“To Shape A Dragon’s Breath” follows 15 year old Anequs, living on a small island with her family, when she discovers a Dragon egg. Her and her village look after the egg until it hatched, and the dragon bonds with Anequs. The Anglish people, however, have rules that all dragons must be reported and all those bonded with dragons must undertake proper training to care for their dragon and learn to shape their breath. Thus begins the story and Anequs’ fish out of water story entering into the overly polished and obtuse Anglish society.

Blackgoose’s writing is at times very detailed, and at times very sparse. She’s built such an expansive world and goes from keeping it hidden to the reader, or at least keeping it light, and then dumping it on us in large chunks. At times it can be reflective of Anequs’ own learning of the history the Anglish people , their beliefs or the government structure they enforce, but most of the time it feels heavy handed and hard to digest.

Blackgoose has created a beautiful array of diverse characters, painting a picture of “otherness” and the beauty of being oneself and embracing what makes you, you. Where this starts to fall flat is that the characters become two dimensional - there’s very little stakes in their growth to be accepting, to be unique. We also see this in the character’s voices; everyone speaks the same and seems to have the same level of knowledge on the world to inform Anequs.

On the positives, I appreciate the scope that Blackgoose brought to the world, and how many unique and different characters she presented. In that, she was able to make a believable and broad world.

This book would be a great option for someone looking to try high fantasy for the first time, with low stakes, an expansive world and political system, and tons upon tons of characters.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for this digital review copy.

I enjoyed the book thoroughly. The characters were well developed. The writing was simple and engaging. I can’t wait for the next installment.

This book had a lot going for it: Anequs, an intelligent main character who doesn't continually make questionable decisions, awesome representation of queerness, disability, and Indigenous cultures, and themes of colonial resistance. The core of the magic system is also incredible as Anequs' learning underlines the disparities between Western scientific understanding and Indigenous intergenerational knowledge.

I think the messages in this would have hit even harder if they took place in either a true alternate historical world or a more fantastical world. As it stands, the story inhabits this weird liminal space between real and fantastical that is honestly quite messy and convoluted. There's a North America, Europe, Africa, etc. but they have different names. Elements on the periodic table also have different names (isen vs iron). The colonizers have a sort of viking-Norse-Germanic cultural aesthetic. Instead of history and English and science they learn "minglinglore" and "wordlore" and "skiltakraft." A change of words does not a fantasy world make.

Another interesting aspect were these interim chapters between the main story chapters that were titles "This is the story that [Name of Character] told." I thought this was such a thoughtful way to include the tradition of oral storytelling in a book. It was a bit disappointing, however, when these chapters trickled off after the halfway mark, never to be seen again.

3.5/5 stars thanks to NetGalley and Del Ray/Random House for this copy!

I genuinely think this is an amazing book; I am not the right reader.

What I liked: Own Voices representation, strong FMC, did not shy away from the pain of Indigenous people, the depth of the world and magic system, the in depth social structures, the folklore, the consistency of the character.

What I did not like: too much info at once, the slice of time life at the school felt repetitive and dragging to me. I needed more of the plot and less of the set up and much more of the dragons. I was under the impression that there would be a larger focus on the dragons.

If you want a book that takes dragon and is unapologetically indigenous, includes queer and disabled representation, look no further. This will forever have a special place on my dragon bookshelf and I am impatiently waiting for the next book.

This is the first book in a new series and I NEED the next book now!!!! I was loved every minute of this book, could not put it down.

What I loved:
- the main character had great character development
- wonderful LGBTQ+ representation
- DRAGONS!!!
- great pacing, I was never bored

Overall, this book is extremely well written. Highly recommend

Wow! This books goes onto my topvreada of 2024 list. It was excellent. I genuinely loved everything about it.

The clash of cultures and civilisations through colonialism is handled really well through this book, showing the devastating effects of cultural genocide in a really thoughtful way that includes dragons.

The two different "nackie" (indigenous) characters are night and day different. Anequs is bold and outspoken and secure in her culture and heritage, and she is not afraid to stand up for herself and her people. Theod, was taken from his family, to be civilised, and acts like the perfect gentleman to fit into the colonial lifestyle and culture.

Throughout all of this, you have dragons and a dragon academy. What's not to love???

I wish I’d spen more time reading this year’s Hugo nominees for best YA novel, because if they’re all of this high caliber, the voting must have been hard!

