I recently read To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Monquill Blackgoose! I'd like to thank NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really liked this book overall, and I definitely recommend it for anyone who's looking for an Indigenous fantasy YA, anyone who likes alternate history YAs, and anyone who likes books involving magical schools and dragons.

Plot: in the 1800s in what seems to be a Viking colonized version of the Northeast, 15 year old Anequs is an Indigenous teen from the island of Masquapaug, and she becomes the first of her people to find and bond with a dragon in many generations. She enrols in an Anglish/coloniser run dragon school.

There wasn't anything I disliked about this book! A lot of the specific things I liked: The vivid descriptions- especially of outfits, the steampunk elements, the alternate history, use of chemistry/science in the magic, the challenges the characters faced and how they responded, the overall concept and execution, the relationships between the characters, the romance subplots. The worldbuilding felt very complete. I'd give it 4.75/5 stars.

This will be the first in a series. It doesn't end on a big cliffhanger, but I'm excited to see more of this world and these characters in book 2!

#toshapeadragonsbreath #netgalley #fantasybooks

Delightfully fresh spin on the magic school trope. Blackgoose's indigenous protagonist is wonderful in her own right, but the author's grappling with an alternate history that still shares many of the prejudices and crimes against indigenous populations of our own history takes this to the next level of thoughtful and thought-provoking. At the same time, it's a fantastic adventure with memorable characters. I'm looking forward to the next one!

I requested this copy as part of the 2024 Hugo packet.

I absolutely adored this book!. I so very much want to read the next part of the story. For me it was a look at the Indigenous side of colonialism, a view that should be seen more. I hope the follow up books are written and published. I'll be looking for them!

In the flurry of current dragon books this one stands out. This is a vivid look into indigineous culture and how they endure injustices. Anequs is a spectacular protagnist who overcomes a great deal in becoming a dragoneer. The Academy serves as a great setting for Anequs to adapt to a world outside of her own. There are times went the story slows in its pacing but the overall experience was superb.

This is a great addition to dragon literature.

Thank you NetGalley, Moniquill Blackgoose and publisher for my e-arc of To Shape a Dragon's Breath (TSaDB).

This was a fantastic read if you want to continue to dragon/dragon school trend - but want something completely different than Fourth Wing. TSaDB was more aligned with Babel - with young Indigenous woman Anequs is chosen by a dragon hatchling and has to leave her home to train at a coloniser school. There is plenty of exploration around colonisation, identity, sexism, racism, and classism.

It did take a while to become acclimatised to the world - in TSaDB the world has been colonised by Scandi/Norse (known as Anglish). There are Norse myths alongside German phrases and the geography described what I assume is Indigenous America. I would have really enjoyed some illustrations or world maps to go alongside the story. In addition, the story also had a slow start, but once we were well established the pacing seemed to be perfect.

The writing style was descriptive and direct, and I particularly enjoyed it and found it refreshing.

There was plenty of time spent with the FMC focusing on the classes to become proficient in handling dragons and shaping dragon's breath.

I also really appreciated the LGBTQ, poly and divergent representation, alongside the Indigenous FMC.
There were some comments that the love interests didn't seem to have enough conflict, but there was plenty of simmering points of unrest such as the issues with class and race. I think in the next installment when they are all courting then I'm sure they'll be no shortage of conflict as same sex relationships are not the norm in Anglish society, let alone poly relationships.

I am already eagerly awaiting the next book, and was very sad to have to leave the world of Nampeshiweisit.

This was a good book, and I think anyone looking for a dragon book that is NOT like Fourth Wing might like To Shape A Dragon’s Breath. However, this is not just a dragon book and it is not even mostly about dragons. It is more about colonialism, racism, and sexism. If you like heavy, global topics like that, you will like this book. The dragons do not do a lot other than being cute in this book. If you are looking for a more action-heavy dragon book, this is not for you. People who like school settings will also like this book.

That being said, the talk of colonialism, racism, and sexism does not go very deep and feels black and white. Anequs continuously points out what is wrong with white/anglish(clearly likened to real life english) culture (points I wholeheartedly agree with) without considering the good parts of the culture or the negative aspects of her own culture. Multiple times in the book Anequs is shown to be frustrated with her culture’s stubbornness about adapting to modern culture and her family’s reluctance to allow her to choose her own path in life, but she never reflects upon this.

The other weak point was the lack of an arc with Anequs. I felt that her personality and her beliefs were the stagnant throughout the book. And from the beginning, she always knew that she was doing the right thing, so there was no tension of her having to make a tough decision. The characters who I thought had interesting arcs were Marta and Sander. Theod maybe could have been included in that list but I just didn’t really like him.

