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Reviews tagging 'Cultural appropriation'
To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose
5 reviews
caitlin_bookchats's review
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Colonisation
Minor: Genocide, Gun violence, and Cultural appropriation
boba_nbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
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? Yes
4.75
Spice Rating: 🫑 / 5 🌶️
This was a debut novel?! Moniquill Blackgoose, I'm going to need more of this, please and thank you. :)
To Shape a Dragon's Breath is a young adult fantasy novel set in a world that is similar to our own but not quite identical. The main character, Anequs, is a young Indigenous woman who happens upon a dragon egg, and when it hatches, it's clear the dragon chooses her. Unfortunately, Anequs lives in a world where her colonizers, the Anglish, believe that dragons must be registered and their human counterparts must be trained in a certain way. Though they are reluctant, the Anglish allow Anequs to come train at their dragon school on the mainland. Anequs is reasonably hesitant as she hasn't left her home island of Masquapaug in her 16 years of life. When she gets to the mainland, she finds many challenges she could never have expected, including many customs she is expected to know without any education of them. The unexplained rules of the dragon school are even more complex, and Anequs finds that some of the people who are supposed to educate her and help her succeed are purposefully setting her up for failure. Despite all of the challenges Anequs faces, she is determined to learn what she can from the Anglish in order to help her dragon and in turn help her home island.
I am completely blown away that this is a debut novel. Moniquill Blackgoose effortlessly combines a multitude of difficult and controversial topics--colonization, ableism, queerness, homophobia, cultural appropriation, racism--in a way that is easily consumable and highly empathetic.
In some ways, this novel reminds me of Babel by RF Kuang. Both authors emphasize issues of colonization and racism that have been prevalent in our past, and present, in a historical setting. Though these novels are fictional, they have so many similarities to our own history and are written in ways that allow readers of all backgrounds and identities to understand how deeply rooted racism, cultural appropriation, and unrealistic expectations are in our systems and societies.
I highly recommend this novel to readers looking for a book to challenge their views on society and expectations as well as readers looking for a unique story about a young Indigenous woman going to a dragon school. To Shape a Dragon's Breath is simultaneously revealing and entertaining.
To Shape a Dragon's Breath hit home for me in so many ways. I haven't seen news of a second book, but I am highly anticipating what Moniquill Blackgoose has in store for Anequs and her friends and family in the next installment of the Nampeshiweisit series.
This was a debut novel?! Moniquill Blackgoose, I'm going to need more of this, please and thank you. :)
To Shape a Dragon's Breath is a young adult fantasy novel set in a world that is similar to our own but not quite identical. The main character, Anequs, is a young Indigenous woman who happens upon a dragon egg, and when it hatches, it's clear the dragon chooses her. Unfortunately, Anequs lives in a world where her colonizers, the Anglish, believe that dragons must be registered and their human counterparts must be trained in a certain way. Though they are reluctant, the Anglish allow Anequs to come train at their dragon school on the mainland. Anequs is reasonably hesitant as she hasn't left her home island of Masquapaug in her 16 years of life. When she gets to the mainland, she finds many challenges she could never have expected, including many customs she is expected to know without any education of them. The unexplained rules of the dragon school are even more complex, and Anequs finds that some of the people who are supposed to educate her and help her succeed are purposefully setting her up for failure. Despite all of the challenges Anequs faces, she is determined to learn what she can from the Anglish in order to help her dragon and in turn help her home island.
I am completely blown away that this is a debut novel. Moniquill Blackgoose effortlessly combines a multitude of difficult and controversial topics--colonization, ableism, queerness, homophobia, cultural appropriation, racism--in a way that is easily consumable and highly empathetic.
In some ways, this novel reminds me of Babel by RF Kuang. Both authors emphasize issues of colonization and racism that have been prevalent in our past, and present, in a historical setting. Though these novels are fictional, they have so many similarities to our own history and are written in ways that allow readers of all backgrounds and identities to understand how deeply rooted racism, cultural appropriation, and unrealistic expectations are in our systems and societies.
I highly recommend this novel to readers looking for a book to challenge their views on society and expectations as well as readers looking for a unique story about a young Indigenous woman going to a dragon school. To Shape a Dragon's Breath is simultaneously revealing and entertaining.
To Shape a Dragon's Breath hit home for me in so many ways. I haven't seen news of a second book, but I am highly anticipating what Moniquill Blackgoose has in store for Anequs and her friends and family in the next installment of the Nampeshiweisit series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Racism, and Colonisation
Moderate: Genocide, Homophobia, Violence, and Cultural appropriation
Minor: Animal death, Death of parent, and War
garrettcz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
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
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Racism, Colonisation, and Classism
Moderate: Death, Genocide, Hate crime, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Biphobia, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Cultural appropriation, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
chaoticbookgremlin_'s review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
4.75⭐️
To Shape a Dragon's Breath is an absolutely stunning debut. It offers itself up as a deeply-rooted criticism of the political and social ideals within Western European cultures, and does not shy away from the cultural appropriation and blatant racism taking place within its pages. It is a story about being presented with a role for which you are expected to fill, but being spurning it in favour of being true to your individuality and your own beliefs, and Moniquill Blackgoose executes it beautifully.
