A review by thebookcoyote
To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

adventurous challenging dark inspiring reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

TW/CW: Danger, racism, violence, mild sexuality, gun violence, state violence, sexism 

REVIEW: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley and Del Rey and am voluntarily writing an honest review. 
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is the story of Anequs, a young indigenous woman who finds and hatches a dragon’s egg, becoming bonded to the young dragon. She is forced by the white colonizers of her land to attend a school for young dragoneers, and finds herself stuck in a world that she has no interest in becoming a part of, with people who constantly insult her for who she is. 
This is, no doubt, a great story. It has all the elements that I love – dragons, a steampunk fantasy world, interesting characters, an underdog succeeding, fighting against racism and xenophobia, LGBTQIA+ representation – all of these things are fantastic. 
Unfortunately, there were two things that affected my enjoyment of this book. First, it was WAY too long at 528 pages. A lot of that was repetition of the same sort of social get-togethers that just seemed unnecessary. Secondly was the writing itself. It’s not that the writing was bad, but it kept me feeling like I was detatched from the story. I found it hard to feel connected because the writing was so dry and lacked emotion. In a lot of ways, it felt more like reading a history book than what should have been an engaging and exciting fantasy novel. 
In all, I would recommend this book, simply because of the things that are so good about it. It drags at times because of the things I’ve stated above, but I think it’s worth getting through.
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