Reviews tagging 'Racism'

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

182 reviews

charcha01's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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jennireadsmaybe's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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
To Shape a Dragon's Breath is one of the most well rounded fantasies I've read in a while. Set in a fantasy land that mirrors colonial era America. White colonizers have taken over the land and they have dragons. The worldbuilding and setting were so descriptive. Moniquill Blackgoose did a remarkable job at blending the worldbuilding aspects in, so it never felt like an info dump session. The different ways each culture views dragons and their relationship with them was so interesting. 

Anequs is by and far the best fantasy character I've ever read because she knows who she is and what she stands for. You learn right alongside her. I loved her relationships with other the students and teachers and most of all her family. The way she took bits of what she'd learned in school and connected them to her own culture was very powerful!

I'm definitely looking forward to whatever comes next in the Nampeshiweisit saga! 
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dweeks417's review against another edition

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

4.5

The world building of this book is solid, and I really liked the differences in how cultures perceived a dragon's place in the community. The school classroom bits could get a bit tedious - long paragraphs of lectures that served as exposition for the history of the world. I honestly skipped over a lot of that. I really loved the creativity with the different dragon species. They're so varied and colorful!

Anequs is a kind, wise, and brave woman, but she didn't develop very much as a character. She remains pretty static throughout the book and never really makes any mistakes, which made her less interesting. All the other characters - including Theod, Karina, Aponakwe, etc - have moments where they realize they were wrong and make amends, or when they face consequences. Anequs doesn't have that growth because she is apparently infallible. 🤷‍♀️ I was also a little disappointed in the lack of exploration of Anequs and Kasaqua's relationship. We don't spend a lot of time with them just together. 

Overall, this is a really solid steampunk fantasy, and I'll read the rest of the series when it comes out. 
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bluenarcissus's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging inspiring tense 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

Awesome book. Well-written with deep worldbuilding and fully fleshed-out characters, even minor ones. The technique of using Norse-like words took some getting used to before my mind stopped tripping over them, but I loved this book anyway. Anequs is a heroine for the ages and Sander was beautiful representation. The well-woven threads of an Indigenous worldview make this story challenging and easy to love. 
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apersonfromflorida's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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? No

4.5

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caitlin_bookchats's review

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

5.0

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dragongirl271's review

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adventurous challenging emotional tense 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? It's complicated

4.25

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nina_rae_131's review

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challenging reflective tense fast-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? No

5.0

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chasinggrace's review against another edition

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reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

A Native American-inspired coming-of-age story with dragons and British-inspired academia. 

This book reminded me a lot of Babel by R. F. Kuang. There was a heavy, heavy dose of racism that the main character(s) had to endure, and complex side characters that gave insight into how different personalities navigate a colonialist society. This book, in the latter half, became heavily political as well. 

Of course, I enjoyed the dragons in this book. They seemed to have distinct personalities and I appreciated how they were tied to their owners. I also liked how Anequs, our main character, was very vocal. She refused to assimilate to colonial society and was very good at advocating for herself. The cast was also extremely diverse - other than race, there were LGBTQIA+ characters, neurodivergent characters, and a clear socioeconomic divide between many people. 

What distracted me from the story was the heavy writing style. Somehow, it worked for me in Babel and did not work for me here. The magic/dragon system was complex, as were the explanations of the local politics. The dialogue was stiff, and the descriptions of surroundings were long-winded. It took me almost a week to read this book, when I can usually consume novels that I enjoy in 1-3 days. Lots of things happen TO our main character and she is forced to play an observational role that can get stale after 400+ pages. In the end, I am not invested enough in the politics or budding romances to read the next installment. 
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lpdx's review

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adventurous 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

4.0

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