4.5/5 stars. This book was amazing. It had both indigenous and LGBTQ+ representation and was a painfully beautiful fantasy tale. The subtext of struggles to be seen as worthy and equal in this story touched my heart. This story very vaguely reminded me of the fantasy series Dragonriders of Pern that I devoured as a child. More in the sense of the dragon's connection to its partner than anything else. I think this is a stunning YA fantasy entry and highly recommend it to all readers.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

An Indigenous teen discovers a dragon egg and is thrust into the world of dragon raising at an elite academy. The parts of this book that I enjoyed the most were the similarities to the world of the novel with our world, especially relating to colonialism and the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples. The author did a great job of creating a magical overlay that created a different world that is nonetheless very much like our own. The depiction of Anequs constantly struggling to assert her personhood and culture in a world that so disparages and demeans it is heartbreaking, but important to see. However for a book about dragon raising there was much less actual time raising dragons than I would have liked.

While I enjoyed reading this book, I do feel like it could have used some more editing. It's probably longer than it needs to be and the ending gets strangely rushed - like the author realized it was getting really long and then tried to hurry everything up. I'm not sure why the author decided to give us all the background and technical information needed to perform skiltakraft and I found the parallels to our world to be distracting and unnecessary. When authors use words too similar to ours to describe things unique to their book's world, I find it harder to fully immerse myself in that world. Is it a different world or not? Having said all that, I did find the book interesting enough for me to finish it and I will keep an eye for future books.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel in ARC in exchange for an honest review. Set in a remarkably detailed and immersive world built on similarities with our own world history, Blackgoose's novel tells the story of how Anequas, a young Masquisit woman is chosen by a newly hatched dragon and must leave her family and remote island community to master the skills she needs to harness her dragons remarkable power. Along the way, she must also learn to navigate the politics and social whirl of nearby Anglish society, a society that continually questions her suitability to take any kind of place within it. The writing features strong three-dimensional characters representative of a layered and complex society with a clear steampunk flavor.

This is an amazing debut novel, and I truly hope this will have a sequel! I truly loved reading this, tearing through it in just three days, and am sad the journey is over!

This book flowed so beautifully, with rich and diverse characters, and I absolutely LOVE the LGBTQIA+ and polyamorous additions, as well as someone who I believe is on the autism spectrum. The culture, traditions and history from both sides felt real and well-developed, and I would love if the author would come out with a stand-alone book with more from each society.

Moniquill Blackgoose, with this book, has shown that they are a force to be reckoned with. This novel has me so excited for the future of Nampeshiweisit -- I look forward to following Blackgoose's work as an author, and the progression of Anequs' journey!

A sweeping fantasy that looks colonization in the eye, cries “land back!”, and soars to a new world not so different than our own. Even at the book’s most emotionally painful points, it gave me so much hope to see indigenous ingenuity, community, and even healing take place even in this high fantasy setting.

Anequs is the resourceful, driven, and compassionate protagonist who carries the story forward in a larger cast of characters that celebrate difference in all its forms. “To Shape a Dragon’s Breathe” is a book that understands that liberation for some is nothing without liberation for all, and its deft handling of how colonization is deeply rooted in all of the isms (sexism, ableism, homophobia, etc) only makes when Anequs succeeds feel that much brighter. I also loved that this book subverted the expectation that Anequs would simply want to assimilate to the larger Dragoneer academy; she’s a protagonist who understands the stakes at play and isn’t willing to compromise on her values or her people, and I wish I got to see more protagonists like that in more stories.

My only gripe with the book is that I’m still not clear on how the magic system works (I’m still totally in the dark as to why we’re offered a chart at the beginning of the book and how that’s relevant to Skiltatkraft?); my hope is that in the sequel and subsequent books - which I wait desperately for - can expand and make more sense of it as it didn’t seem like a coherent system to me at this point.

Finally, this book is dazzling example of why we need more indigenous authors to tell their own stories. Theod’s arc in the story, for example, is deeply relevant given the fight at the Supreme Court in the US over the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). In short, ICWA right now is being contested by white families who want to be able to adopt native children, despite ICWA being there so that native children can continue to have a connection to their cultures and other native peoples. For those that enjoyed the book, please remember that native people are here, still thriving, and are still fighting back against colonization to keep their families and communities whole.

I can’t wait to see more people get to read this book, and thank you again to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the eARC copy!

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is a beautifully written story about a young Indigenous woman who is taken from her home to train at a colonizer-run dragon academy. The author, Moniquill Blackgoose, was excruciatingly honest as she described the suppression of Indigenous culture; the protagonist, Anequs, is faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles and biases at every turn, yet never backs down from the challenge of standing up for herself, her customs, and her people. Blackgoose painstakingly constructs a fantasy world that is both unknown and familiar to us. It is the first fantasy book I’ve read based on early American history, and somehow seamlessly combines dragons and magic with historical accounts of the early US. I found the created terminology about everything from politics to dragonry incredibly compelling, and it left the reader feeling just as uninformed as Anequs as she is thrust into an unknown and unwelcoming society.