The barest bones of the story are pretty familiar: dragon/rider pairing and early education. But this time, the perspective is Indigenous. Anequs, our narrator, encounters a local but long-thought extinct Nampeshiwe dragon, and then finds the dragon’s egg. After bonding with the hatchling, Anequs must leave her island home to attend a dragonrider’s school, among the Anglish. These colonizers have kept the native peoples from pairing with dragons since the local breeds disappeared, and many would love to stop Anequs from progressing in her studies. By any means necessary.

The stakes are high, but get even more messed up when you learn that dragons and humans in this setting can be separated without death. And many, many dragons, paired to underperforming or “unsuitable” riders, are killed outright. These aren’t rare creatures to be treasured. They’re flying horses.

This is an alternate-history setting, without major Greek or Roman influence, so most of the “European” influence is Norse in folklore and German in the sciences. So be prepared to be a little confused and also feeling like everything at the school makes the vaguest of sense. If you’re a native English speaker, you know a lot of the roots of the book’s special language, but more on the edge of your experience. It creates this interesting exoticism, but the exotic is European in origin, which is so different for me.

Anequs’s people, the Masquisit, are from the Eastern seaboard, most closely matching to the Wampanoag, that being the author’s own tribal nation. I couldn’t tell you how much the fictional is based on the factual, but Anequs’s people are given as much depth and background as the Anglish. Whenever holidays are brought up, there’s a conversation about what the Masquisit do at that time, and Anequs is able to go home twice in the book, allowing us to see two of these celebrations directly. We also see neighboring tribes and learn about the political situations between each of them, as well as between them and the Anglish. Blackgoose must have one of those pinboard walls in their home, because woof! It gets COMPLEX. This is the kind of series that is going to need a guidebook someday.

But, in the meantime, I’ll have to wait for book 2. I’ve followed Blackgoose Goodreads, and I’m sure book 2’s announcement, when it comes, will be reported extensively in the book world! So…soon? Please? If that’s fine with you.

Advanced reader copy provided by the publisher, for purpose of Hugo award consideration.

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is incredibly rich in its worldbuilding, and with a narrative voice that is especially satisfying to read. Oral storytelling is a vital component of this novel, being the way that a considerable amount of expository worldbuilding is conveyed. There are lengthy stretches of exposition, but because these moments are most often presented as educational moments to Anequs, the protagonist, it very rarely feels like a hindrance to plot progression.

Though decidedly set in another world, this novel feels very much like an alternate history fantasy novel, as there are many clear parallels to real-world events, cultures, places, etc. There is also exploration of the disparity in colonizer and indigenous views of societal expectation, community, and utility, and the struggle to retain cultural identity in the face of (violent, subsuming) modernization and colonization. Nampeshiweisit (Masquisit dragoneers), Anglish dragoneers, and their distinct approaches to working alongside dragons, provide a really interesting fantasy vector for further exemplifying this.

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is particularly remarkable in how effectively Moniquill Blackgoose manages to portray European-inspired fantasy elements as foreign and confusing, despite the likelihood of readers having already had an overexposure to European-inspired fantasy media, European mythology, etc. While it is certainly reflective of Anequs’s perspective (and of the state of Anglish people in North Markesland), it is executed extremely well, and is a very welcome shift from the fantasy norm.

I absolutely intend on continuing this series when the next novel(s) are released, and I really look forward to seeing how the narrative develops from where this novel ended.

This was good, but not really my thing.

I found it kind of boring with all the skiltakraft and athers explanations. Despite being a science major back in college, I was never a fan of chem or o-chem. Reading about it with a whole new vocabulary to decipher didn't make it any better.

It was also quite slow paced and almost told in a "slice-of-life" style, with a lot of...world building, I guess you could call it. Not much excitement at all. When I pick up a dragon book, I expect some fierceness from either the dragon or the rider.

Having said that, the indigenous aspect was well done, highlighting the prejudice and persecution of the Anequs' people. I wish that there was more of the folklore built into the story. It's there, but I felt like more pages were given to the Anglish and Nordish side. It also seemed like the author was trying to cover too much: the roles of social inequality due to race, gender, sexual preference, economics, etc.

Thank you to the publisher for providing this download as part of the 2024 Hugo Awards voting packet.

This is THE standard for dragon books! It definitely isn't your fast paced, can't put it down for a second, kind of read - this book is a slow steady build to brilliance. There is so much range in personality from character to character and I think nearly every reader can find someone they resonate with. On top of that, the magic system is just absolutely brilliant! This will be a go-to book for me to recommend in the future!