After listing these negatives, I have to mention that I really liked seeing Anequs venture into the Anglish world for the first time, and I liked hearing her thoughts about the many social customs. And I l like what she chooses to do with her career as a dragoneer (no spoilers!) . Additionally, the description of the dragons and their attachments to their dragoneers was wonderful. Kasaqua was so cute and I could sense her bond with Anequs.

I loved the sound of this book as soon as I saw I it. The main character is chosen by a newly hatched dragon and becomes bonded to it. She is from a small island and is regarded as a savage by the Anglish people. By law, she must register her dragon and attend an academy for learning to control her dragon's breath.

The book deals well with the themes of alienation, home, and colonisation. It challenges the concept of indigenous people needing to be 'civilised' by other people's standards and norms.

It was an enjoyable read and was well-written. I had had it in my mind that the dragons would play a larger role in the book, involving action or battles at the school and learning to control them in that way. It was much more academic than that, though. The main theme was definitely the conqueres and Anequs' fight to be understood.

I think that this book is an excellent terrain in the fantasy world for examining racist ideas of what it means to be civilised. The bond between Aneques and her dragon was very cool.

It was also lovely to read LQBTQIA+ characters and an autistic main character.

Babel found dead in a ditch

Since I have to have a review longer than that, I will elaborate: this did everything Babel is trying to do conceptually (comment on colonialism, imperialism, sexism -- all the isms -- while doing some fun magicky things, plus alternate history, and also really scratch the linguistics center of my brain), but *better*. The alt-history is more "alt." The magical elements' implications on society are more thoughtfully integrated. The characters are more nuanced. The characters even pay attention to going to class and learning at their magic school! Take that, Harry Potter! Altogether it comes across as a work by a more mature author than R.F. Kuang, not in a 'this is intended for mature audiences' sense but in the sense of taking a more sophisticated, adult perspective on the world. The characters are not setting out to overthrow "Colonialism" in a single book, because it is ridiculous to attempt something on that scale, and where some people might read Babel and enjoy the "boo-yah, take that" escapism of that kind of plot it seemed a little childish to me, looking for a tidy resolution for systemic problems that are much larger than a plucky group of teens. This is book one of who knows how many, so it's possible that the series could go that direction. It wouldn't be the first time that sequels take the stakes to a heightened "it goes all the way to the top!" kind of thing. But I appreciate that Anequs is not complacent with the way things are, and is seeking to improve her world (her people, the Anglish society they are surrounded by, and the way the two interact) in ways that are both groundbreaking and grounded. I'm eagerly waiting to see where it goes.

A fantasy adventure with dragon bonded to a girl, dragon school and the adventures that follow. Suggest it would appeal most to younger YA/ teen readers. Thank you to #netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

Wow, wow, wow, I enjoyed this more than I imagined I would; solid 3.5 for me. Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the DRC.

Nothing really happens in the story but a lot of foundation is built for the next (plz just be a duology)?? Once I realized that this volume served as a set up for more to come, I enjoyed it more. One element I really loved was our FMC, Anequs, whom is and says exactly what she promises and stands on business when it comes to protecting herself, her loved ones, and her morals. I really enjoyed that there wasn’t an ounce of a damsel in distress in her and that she understood the differences in the culture but also questioned them with every breath of hers. Each time someone referred to her customs as “uncivilized” or “vulgar,” she had a come back and comparison for something different in their own culture.

One thing I didn’t like was the length of the book; yes, this is an ARC and not the final copy but I found many parts too long winded and way too much telling and not enough showing. It made parts of the story harder to get through. I really enjoyed the stories included about the FMC and the Anglish people’s gods but felt that there were a bit too many? I was both intrigued with them but also confused because it deviated from the story for like 20-minutes.

Overall I really enjoyed the premise, the characters, the action (of what little there was besides the end) and the non-cringey additive of a blossoming queer (possibly poly) romance. It’s not something I’ve seen in the fantasy YA age group category in a long time but it felt done in a very tasteful manner. I feel like I could write way more about this title but I don’t want to give more away.

I’m really looking forward to the next book and can’t wait to see how the drama will unfold.

Everyone hyped up this book so much, I went in having very high expectations.
Alth0ugh the concepts were fascinating, the story had some really nice turns, i was not as impressed as anyone else. Things happen, but also nothing happens. This mostly felt like the setup for the next book, which isnt bad per say, but i felt like something was missing.

This was a great book, I'll just list everything that I liked :

The main character Anequs hoes through a flat arc, which I think suits her and the story - she's very steadfast in what she believes, which is necessary when she faces all the colonialist bullshit.