This book contains some of the best and most natural representation I’ve read in fantasy. Anequs is not only Indigenous but also bisexual and polyamorous, which is common in her culture. One of her friends at the academy is mostly mute and autistic, and she has two main love interests: a black queer woman and an orphaned Indigenous man from another tribe.

In addition to its incredible representation and history, I loved the dragons (SO FREAKING CUTE), the side characters (Sander, Liberty, and Theod especially <3), and Anequs herself. The downside for me was that the book is longer than necessary; there were a lot of tedious descriptions of food and Anequs’s classes, and the middle dragged on. Overall, I loved it and look forward to reading the sequel!

I received my copy of To Shape a Dragon’s Breath from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
- Tiktok review will be posted to @beth_and_books closer to publication date
- Tiktok wrap-up video: https://www.tiktok.com/@beth_and_books/video/7171966404810296582?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7143337437756966401
- Goodreads review (11/22): https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5111983195

4.5 STARS BUT ROUNDING UP

This is a fabulous YA Fantasy book about a young indigenous woman who goes to “dragoneering” school. The writing style felt similar to middle grade so I think that it would be a good option for many different age groups. (Though it is YA so deals with some mature themes)
I loved learning the different traditions and Anequs’ culture and felt like the author did a great job at teaching colonialism through fantasy.
I also loved the main character Anequs. She is probably the most steady characters I have ever read and a great fictional role model.
I would recommend this book to fans of Six Crimson Cranes, The Goose Girl and Babel. I really hope to read more from this author in the future!
Thank you to the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is a beautifully complex coming-of-age novel about a young indigenous girl, Anequs, who discovers a dragon and must become a dragoneer on the mainland of the Anglish conquerors. The novel is not plot-heavy, and instead shows a deep look of Anequs’s experience of being an indigenous person at an Anglish school. Fans of the academia genre will enjoy the school setting and the interesting magic system. This book is a stark reminder of the way that indigenous peoples tend to be treated and how they are thought of. The Anglish see Anequs’s people as savage and incompetent, and many scenes are painful to endure as you watch her classmates torment her. But her strength of character and unwillingness to be treated as a lesser human is a joy to read. I also loved the LGBTQ+ representation. Anequs is bisexual, and it is very common among her people to be polyamorous. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but I did find it to be longer than necessary. Since it is primarily character driven, it’s a bit slower paced and at times felt too long. However, I still highly recommend this book for anyone who loves academia and dragons. Review to be posted to Goodreads 11/21/22 and posted to TikTok two weeks prior to its publication date.

To Shape a Dragon's Breath is a stunning debut, and a wonderful fantasy that feels mostly like a historical fantasy due to the close parallels this fantasy realm has with the real world (in the mid 1800s). This is not a grim nor dark fantasy, but the themes are still serious and cover meaningful topics that have relevance today. I loved the magical dragon system, and while it was complex, I appreciated the world building that made the dragon magic make sense in the world. This reads much like an academic fantasy due to the fact our main character attends a dragoneer academy; you'll find so many of the same threads of other academia books: classes, professors, peers, classmates who are enemies, classmates who are friends, examinations, and so on.

Some major components of this book is the impact of violent colonization, breaking of treaties by those in power, racists being angry at non-Westernized peoples merely existing, Native characters having to navigate forced assimilation and racism, and so on. The topics are poignant and I felt these themes radiated well with the story and they were executed in a way that truly highlighted how community and acceptance = resistance and how much value the support of a community means in a society that would prefer to alienate and divide as they conquer.

While the book doesn't end on a cliffhanger, there's still so much to explore in this universe and I would be so excited to read every future book that Moniquill Blackgoose publishes. I truly cannot hype this book up enough, it is a must read if you enjoy dragons, historical fantasies, or academic fantasy settings.

I was randomly selected to read and review this book via Netgalley, and I am not an ownvoices reader.

Thank you random house publishing and net gallery
for my e-arc.

HOLY CRAP I LOVED THIS BOOK!! This is very much a
character driven book, and while there was basically no
plot other than following the main character Anaqus
from her island home into the white "Anglish"
community when she finds a dragon egg and the
dragon bonds with her, and so she has to go to a
dragoneer school, I was never bored. If you liked the
themes of colonialism and inequality and racism of
Babel, you'll definitely like this one. The writing was
phenomenal and the lore behind the world was soo
immersive!

