This was an intriguing read! I requested based on the premise (and the cover) and, for the most part, it did not disappoint! I really want to support Indigenous authors and stories, so I'm very grateful to Random House Publishing and Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC!

One of the biggest pleasant surprises that this book had for me was the representation. Anequs is not only Indigenous, but bisexual as well, and the story never made it a bigger deal or over or underemphasized it than was common in real-world parallel at the time. I also want to draw special attention to the character of Sander - I am in my mid-twenties, and this was the first time I can recall a YA novel including an autistic character, and a nonspeaking one, no less! And he's treated with such respect! As someone with experience teaching in special education rooms, this was amazing to me. Thank you, Ms. Blackgoose!

That said, I do echo other reviewers in that the worldbuilding is a bit shallow and almost too-analogous to Real Life to be believable; however, considering the history of Indigenous peoples on the North American continent, I can understand why certain choices were made. I think there's a current trend in YA to have very self-aware protagonists, which, for me, kind of takes away from the experience of the story and refocuses my attention on the message - sometimes it can come across as a bit heavy-handed, in this novel and in others as well (Iron Widow comes to mind).

But it was a good read! I liked the characters, and it made me confront some of the expectations I had about what Anequs might say or do in a given situation. It was thought-provoking and sometimes challenging, which I enjoyed immensely. Overall, totally worthwhile and would recommend for the YA (and adult too if you're like me) audience!

I'm bummed because I really really wanted to love this. It has all the ingredients of something wonderful, but sadly it fell kind of flat for me.

I think what I struggled with most is that a lot of it read like a textbook or a newspaper and there were so many moments that got bogged down in logistical details. There are the bones of a really great story, but I wish it spent more time exploring the emotional impact of events and less time explaining the logistics of train times or ferry schedules.

However, there were still elements that I really enjoyed. I really liked Anequs. I loved how matter-of-fact she was, her kindness, her boldness, how she took things in strides, and never judged people (even those who deserved it). I absolutely adored sweet, wonderful Sander and want all good things for him. The diversity of the story was wonderful and I appreciated that it went beyond the bounds of just racial diversity. I also loved the moments of storytelling when different characters would share a tale from their culture.

Despite my critique, I'd still be interested in reading future installments in the series. I'd love to see more development of the dragons' characters as well as get sense of where the overall story is going.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for providing an ARC of this book.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for allowing me to read and review this ARC!

I was not expecting this YA Fantasy story to be so deep and intense based on the cover alone, but I think that is absolutely perfect. This story is one that will draw all different fans of fantasy stories and show case incredible story telling and diversity in such a great format. This is in fact in the YA genre but Moniquill Blackgoose writes as if the audience is older and does it incredibly well.

This book is one that I hope to see shared and loved by many. Everything from the writing, characters, diversity, plot and style of this book are amazing. I will be recommending this to everyone and can’t wait to pick up a copy when it comes out in May 2023!

The premise of this book absolutely drew me in. Dragons? Dragon riders? Told through an Indigenous perspective?? Sign me up!

While the themes of this book are heavy handed and address racism, colonization, and has thinly veiled direct correlations to real-life history, the plot and pacing of this book almost feel like a cozy fantasy. Until the last 10-15% of the book, we are comfortably wrapped up in this world where we spend our days going to classes, sometimes into town, and social engagements of sort here and there. I have no complaints about this, because as I said, all of that is still written with the purpose of making the reader examine how historically Western society has treated Indigenous people. I think if I went into this book aware of the slow pacing and lack of action scenes, I would've felt less of the "Okay...when are we going on a quest or battle?" urgency I felt throughout.

With that aside, I absolutely love the diversity and representation that's found throughout this book! Anequs is a bold, direct, take-no-shit MC who quickly identifies fellow students who are marginalized and/or ostracized and gathers them close. Her band of misfit friends warms my heart, and I loved seeing them slowly grow together. Within her time at the dragon academy, we see neurodivergent, bisexual, and lesbian characters. Not only that, but the representation of an Indigenous character who is white-washed and raised separately from his culture and people? I love that the author talks about what that's like in this book.

