in her convictions and understanding of who she is, while also becoming more savvy in the dance of not stepping on too many colonizer toes for safety’s sake.


Also, the autism rep made me cry.

Absolutely fabulous.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Colonisation

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Hate crime, Sexism, Slavery, Xenophobia, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

kimapede's review

adventurous informative inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Biphobia, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Homophobia, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Flying in with a masterpiece, Moniquill Blackgoose sets up a world with this first instalment of the Nampeshiweisit series. The story centres around Anequs, a young Indigenous woman who discovers a dragon egg on an island near her home. When it hatches, the dragon bonds to her, and the Anglish settlers of her land order that she join a local dragoneering academy.

My favourite part of this book was the worldbuilding! Blackgoose builds a world like our own, but without a Roman Empire or Christianity, the Europeans have a distinctly Norse flair that matches well with the themes of resistance against colonialism. Each character has distinctive features, mannerisms and traits that make them real and powerful parts of the narrative.

Eagerly awaiting the next book of this series, particularly in light of the final handful of chapters!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Medical content and War

Minor: Cursing, Infidelity, Vomit, and Cannibalism

mj1588's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Hate crime, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, and Colonisation

Minor: Gun violence and Fire/Fire injury

star_charter152's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Racism, Sexism, Xenophobia, Lesbophobia, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Genocide, Hate crime, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Mass/school shootings, and War

Minor: Animal death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Slavery, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

luckykosmos's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I've been describing this as if RF Kuang wrote Temeraire - Blackgoose brings that same acuity of one's place in a society as a machine and how that affects Anaqus' interactions with her peers. I loved how that was contrasted with Theod's experiences, paralleled with Sander's and Liberty's and her professors'. Moreover, the way the author reshaped our world a step further than just renaming a country left just enough mystery in the worldbuilding to wonder what may come next, but it left room for a development in the magic system that felt like a reflection from 'Braiding Sweetgrass' - understanding that cultural tradition was born out of a pattern of observation and shouldn't be dismissed simply because it doesn't fall in mainstream confines of science. Some dialogue during lectures dragged and became walls of text, but I'm excited to see where the author goes next in this world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Gun violence, Hate crime, and Colonisation

jainabee's review against another edition

adventurous challenging inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

After reading the hardcopy once and listening to the audiobook twice, my appreciation for the rich complexities and top notch storytelling is even stronger. Magnificent. Listening to the wonderful character voices and accents performed by Charley Flyte brought out the intercultural class differences and complex social nuances more distinctly. 

So much happens so quickly in this first installment of the series that I missed a few important details which deepen the characters—such as the look that Frau Kuiper gives Anaqus right before her skiltakraft final. The look that Anequs cannot interpret in the moment. I think I know what it means now, but it took three reads! The complicated social and political layers of this story are profound—and quite relevant to contemporary issues.

Another aspect that took me this long to get (I am white from a colonizer heritage and this tale is told from an Indigenous POV—there’s probably a LOT MORE that I don’t get) is the stylized language throughout the book. Though most of the places and objects in the book are all places and objects that are real, they all have abstracted names; English is Anglish, a penny is a pennik, a photographer is a lichtbildmacher, radium is strahlendstone, etc… why all of this confusing terminology??? Other than sustaining the tone of the alternate reality, it also puts a reader who has been educated in a typical American school in the same confusing position as the Indigenous protagonist. The words and customs that the colonizers all take for granted are almost as baffling to the reader as they are to Anequs. If the author had simply used words any typical American would understand, the reader would not be able to empathize with the confusion and frustrations and other obstacles that Anequs must move through.

The final layer I that understood more this time I wrapped in spoiler alerts in the content warning section.

I can barely wait for the next installment!

I couldn't put this down and I told each and every one of my friends, colleagues, and quite a few strangers that they really ought to read this book! I can barely wait for the next one—so curious to see where the story goes from the astonishing set-up of the first book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, and Classism

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Bullying, Hate crime, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting

Finally, the third time through this story brought into sharp relief the themes of abduction and imprisonment that the characters of color all experience. Theod narrowly escaped indentured servitude, after being accused and tried in court for “stealing" a dragon, by becoming a legal ward of Frau Kuiper, Liberty is indentured to Frau Brinkerhoff and explains the unspoken complexities of paying her way out, and Anequs may appear to be making a choice, however she comes to realize that her entire village and island could be eradicated if she fails her studies. Locked doors, vehicles with smoked windows, and even her corset all remind her of how she cannot escape her predicament. Even Frau Kuiper—who seems to have some sympathy for the protagonist—threatens to let the enemies of Anequs destroy her dragon and raze her village if she fails the expectations of the “darling of the Jarl.”

novelideea's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

3.75

LGBT discussion

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Racism, Slavery, and Classism

emready's review

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Racism and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Bullying, Gun violence, and Hate crime