Representation included:
SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD
(Please keep in mind that because this is a fantasy
world they use different words to label people)
Main character and her entire family is of indigenous
Asian decent and is called a "Nackie"
Main character is Bisexual and Polyamorous
Side character is Nackie
Side character is autistic and mostly mute, he
communicates through writing on a tablet he might also
have ADHD since he says that he needs thing to fidget
with to help him think
Side character is black and a lesbian and is called a
"tribade"
Two side characters are tribades but it's mentioned
very briefly only once near the end.
Side character is confined to a wheel chair

Now I am White, Cis-het, and not autistic, mute, or
confined to a wheel chair so please take my opinion
with a grain of salt but I thought that the rep was really
well done. The author handled everything with care and
produced a book that deserves to be on everyone's shelves.

This is a fantasy book which kept me in rapture from beginning to end. It has intriguing characters and a complicated yet fascinating storyline. The world building is excellent and helps keep the book moving. I highly enjoyed it

Thank you to NetGalley and to Penguin Random House for providing me an ARC of this novel in exchange for honest feedback.

When I first saw the synopsis for this book, I was pretty excited about it. And when I began reading it I was still very excited. There wasn't a moment during my reading of this that I thought I wouldn't finish it. There was a small part of time where I felt disinterested in some of the names of places or things, as some seemed too unchanged from their real-workd Origins sometimes. However this is something I quickly got over in favor of finding out what was going to happen to Anequs and the rest of these characters. The fact that there is queer and poly content as well here is the cherry on top of a fantastic fantasy novel. I would definitely recommend this book to others and am excited to see where the next books will go

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is an indigenous-inspired fantasy story complete with dragons, magic, and lessons in humanity—but above all, it is about stories and how we tell them. The main character, Anequs, must leave her home to attend a dragoneering school on the mainland where she faces discrimination while she attempts to protect her home and discover herself (alongside her dragon, of course!).
Blackgoose provides rich descriptions of cultural tales and global histories that show how our perspective changes a narrative. Anequs, is kind and spunky, with a strong moral compass, but not above fault. I also really enjoyed many of the side characters, especially Niquiat and Sander.
The main strengths of this novel lie in its worldbuilding and descriptions of the various cultures and stories. The lore is essential to the plot (which I love). This tale may not be action-packed at every turn, but it holds a rich coming-of-age tale that focuses on knowing oneself, their people, and their place in the world.
Sometimes the scientific descriptions of the magic system can overwhelm the reader, and I get the sense that To Shape is laying the groundwork for future books in the series—again, not a lot happens in the way of action—but it is overall an enjoying and thought-provoking read!

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fascinating book!

We follow Anequs as she discovers a wild dragon egg near her village in Masquapaug. When the dragon is born and bonds with her Anequs is thrown into the world of the Anglish. Forced to register her dragon and attend school to learn how to handle its power Aneques is seen as unworthy and uncivilized by her peers and teachers. She navigates this new world and the newfound power from her dragon while trying to stay true to herself and her culture.

It's a beautiful book that blends history and fantasy. While Blackgoose uses "Anglish" terms and largely European names this book touches on the history of most colonized Indigenous peoples. We see Anequs forced to leave home to attend school, her family further divided by Anglish expectations, and she deals with threats and social politics throughout her first year of school.

This is an interesting book that blends together regency-type plots, alternative history, fantasy, and so much more. It's a unique and compelling book that has me excited to read the next.

Anequs has always expected to inherit her home from her mother and stay on their tribe’s island, farming and fishing. Until she finds a dragon’s egg and the hatchling bonds with her. While this is normally a reason for celebration among her people, now that they’ve been incorporated under Anglish rule, she is forced to bend to their traditions. This means attending an academy to see if she’s worthy of keeping her dragon. Despite the difference in culture, beliefs, schooling, and even physical looks, Anequs strives to do whatever she must to keep her dragon safe as well as her people.

The setting of this work was unique and incredibly well done. It was set in a pseudo-1800s alternate reality that had steampunk elements. The culture of Anequs’ people was well written and incorporated wonderfully throughout the book and her character, and I loved the connection between their traditional dances and knowledge. I also enjoyed that the author utilized the characters telling stories throughout the work but gave a dedicated chapter to each story – this was an excellent way to set this up, as well as a perfect way to incorporate worldbuilding/lore, though there were still some instances of info-dumping throughout the work.

While this work was fascinating because of the fantasy elements and its setting, the author also incorporated discussions of much heavier topics in a way that added to the plot and wasn’t heavy handed. Probably the most prominent theme was colonization and its imbalances/injustices. I enjoyed that the author incorporated the 19th century views of race and colonization into the characters – even Anglish characters that meant well still held some of these views. I enjoyed Anequs as a protagonist and I loved the secondary characters, as well as how the author explored sexuality, accepted social norms, and mental health through the lens of two different cultures. This juxtaposition was excellently done.

