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.

I enjoyed this very much. It looks as if it's book 1 of a series and I'll definitely be checking out the rest of them. Hopefully in the later books there will be more development of the dragon characters and their links with their humans - that's an interesting element that we don't see that much of so far, but that makes sense if it's the first of a series.

Whilst it is set in an imaginary world, there are obvious parallels with our world, particularly the impact and evils of colonialism and the effect on indigenous peoples.

Anequs is a bold, intelligent and likeable main character, but not so much so that she became annoying and/or unbelievable. I particularly enjoyed the characters of Theod and Sander who both blossomed with her friendship and help. Theod was raised entirely outside their own culture and people, it was heartening to see him starting to embrace his heritage and growing as a person. And then Sander, who I read as being autistic, had been discriminated against all his life and missed out on so much. It was great to see him starting to have some belief in himself.

The writing style is interesting. I can see from other reviews that it wasn't for everyone but for me it added an extra dimension to the voice of Anequs' character - I don't always enjoy first person narrative but it really felt as if she was telling the story.

Looking forward to book 2.

(Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.)

I had to dnf this book as I was not enjoying the POV/narrative. It felt more textbook, historical account than an actual fictional story and that wasn’t something I was enjoying. Thank you for the opportunity!

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher as part of the Hugo Award Voter’s Packet. I am grateful to the publisher for giving us voters a chance to review and read through the nominees. I promise to give each and every nominee the respect and opportunity that they deserve before I cast my vote.

If you love dragons, this is the book for you! Awesome read! This is a great coming of age story with interesting characters, lots of action, and a great world!

My immediate response upon reading this was simply "Holy sh*t, that was SO GOOD."

It has dragons. It has a female character with agency even though people try to deprive her of it. It has complex good and bad characters. It doesn't tokenize the indigenous characters. It is so rich and brilliant and fun and enraging and empowering and just so much. The depth is almost overwhelming, but it's still easy to read. It reads like a historical story, not a fantasy, while very much being a fantasy. The world building is exceptional, and honestly, I could go on and on about how good it is, but you'll be better off just getting your own copy and reading it.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC!

Interesting alternative historical fantasy world, very reminiscent of RF Kuang's Babel. This book could have been 200 pages shorter; the plot seemed to drag on and the themes were so so repetitive. The writing itself was good but the dialogue was very stilted and felt forced at times where the rest of the story was written like a textbook almost... the author does lots of telling and little showing, if that makes sense. I also agree with other reviewers that the character development for the main character was severely lacking with no growth from the beginning of the story to the end, although the other characters were more interesting and did have personal growth. For that reason, I found Anequs as a character to be very boring and repetitive which ultimately brought my rating from 4 stars to 3 starts. Solid for a debut though.

The story is good so far. I’m very confused at the context of the story. Like is it all fictional or is it more on the side of historical fiction and she’s blurred in magic and dragons? Is it like the poppy wars where it is a fictional analogy of Asian history and Europes control? I’m struggling with a lot of the words. Audio was easier. Time frame and locations are hard to place too. Is it fictional place is it Alaska is it New England Canada? I’m assuming due to whaling references. Also telegraph usage?

There’s a lot of stuff I feel like I have to sit down and research to understand the context. For some that will be fine but I have a feeling the majority of readers will not want to or put in that effort. Also the vague use of the word indigenous. Indigenous to what?!?

Following the different cultures she’s pulling from was a little confusing at times.

Anequs is solid as person. Confidence in who she is and unphased by the insecurity or social norms of the others. It was weird for the story though. She was harder to relate to because of it. For me at least. There also seems to be gap in the racism colonization. The interactions are not to scale for the level of racism I perceived. I was expecting some truly vindictive responses to anequs conversations. Not that she is inaccurate in her arguments, but people who feel superior and are insecure in themselves (at least in my experience) would find ways to put her down other than being rude or facetious on occasion.

I received the link to request this work as part of the Hugo Awards Voters Packet, and I will be voting for To Shape A Dragon's Breath for the Lodestar Award for Best YA Book. This is a powerful, captivating, well-drawn story that uses the genre to communicate themes of erasure and consent, Indigeneity and family. It's a beautiful novel. I look forward to reading more from Moniquill Blackgoose.

Thanks to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, NetGalley, and the Hugo Awards for this opportunity to read, review, and support this work.

"To Shape A Dragon's Breath" is a remarkable coming-of-age tale that captivated me from the very start. The story follows Anequs, a young Indigenous woman, as she navigates a colonizer-run dragon academy, bringing with her not just resilience but a determination to challenge the established norms. This first installment weaves together a rich narrative of tradition, magic, and the courage to challenge the status quo.

Anequs emerges as a clever and head-strong protagonist, someone whose journey is as empowering as it is inspiring. The Indigenous community depicted in the story is steeped in tradition, providing a vibrant backdrop to Anequs's journey, and the magical system, rooted in folklore and science, adds a unique and captivating dimension to the world-building. Blackgoose seamlessly blends Indigenous wisdom with fantastical elements, creating a narrative that feels both authentic and enchanting.

The synopsis hints at the pivotal realization that Anequs and her dragon experience—a recognition that the world needs changing, and they might just be the ones to do it, promising readers an enthralling series to come.

"To Shape A Dragon's Breath" is a breath of fresh air in the fantasy genre, offering readers a tale that resonates with cultural richness, powerful characters, and a narrative that inspires change.