What a fantastic book. I adored it. This book takes place in a sort of fantasy alternate history of the late nineteenth century of America* where the biggest difference is...dragons! Man I love dragons. Anequs is a young indigenous woman whose people have not had dragons in about two centuries, when one day she sees a dragon. One of her people's dragons, a Nampishiwe. Upon going to pay her respects, she finds what the dragon has left behind: an egg. Taking it home with her, it later hatches and decides that Anequs will be her Nampishiweisit, her dragoneer, her human counterpart, and in order to both fit into Anglish laws well enough to not have Kasaqua taken or worse, and in order to learn how to control Kasaqua's dangerous potential, Anequs heads to a boarding school on the mainland, where things are...well, a lot.
The characters were wonderful. Anequs is such a delightful heroine. I just want to be her friend. And Kasaqua is quite possibly my new favorite fictional dragon. Ten stars for Kasaqua. She's adorable. The cast of side characters, Anequs's little group of misfits, is also charming. Marta, her roommate, is the only other girl at the school, and while she's often presented as kind of the clueless, rich, white kid to balance Anequs, she serves her role well, and don't worry, she does experience character growth. Theod is the only other indigenous student at the school, and he also serves as a foil to Anequs, in that he was raised in Anglish society and has thus taken a much more assimilationist view to his identity. Sander, quite possibly my favorite of the group, would be what we call autistic in our society, but in his, he's just a weird kid whose mostly nonverbal but such a little sweetie. Liberty is an indentured servant who Anequs befriends against Liberty's better judgement of what the difference between servant and student should be. They're all such well-built characters and they make a great group.
The setting was also really well done. It's an alternate version of America in more than just the fact of dragons. It's also an alternate history in which England did not get any French influence, so Anglish society is much more Vikingy. The language is changed some, to be much more Germanic, and as I saw someone say, that has the added benefit of making the scholarly language unfamiliar to the reader as well, putting them in the same boat as Anequs trying to wade through a whole new set of language. There's also still Norse-like polytheism in place, which is an interesting alternative to Christianity, which took religion out of most of the debates. Altogether, though, it's mostly the same as Victorian America, and watching Anequs shred Victorian norms was so satisfying. I have so much beef against the Victorians. Anequs's Maquisit community was also very well built. All the settings were well done.
The only downside is that the book I want to read most now is the sequel and I don't even know when it's coming.

This is it!!! This is the one!!!! What a delight to read!!!! What an incredible story and fantastic deconstruction of colonialism, academic discrimination and microaggressions, and diaspora, all through the lens of a thrilling dragon academy that you'd truly dread attending.

I especially love the stark contrasts between Theod and Anequs based on their taught ideals and that we follow an ever patient, kind, (bi!!!!) and tough as nails protagonist more resilient than most I've ever read, who cares deeply for her Masquapaug family and the one she creates for herself amongst the misfits in school.

I am BEGGING for the sequel and can't recommend this book enough!!

First off, I thought that the entire concept of skiltakraft and the way dragon's breath can be transmuted into base elements was very clever and I didn't mind hearing about it at length, especially with some of the relevations about it later on in the story. I thought that was quite cool as a form of semi-magical chemistry. Great pains were taken to render the setting it took place in, both historically and mythically, and I enjoyed the fables that were told from time to time. It all felt very real.

It's just not very exciting because nothing really happens.

Things threaten to happen, but then never do. Anequs is a very outspoken member of a minority that many in the setting would like to be able to exterminate like animals, rendered very similarly to the relationship between Indigenous people and settlers in history. Somehow, though, she's able to do whatever she wants, say whatever she wants, and never actually faces any consequences besides people giving her stern looks. People will tell her "in Anglish society you have to do this, or you'll be in big trouble" and Anequs simply says "no" and that's that. She is eventually threatened with violence, but only by people who would have hated her no matter what she said or did. Nothing that happens is Anequs fault in any way and she is always correct and right and moral.

In some ways its satisfying to read about someone in as bad of a situation as hers winning, and saying the things you as the reader feel, but it loses its shine when it happens constantly with very little push back. Her situation starts seeming not all that fraught after all. After all, if she can mingle with servants, kiss girls, tell off high ranking politicians, and forgo social niceties - why not just do that? Is it even brave when nothing ever happens as a result?

