Reviews with content warning for Colonisation - To Shape a Dragon's Breath

Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

153 reviews

gabe_escobedo's review against another edition

dark emotional funny inspiring fast-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

A stellar book, highly recommended. A beautiful exploration of colonization and the resistance of oppression, even by undesirable means of working with the oppressors

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capriqueen's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional 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

Compelling and rich. I really really love the characters, especially Sander. Anequs is bi and polyam, which I love, and also a total badass, which I also love. Her refusal to bend her morals or beliefs was so riveting

The romantic subplots, while minor overall, are really interesting and I can’t wait to see where they go

The prejudice and institutional racism and white propaganda at every turn was disheartening and infuriating, and really well portrayed. Since the setting of the book is our world but a bit different, it really puts our world and history into perspective

Speaking of the world, the book comes with a map, a pronunciation guide, and a period table of athers (elements), but it really could’ve used a glossary. Some vocabulary is the same as ours (fabrics and animals, for example) but a lot isn’t, and trying to figure out what we call things was frustrating (anglereckoning is geometry, erelore is history, skiltakraft is alchemy, kolfni is carbon, etc). Half the time I just let my mind glaze over the unfamiliar terms, especially the chapter which covered Anequs’s entire first lesson of skiltakraft in exact unintelligible (to the reader) detail

The tone of the book feels almost a little detached, the sentence structure fairly basic. I think this is intentional, but it means a lot of narration is covered by “this happened, and the next day this happened”

Regardless, the world and the story and the characters still captured me and I look forward to the next book

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doer_nerd's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring relaxing tense medium-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

This was just the book I needed when I found it. I love the alternate history and world building elements. The author does an amazing job at writing a diverse cast of characters with sometimes starkly different worldviews that all feel very true to life. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to start a new YA fantasy series.

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jjvaldezbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring tense medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

it has the same small issues as Raybearer-- the themes/lessons are often a bit too on the nose, even for YA, and because there is so much happening packed into book 1 of a series, the protagonist has very little time to make mistakes that she can learn from. Redemptor (sequel to Raybearer) solved that for me and I'm hoping Blackgoose will similarly find her stride in a second book.

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grace_b_3's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

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

3.0

This is basically an alternate history of colonial America but with dragons and a lot of names changed. Going into this book, I was under the impression that it was a secondary world, but the map at the beginning is literally the same as our world.
I enjoyed the ride of this book, but there were definitely some flaws. The world-building was kind of clunky. There are lots of long paragraphs of exposition. The main character, Anequs, has that problem where she says and does whatever she wants, and even when there should be consequences, she somehow gets out of them. She is never paying attention to the political ramifications of her actions.

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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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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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