I'm looking forward to reading more in this series, especially as the dragons and their riders grow older. Hopefully in future books we can see further development of the dragons themselves as characters too!

Full review closer to publication date!

I'd like to thank the publisher, Ballantine and Netgalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

If dragon magic school + second world indigenous fantasy sounds as appealing to you as it did to me you should read To Shape a Dragon's Breath.

Reading this book is like getting to curl up on the couch with a dragon at my feet while a friend tells me about their day. I get to go to dragon school without worrying about a murder mystery, trying to join a secret rebellion, or whatever else folks at magic schools seem to get up to these days. (Not that there's anything wrong with those kinds of stories, it was just nice to get to well, be present in the story of Anequs's schooling).

While there are probably too many atrocities in the history of the main characters people + some other bad things that happen, to truly call it cozy fantasy, for me, these events only made the book more heartwarming and highlights the main characters fortitude, goodheartedness, and optimism. Overall the tone did still feel like reading a cozy fantasy.

The characters are delightful. While none are getting on any of my best character lists they were all quite fun. the truly heinous racist professors as well as the ones truly trying to teach everyone, the condescendingly racist but trying to be good hearted peers, some truly good friends to be made, and lots of family. I also really enjoyed how Moniquill gives us tidbits that suggest and enable me to imagine entire other stories centering these characters. Eg the headmistress had your classic girl disguised as a boy to get to attend the magic school story, one of her first friends has a history of struggling with autism how his mother and classmates treat him because of it. My main complaint is probably that we don't really get to see any one character enough to truly dig into them. I also wish that I got to know more about the dragons as characters.

The worldbuilding felt fairly bland to me. While I can enjoy a book without great worldbbuilding I do think if it had been more inventive/vivid that would have greatly elevated the book. As it was the classes were fairly normal (Anglerekoning for geometry, natural philosophy for science, dragon husbandry for caring for dragons). The settler culture was just british with a coat of Norse paint (and doing things like calling Odin Joden).

Overall it was a very enjoyable read and one I'd heartedly recommend if the premise sounds intriguing and you don't mind your worldbuilding a little bland. I'm greatly looking forward to the sequel.

This was fantastic. Highly recommend if you enjoy fantasy and dragons. Looking forward to more from this author as this was highly entertaining and engaging.

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC of To Shape a Dragon’s Breath.

Really enjoyed this book. There’s dragons/dragon-rider/academy vibes which made this feel like a cozy read for me. HOWEVER, I also feel like this book is a great YA fantasy to demonstrate the effects of colonialism.

This was a great introduction to the history of colonialism. Fantasy mixed with historical context at its finest, this is one to not be missed.

The remote island island, Masquapaug has been dragon-less for generations. 15 Year old Anequs finds a rare dragons egg and kick-starts a series of events she never saw coming. She bonds with the dragon and her people who remember the days of dragon riders. but, this tale is one that has a common theme, the outsiders who conquered her island have differing opinions on the dragon riders and with great disdain they ship Anequs to a dragon riding academy on the mainland, where if she can not thrive there her dragon will be killed. the world may be changing but, is it for the worse? This moving, fierce tale shows that any one with the desire to change it for the better just may be able to.

I stopped at 10% but easy four stars for the right reader. It feels very young adult and should probably be marketed as such. I wasn’t personally engaged with the writing style. This is somewhat niche, but would go over well with the high schooler age group. Probably too niche for our small libraries though.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

The story takes place in a rapidly industrializing, vaguely steampunk world where colonizing forces have almost entirely wiped out Indigenous peoples and the dragons native to their home. When Anequs finds a dragon egg she knows that her life is going to change drastically. Although her people have had knowledge of dragons for centuries, the colonizing Anglish neither acknowledge nor respect their history or culture. Anequs chooses to leave her home and attend a dragon school but faces discrimination, racism, and classism as she pursues her goals.

My only complaint is that I felt like Anequs never made a mistake but this is a minor quibble with an otherwise fantastic story. I'd hand this to teen and adult fans of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series.

A solid fantasy tale with bildungsroman vibes and an anti-colonial mindset.