This is not a high-stakes, black-and-white good-vs-evil type of novel. The characters will not fight in an epic battle with the fate of the world on their shoulders. Instead, the conflict within this book are largely social and political, a battle of wills and social ideals over those of swords and armies. Worldbuilding and characterization are highly emphasized in favour of plot and epic scale, and I loved every minute of it.
The worldbuilding, especially, is where I think this book really shines. The worldbuilding is very heavy - and as somebody who loves heavy worldbuilding, this worked very well for me. While clearly modelled after our own world, the author creates a society so rife with original history and a deeply rooted sense of culture that I found myself astounded at its depth. The cultural conflicts, specifically between the Anglish and Masquisit people, were such a blatant reflection of a similar conflict taking place in our own history (both recent and not-as-recent) that I found myself, yet again, getting angry at the Euro-centric mindset that is still present today, the idea that their culture and civilization are the only correct one, and everybody else simply needs to be "civilized."
Which leads me into the characters - they were so delightfully complex, and flawlessly written with so many flaws. I had such a complicated relationship with so many of them, with they way they would do something iconic and badass one page, and then the next be spouting racist crap that, in retrospect, they've been taught since childhood, a racism so deeply rooted that it is difficult to move past - not that that is any excuse for the shit some people say to Anequs. One prime example of such a character is Karina Kuiper, who has a Mulan-esque backstory but also firmly believes that the Anglish perspective is the "correct" perspective, and that all other cultures must conform to this perspective, and it was... absolutely infuriating.
The utter infuriation this book was able to instill within me was probably my favourite part of this book. If you look at my top 5 favourite books, you'll notice a common theme among them - they've all, on some level, manage to instill a deeply rooted anger within me, mostly along the lines of misogyny, which is also definitely present in this book, but also with one group of people believing without question that they are objectively better than another. This book managed to accomplish that feeling, where such rage was weaved through that pages, and what I was feeling is both a personal reaction, and a hint of the POV character's own emotions spilling from the page, intertwining with my own. This book made me so mad. And I loved every minute of it.
In all honesty, the one factor that kept this book from being a true 5-star is that, as much as I loved the worldbuilding, sometimes it felt like it was not quite enough. I wanted to know more, to get a deeper understanding of the very foundations upon which this world was built upon, and I didn't quite get that. However, this was a phenomenal, emotional novel, and I highly, highly recommend it.
To Shape a Dragon's Breath is an absolutely stunning debut. It offers itself up as a deeply-rooted criticism of the political and social ideals within Western European cultures, and does not shy away from the cultural appropriation and blatant racism taking place within its pages. It is a story about being presented with a role for which you are expected to fill, but being spurning it in favour of being true to your individuality and your own beliefs, and Moniquill Blackgoose executes it beautifully.
This is not a high-stakes, black-and-white good-vs-evil type of novel. The characters will not fight in an epic battle with the fate of the world on their shoulders. Instead, the conflict within this book are largely social and political, a battle of wills and social ideals over those of swords and armies. Worldbuilding and characterization are highly emphasized in favour of plot and epic scale, and I loved every minute of it.
The worldbuilding, especially, is where I think this book really shines. The worldbuilding is very heavy - and as somebody who loves heavy worldbuilding, this worked very well for me. While clearly modelled after our own world, the author creates a society so rife with original history and a deeply rooted sense of culture that I found myself astounded at its depth. The cultural conflicts, specifically between the Anglish and Masquisit people, were such a blatant reflection of a similar conflict taking place in our own history (both recent and not-as-recent) that I found myself, yet again, getting angry at the Euro-centric mindset that is still present today, the idea that their culture and civilization are the only correct one, and everybody else simply needs to be "civilized."
Which leads me into the characters - they were so delightfully complex, and flawlessly written with so many flaws. I had such a complicated relationship with so many of them, with they way they would do something iconic and badass one page, and then the next be spouting racist crap that, in retrospect, they've been taught since childhood, a racism so deeply rooted that it is difficult to move past - not that that is any excuse for the shit some people say to Anequs. One prime example of such a character is Karina Kuiper, who has a Mulan-esque backstory but also firmly believes that the Anglish perspective is the "correct" perspective, and that all other cultures must conform to this perspective, and it was... absolutely infuriating.
The utter infuriation this book was able to instill within me was probably my favourite part of this book. If you look at my top 5 favourite books, you'll notice a common theme among them - they've all, on some level, manage to instill a deeply rooted anger within me, mostly along the lines of misogyny, which is also definitely present in this book, but also with one group of people believing without question that they are objectively better than another. This book managed to accomplish that feeling, where such rage was weaved through that pages, and what I was feeling is both a personal reaction, and a hint of the POV character's own emotions spilling from the page, intertwining with my own. This book made me so mad. And I loved every minute of it.
In all honesty, the one factor that kept this book from being a true 5-star is that, as much as I loved the worldbuilding, sometimes it felt like it was not quite enough. I wanted to know more, to get a deeper understanding of the very foundations upon which this world was built upon, and I didn't quite get that. However, this was a phenomenal, emotional novel, and I highly, highly recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Hate crime, Racism, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation
batesbarb's review
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Biphobia, Homophobia, Racism, Cultural appropriation, and Colonisation
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