It's easy for the narrative to play Kuiper (a high ranking dragoneer who has largely championed Anequs's ability to keep her dragon, but constantly chides her lack of social conformity, having had to be the model soldier and women her entire life to be afforded what privilege she has) for a fool, since all her caution can be cast as unreasonable and smothering because the author had decided she wants it to be unreasonable. Anequs doesn't have to change, the story decides, because everyone and everything else will change around her. Which, sure, I wish it was that way in real life, I guess. It just kind of feels like unsatisfying wish fulfillment, because none of it is fought for or earned, Anequs is just as comfortable speaking her mind in the beginning as she is in the end.

The dragons were cute, but ultimately, they could have been removed from the story entirely and not much would be lost. It could just be that Anequs and Theod have some special quality needed for stiltakraft and the story would carry on much the same. The dragons do exactly two things: a) frolic, and b) get nervous/angry when their human keepers do. As pleasant as the frolicking is to imagine, it also gets old, and the longer the story goes on the more the dragons become window dressing to any scene.

I liked the characters, generally. I thought ones like Sander, Niquiat, Kuiper and Marta were well rendered, with motivations that made sense to them. I just kind of wish they'd all had more to do than go to formal events and explain things to each other in long paragraphs. There is a lot of explaining in this book, which partly makes sense because Anequs is an outsider, but there's just no attempt to hide constantly explaining and exposition. And usually these long paragraphs are met with Anequs saying "that's stupid, my people don't do it that way" and then the person she is talking to frowns but nothing more comes of it.

Lack of conflict is this story's fatal flaw, which is not what you would expect based on the novel's pitch. Anequs's people are a communist utopia who have never done anything wrong, and she's here to tell everyone about it - and everyone in the highest positions of power are already on her side before the story even begins.

So so so good! The world building was excellent. It was a very slow read with so much detail, but it was beautiful and absolutely a necessary read for anyone who loves dragons. My favorite thing about the way it was written was that the author took time to tell us all the stories that the characters tell one another. Gorgeous and looking forward to the next installment.

This story had a lot of potential in the first 20%. I was certain that it was going to be a four star read. I loved Anequs’s character and her relationship with Liberty, Thoed, and Kasaqua. It was a great commentary on colonization and indigenous people. Sadly, that was where my love of the story ended and I began to be bored with the plot. Once Anequs got to the school, NOTHING HAPPENED. There was barely any plot and hardly anything to do with dragons. I was waiting until about 96% of the story until something interesting happened and then immediately the story was wrapped up. I was left wanting for more interactions with Liberty and I felt the relationship with Theod was developed somewhat quickly. I felt there was too much information regarding Anglish customs and social practices and the whole story was constant word building and no plot. Lastly, I loved Anequs but she was so perfect of a character that there was no character development. Sadly I will not be reading the sequel. :(

young adult really just isn't a target audience that I fit into anymore. so my disinterest in this book is really not the book's fault, just my own personal preferences have shifted away from what this is

This was a really great read; I loved the diversity of the personalities and experiences amongst the characters! The blending of Native American culture with the sci-fi elements of dragons and the academy made for such an interesting story. Anequs was such a strong female lead, and was so sure of herself in the face of constant, pervasive racism. I was left intrigued for the second installment in this series!

Moniquill Blackgoose's "To Shape a Dragon's Breath" has all the ingredients for a captivating young adult fantasy. It presents a unique twist on the dragonrider trope, set against a backdrop of colonialism and cultural clashes. Anequs, a young Indigenous woman, discovers a dragon egg and embarks on a journey to train it, defying societal expectations and exploring the power of dragons and tradition.

The world-building is the novel's strongest aspect. Blackgoose throws us into a world where dragons are a fading memory and the dominant culture clashes with Anequs' heritage. The tension between the two is palpable, adding a layer of depth to the story. Furthermore, the dragon-training aspect is refreshingly unique. Instead of fire-breathing beasts, the dragons in this world manipulate the very essence of "breath" itself, creating intriguing possibilities.

However, the narrative pacing holds the story back at times. The initial sections feel rushed, cramming in world-building details and character introductions at a breakneck speed. Some plot points feel predictable, and the emotional connection to Anequs' struggles could be stronger. The ending, while setting the stage for a sequel, doesn't quite deliver the satisfying conclusion one might hope for.

"To Shape a Dragon's Breath" is a promising debut with a strong foundation. It tackles interesting themes and offers a refreshing take on dragon lore. However, some uneven pacing and a lack of emotional depth prevent it from reaching its full potential. If you're looking for a unique YA fantasy with a focus on cultural identity and a hint of rebellion, this might be worth checking out, especially if you're patient with world-building exposition. However, for those seeking a fast-paced, emotionally gripping story, this one might feel a little slow on the uptake.