Loved all the different dragon species, wish we had illustrations for them. Also loved the worldbuilding, like the magic-alchemy-chemistry you can do with a dragon's breath - so good.

Appreciate a fantasy school book where the characters actually go to their lessons - also liked that we had a glimpse of them (though sometimes they ran a little too long).

Different stories are told by different characters, and they all show distinctly whatever culture they were raised in, which is pretty cool. I love getting to hear the traditional stories from fantasy cultures.

Finally, the poly queer romance was very much appreciated, away with the love triangles, give me this instead.

I received an ARC from Netgalley and Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book. Anequs is a strong character, and I fell in love with her. The language was absolutely beautiful, and I adored how lyrical and poetic it was.

I am hoping to read the next book in the series!

This book was a bit difficult for me to get into. The first half was really slow, and felt very info-dumpy. It felt like reading a textbook and made me consider DNFing because I was just constantly confused. HOWEVER IM SO GLAD I CONTINUED. The second half of this book was much easier to digest. We finally got to see personalities of all the characters. I enjoyed the side character appearances a lot more. The story progressed really nicely, and I liked the ending. I will definitely be reading the next book to see how the story continues!

“The shapeless medicine of a dragons breath is change.”

It’s hard not to compare any new dragon book to Fourth Wing and To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is no exception. Of course, this is YA so the subject matter is younger but I truly loved the writing style, world building, and characters of this book. There was a lot of diversity, including queer representation and I love to see that in any book I read.

As I got through the first few chapters, I summed up the plot like this: An old wives tale version of fourth wing with hints of fairytales (think Mulan) thrown in. And I mean that in the best way possible. I felt like I was immersed in this story, which sometimes can be hard in a fantasy because there is so much going on. The dragons were described almost how we treat our let dogs and I really liked the visual that created in my mind.

There was one point where dragons bones were described as being lightweight to aid in flight and as I was listening to this “fact” being described I thought to myself, “huh, is that true?” because I entirely forgot dragons are in fact, not real. That experience is a huge testament to how well done this book is and how well it pulls the reader right into Masquapaug.

This was a great start to a new YA Fantasy series and I can’t wait to continue to watch this story unfold with the expansion of the Nampeshiweisit series.

5 stars, spoiler-free review
To Shape a Dragon's Breath is one of my favorite discoveries of 2024. This magical, moving novel swept me into a different world and kept me there. Culture, dragon lore, alliances, family, history, coming of age, danger, love, and loyalty weave together during a complex time of change. Strong moments show the contrast of actual savagery contrasted with racist ideas that cast the land's original people as "savages."
It's a rich experience, full of the wonder of dragons and the challenges of going away to school as an outsider. The LGBTQIA+ depictions were refreshing and the intimate moments felt completely right for the characters.
There's great fun in the book with gamboling young dragons, humorous aspects of culture clashes, and wonderful details of young inventors and the heroine setting about to forge the future from their visions. There are many strong characters bringing this story to life, and the places are wonderfully vivid.
The heroine acts with courage, honor, and dignity in the face of ignorance and hostility, a true hero of her time. The many parts of her journey, culture, and studies come together in a deeply satisfying way. This is a book that will stay with me and that I'll enjoy reading again.
Highly recommended for adult and YA readers, including those who might not usually read Fantasy. This is an extraordinary book.
Thank you, NetGalley and Ransom House Publishg Group Ballantine / Del Rey for the eARC for consideration. These are my opinions.

I just returned from an adventure, feeling like I might not be entirely the same person. Witnessing this character's journey and growth has left me deeply moved. Getting to know all the characters has been both heartbreaking and enriching. Despite the emotional rollercoaster, I wouldn't hesitate to experience it all over again.

A little too long and not enough dragons, but it was interesting enough and I loved the diversity and the representation of Indigenous culture even if perhaps the version of it in this book is a bit idealized, I didn't mind it. As long as an Indigenous author is telling a story about her own culture and showing the world what they think of it and how they perceive it, I'm behind it. Solid read, I just wanted to like it much more than I did.

Okay, there is a lot to unpack with this book, so let me say this first: For the most part, I enjoyed reading it and I would generally recommend it. Now that’s out of the way, let me get into all the many, many reasons why I shouldn’t have liked it. Because as I said, there’s a lot!

Let’s start with the most obvious and glaring problem of this dragon-titled, dragon-covered book. The lack of dragons. Oh, there are dragons in the story, ostensibly, but they might as well not be there. Everything begins with Anequs seeing a dragon, then finding its egg, and ending up as the person chosen by the freshly hatched dragon Kasaqua as her Nampeshiweisit. So far, so good. Girl and dragon share a sort of emotional bond. I was hoping to see them grow up together, strenghten their bond, become friends, you know. Would that have been a bit tropey? Sure. Is it still fun to read? Absolutely!

