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