There were only a few things I didn’t prefer about this book. One was the in-depth discussions of their class discussions at school. I appreciate the work the author put into them, but learning fantasy algebra has never been something I’m interested in. It did add to the work, and it’s likely this element won’t be present in the next work, so it was just a minor complaint for me. The second thing was that the antagonists of the work were barely present (specifically a student who caused problems at the beginning for Anequs), which made the tension related to those subplots nonexistent. There were plenty of other things that caused tension going on though, so again, this is a relatively minor complaint (more of a comment than complaint).

Honestly, I can’t recommend this book enough! Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for allowing me to read and review this work, which is expected to be published on May 9th, 2023.

This was such a beautiful book. The writing style reminded me of Naomi Novik's in Uprooted and Spinning Silver. It takes an honest look at colonization and the suppression of cultures in a way that reminded me of RF Kuang. All the while, it weaves a beautiful story about an Indigenous girl, Anequs, and her dragon, who are taken from their homeland in order to train at a special school for dragon and their caretakers. She constantly pushes back against the societal norms that the school tries to impress upon her. In the end, she must decide who she wants to be, and who will she let shape her into the woman she'll be for the rest of her life.

The only thing I would say is this book could have been shorter. The pacing dragged because of all the information I was trying to absorb while reading. While I did enjoy the thorough look at Anequs' culture and heritage, I think there could have been a more cohesive way to weave it into the plot, instead of the info-dumps throughout the book.

I read an ARC of To Shape Dragon's Breath on NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity.

I adored this book. It transported me to when I first began to read for myself and found the love of reading on my own and fell in love with the story in front of me. When I not only fell in love with the story but wanted to be the character, to be the heroine going against what everyone was saying, and to find my own power and voice in those that would stand against me.

But once again, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's talk about what the book is about.
This is a young adult story about a girl and her dragon.

The protagonist is from a tribe that has been colonized and pushed where they are "allowed" to live and carry on with their own culture as long as they continue to pay taxes to the Anglish. They no longer have any dragons after the "great" sickness, and because of that, most of their traditions around them have faded from memory. So, when Anequs sees a dragon and goes to leave tabaco at the temple at the top of the mountain whether it was real or a vision, she finds a dragon egg. They remember enough about tradition to have everyone in the village visit the egg that stays in the village center until it opens and chooses Anequs as its person.

When her brother finds out what has happened, he signs her up for an Anglish dragon rider school. At first, the elders are hesitant to send such an important person away, but after her dragon releases its breath, it becomes clear they have lost the knowledge of the dances that used to allow them to control their dragon's breath. Dragon breath can be more dangerous than just fire, often it can break things down to their most basic elements making toxic fumes that can instantly kill people and the environment around it. Because of this, it's decided to send her to school.

Here is where Anequs comes in contact with people whose beliefs very much go against hers, and where her stubborn, proud, and outspoken personality starts shining through all through the book in a way that is perfectly balanced. It doesn't come across as annoying, and just her asserting herself, and also her explaining herself. I like how you can see some parts where she is refusing to learn certain things like the ridiculous Anglish society rules, and there are legitimate reasons for her not to learn them, and really, she shouldn't have to, but also, it's a fact that in order to continue to undermine them to the best of her ability, it's best to "know her enemy".

There's also wonderful representation here, and it rides a great line between intrusive and cute. Though I felt the romance between her and the servant girl more than here and the other dragoneer.

Really, I would have loved reading this along with my Tamora Pierce books, and it makes me feel like a young adult reading this book, and I'm looking forward to the next book in this series and where her adventure goes from here, because the world is rich, the characters fit perfectly inside it, and I loved this book.

This book was really good. I am going to be recommending it to friends, and I'm glad that it is the first of a series. The idea of combining fantasy with Native Americans and early U.S. history was really neat. The characterization was very well done, and I loved seeing the variety of ways people reacted to Anequs's presence at the dragon school. The ways that Anequs changes over the course of the book are also well done. She gained a better sense of when it was worth speaking up stridently and when to follow social rules, and when she wanted to be polite, she was able to speak to Anglish high society in a way they would find appropriate. She found aspects of the culture that she liked (the technology, some dancing, and novels) while remaining staunchly opposed to Anglish aggression against her people, the social stratification of their society, and boiled cabbage.
The main flaw of this book was the amount of time the author spent world-building, which was not only tedious but seemed unnecessarily complicated given that the society was basically the same as the United States 200 years ago. It felt like a lot of words to explain that water is made of hydrogen and oxygen, but with new words for the elements