But we get none of that. As soon as it’s determined that Anequs lacks the necessary skill to “control” her dragon well enough not to be a danger to others (you know, fiery breath potentially killing people and all that), she decides to go to the colonizers’ dragoneer academy in order to learn what she needs, and then return home to her family on the island of Masquapaug. Are we getting the magic school trope? It sure looks like it and I don’t care how many times it has been done, I am here for it.
But nothing really went the way I expected with this novel, and not in a “wow, this is so original and fresh” way, I’m afraid. Because while Anequs does visit classes and has to learn stuff, the focus of the book is one thing and one thing only: To show us, the readers, a very black and white picture of this fantasy world (that’s really just our world with the names rubbed off) through the eyes of one of the most annoyingly perfect Mary Sues in all of literature.

Anequs meets all sorts of Anglish people, plus one other “Nackie” named Theod who has been at the academy for a little while already. The picture the author chose to paint here makes it clear to me why this book is considered to be YA. Although that’s actually unfair to current YA fiction, because it’s been a hot minute since I read a novel where the “sides” were so obviously lacking nuance. Seriously, every single Anglish person Anequs talks to turns out to be a bigoted, racist, classist asshat, while Anequs and her culture and people are described as the perfect of perfectest societies. While I absolutely get where the (Indigenous) author is coming from and what she’s trying to tell us, and while I agree with the message that colonialism is shit and it’s even shittier to take someone’s land and then have the audacity to call them savage, I really, really don’t need this rubbed in my face in such a blatantly moralizing way. Especially when all I’m trying to do is read a fucking fantasy novel with some dragons, okay?

I’d be willing to forgive the broadly painted good and bad guys, if at least there was something more to this book. Like, hearing about the dragons more often than once every five chapters, or having any sort of actual conflict, or interesting classes, or cool world building. Sadly, none of that is delivered.

Let’s dive into the world building really quickly because I think this one might work for other people, although it didn’t for me. The reasons are kind of specific to German speakers, so I guess many people will just not care about the little things that made me roll my eyes.
The Anglish culture didn’t make much sense to me. With the name “Anglish” I assumed they were meant to represent the English, or at least something similar from an alternate Earth, but then there is a ton of German used as well, plus Norse myths and gods. People are called “Herr” and “Frau” (Mr. and Mrs.) which, okay fine, why not. But when it came to one specific class about philosophy, Blackgoose kept using a German verb as a noun and it drove me absolutely insane! Because she was also using another German noun as a noun correctly. I don’t personally know what the benefit is of calling a theory a “vermuten” (literally “to suspect/assume” in German – the corresponding noun is “Vermutung“) and call an experiment, a “Versuch” (literally “trial”/”experiment”), but hey, it’s a fantasy world, so whatever. Except please have the decency of respecting other people’s languages as much as you obviously want people to respect Anequs’s culture by, I don’t know, asking someone if your German is even halfway correct. The irony of a novel this moralizing about one culture, not caring about another culture does not escape me…

Unfortunately, that’s what we spend most of the book with. Anequs talks to this person or that person and establishes how the Anglish are stupid and her people are better. She befriends an indentured servant girl named Liberty, which nobody has ever deigned to do before, but Anequs is just that perfect and wonderful and friendly and open, so why wouldn’t she be friends with the maid? And as much as I hated how unbelievably over the top amazing Anequs was, this part I could at least get behind.
But Anequs is also the first and only person to be kind to the boy Sander who rarely speaks and uses a tablet to communicate instead. I liked the neurodivergence representation and Sander actually ended up being one of my favorite characters, not only because he, unlike our MC, was interesting. It is thorugh Anequs’s kindness and the perfection of her people’s culture that she creates this little group of friends who – did you guess it? – hang out and discuss how Anequs’s culture is superior to the stuck-up Anglish. Or just how the Anglish are awful controlling bastards whose way of life makes no sense.

