A review by dweeks417
To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

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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