The only potential conflict that could have made Anequs’s time at the academy interesting was her lack of knowledge and experience when it comes to Anglish customs. I mean, if you’ve ever been in a social situation where you didn’t know the rules, you will know how terrifying that can be. And so it should have been exciting, even thrilling to follow Anequs from one social gathering to this book’s Yule Ball, to afternoon tea, to the seamstress. Except Anequs always, in every single situation, not only masters every task, she also stays calm, finds the right words, and remains cool-headed and well-spoken. She even acknowledges how she’s unsure of how society expects her to act a lot, but then goes on to politely answer any question or handle any situation. Well… except for one time when she slapped a guy.
It was nice to watch someone so competent for a while, but it soon got boring. First of all, I wanted my protagonist to struggle, I wanted her to be scared sometimes or unsure of herself, to feel sad or hurt by how Anglish people view her. I wanted her to have to grow and overcome these feelings, to come out a stronger person at the end of the story. But Anequs is already so perfect and confident and smart that there is no room for growth.

Which left the romantic subplot to salvage the book. Sadly, Anequs’s perfection got in the way of that too. However, let me say this first: If actual people in the real world behaved like Anequs does and simply straight up told each other when they have feelings and then openly discussed their hopes and wishes and whether those are feasible, ours would be a much better world! BUT. It is one of the most surefire ways to kill all tension and the worst possible way to write a romance. Because it leaves absolutely zero doubt and tension between the potential romantic partners, so there’s nothing for me to wonder about or hope for either.There is no yearning, there are no little moments, no sly glances, no secret touches… Anequs is just into someone (two someones, actually) and straight up tells them, then calmly discusses the possiblities of courtship and even openly mentions that she is interested in the other person as well.
Do I enjoy relationship drama in real life? Hell no! Do I still want my fictional couples to overcome obstacles and have a somewhat rocky road to romantic happiness? Well, I certainly don’t want this.
Needless to say, Anequs’s people are super cool about marriage and divorce, any sexual orientation, polyamory, you name it. As Anequs spends several chapters lecturing her friends. Seriously, she never lets us forget how stupid the Anglish are and how amazing her island is.

So the novel does mostly this for a long, long time, until, at about three quarters in, finally something of interest happens. Something that one could life-changing, something that has ramifications for the world Anequs lives in, something that might finally, finally set off a PLOT. Except then it’s straight back to discussing the same old stuff again, until, in the last three chapters or so, suddenly everything happens at once and change is set in motion. But wait, before you get excited, this does not involve the dragons or battles or even big, dramatic speeches.

Let me talk about some of the things I did like and that I can identify as such. The emphasis and importance put on stories, especially oral storytelling, was lovely. Throughout the book, several characters tell a story or a myth, and these each get their own chapter that reads like a fairy tale. They don’t really have any impact on the plot (because what plot? Hahaha!) but I found them great additions to this novel and a lovely break from all the moral finger pointing.
The writing style, while competent, suffers a bit from repetitions, both on a sentence level and on a chapter level. Anequs would discuss one topic with one person, only to repeat the same points in the next chapter to another character. The author describes something in a certain way and then, a couple of lines later, would re-describe it using almost the exact same phrasing. Why? But overall, the book managed to keep me engaged despite the many things that ticked me off.

Now, you might ask yourself, if this book was such a mess, why did I rate it relatively highly? Honestly, I don’t know, although I do have suspicions. First of all, it’s that I enjoy the idea of the suppressed, the underdogs coming out on top and showing the ruling class that they’ve got it backwards, that they are the uncivilized ones. And this book has that in spades. Secondly, it may have got on my nerves eventually, but I did initially really like learning about Anequs’s culture and the difference between how her people live and how the Anglish do. If the book had been shorter, I may have rated it even higher. It was just that after 300 pages of the same thing over and over, it got a tad annoying.

That leaves me with: Yeah, go read this book if it sounds up your alley. Just know that it has barely any dragons in it and the ones that are there don’t do anything. If, instead of dragons, it was some innate magical ability that sent Anequs to the school, it would have been the same book. It’s not a bad book, but it’s definitely not a dragon book. And while – again, for no real reason I understand – I kind of enjoyed it, I will not be reading the sequel, unless it shows up on next year’s Lodestar ballot.

MY RATING: 6/10 – Good – in its own way

I feel like I would enjoy this book much more if the author made it just a little bit shorter. It would've been enough for the book to have 300 pages; it still would've shown us the problems Anequs faced because of the colonizers, and it would still keep the essence of the book. Certain points were highlighted by multiple examples, but each of those was very superficial. Instead, in my opinion, the author should have used fewer examples and looked into some issues more deeply.
The characters were likable and interesting to read about, but even though it was said over and over again how Anequs would struggle in this new world they put her in, we didn't get to see that. Instead, every time she made a "mistake," there were barely any consequences. I would enjoy it more if we really got to see her struggle and experience the consequences of her actions; it would help us to better understand her as a character.
Overall, this book was enjoyable, and it was a very good debut.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me this free e-book copy in exchange for an honest review.