4.5 stars, rounded up

This is very impressive for a debut. I loved the folktale feel the story had and I thought the prose was excellent.

I enjoyed the characters overall, and I thought that the protagonist was likable, but she is a bit too perfect. She is always morally in the right, which doesn't give her much of an arc to go through. As a result she's probably the least compelling character in the main cast.

The world-building was a bit lack-luster at the culture level: this is set on our earth in an alternate timeline where dragons exist, which led to some huge deviations in history and in the different cultures around the world (e.g. there's no Christianity) but some things stayed exactly the same (the English colonizers in North America have almost the exact same social mores and fashions as they did in our world, despite having a completely different religion, history and mode of governance). I think this would have worked better as either a completely secondary world fantasy or going the Babel route and sticking very close to actual history (but with dragons).

Where the world-building really shined, however, were the dragons and the steampunk elements. I liked learning about all the different types of dragon and reading about the protagonist's bond with her dragon (and the different cultural attitudes to dragons), and I thought that the way the shaping of a dragon's breath was approached was incredibly cool and unique.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and I'm really looking forward to reading the sequel!

I received a copy of the book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

WOW, I adored this so much!!! I am now a hardcore fan of this author and cannot WAIT for the next books in this series!!! Normally I don't really like books with magical school settings (very specific quibble I know), but this was so good- for someone who usually likes that type of setting, you might love this even more than I did!

Okay so the setting is kinda like this 1800s-alternate-historical-steampunk-world in which the Indigenous people of North America are in the midst of being colonized by various world powers (primarily the Anglish), along with the start of a steampunk technical progress era, combined with the fact that dragons exist everywhere in this world and are routinely bonded with riders (usually rich kids whose family paid for their dragon egg, though historically this was not the case) who are then sent to train in special academies. In this world, it is rare for anyone who isn't a man, Anglish, and rich to be a dragon rider and attend these academies.

The main character, Anequs, lives on an island in the northeastern continent with her Indigenous community the Masquisit, and one day she encounters a Nampeshiwe, awild Indigenous species of dragon that is rarely seen, and she ends up finding its egg. After bringing it to her village, the egg hatches for her and she bonds with the young dragon Kasaqua, becoming a dragon rider or Nampeshiweisit. The colonial powers soon find out and demand that she be taken to their Anglish dragon training academy, where she is one of the only women and one of only two non-Anglish students there.

Her interactions with the other characters were some of my favorite parts of this book, from her struggles with friendship with her Anglish roommate, her enemies-to-lovers sort of situationship with the Theo- only other Indigenous student at the school, her attraction to Liberty, who is one of her maids, her fascination with the inventors in her brother's city workshop who come from all over the world, and her deep friendship with Sander, who is openly non-verbal and autistic and whose needs are so lovingly accepted by Anequs- it all was so complex and layered, and filled with so much respect. Fans of Becky Chambers might really like this aspect of this book.

I loved Anequs' firm refusal to assimilate to Anglish society, and her interactions with the Anglish world from her culture's perspective were so powerful. For Anequs, the rules and regulations in Anglish society are stifling- from the specific clothing she has to wear, the way she is supposed to interact with others as a young woman, the separations by class and status, etc. For example, queerness is a normal part of her culture, and she is routinely bewildered at the lack of acceptance in Anglish society for her desire to date men and women, or multiple people at all for that matter, or for transgender people or those who live outside the gender binary. Feeling her bewilderment at the lack of respect, autonomy, and understanding given to queer people in Anglish society really hit me in the heart, and made me mourn for the possible society we have lost due to colonialism.

The author belongs to the Seaconck Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and Anequs' people are based on the Wampanoag, so I also learned SO MUCH, from smaller things like traditional foods and dress to larger aspects like belief systems or cultural traditions. Reading this also made me homesick for the eastern USA!

I think the only thing that threw me off was that I was expecting the dragons to be more fully their own characters, but for instance though Anequs feels a deep connection to Kasaqua, who is obviously intelligent, the dragons never speak and the Anglish even treat them like horses. However, if you are someone who typically doesn't like fantasy books with dragons, then you would probably still like this because it was not a typical "dragon fantasy" in my opinion.

I was hooked from the beginning and couldn't put this one down, and you better believe I will be first in line to request the next book when it comes out. One of my fave fiction books of the year!

I really enjoyed the concept of this book. I thought it was well written and appreciated the representation. The only real downside for me is that I've really come to find out I'm not super into first person POV no matter how well it's written. I can kind of get past it if I'm really enjoying the plot but man, it's hard for me. I would love to continue reading the series as it comes out, I'll just have to curb my expectations accordingly.

This book is a fantastic blend of historical fiction with fantasy.

Given an earth-like setting, the time of the novel is similar to the early colonization of the United States by Europeans. There was a massacre of native people due to an argument about land, and the remaining natives are tolerated at best. When one of the natives becomes partnered with a dragon, she is told that she will have to attend the school for dragons and their companions, but it is made quite clear that she could have her dragon taken from her - and potentially killed - for the smallest of missteps.

It's a different take on the protagonist at a school trope, and I liked the infusion of a Native American cultural analogue. There is a lot of terminology that feels like it is different just for the sake of being different, but for the most part you can guess at what is being referred to, or just skip over it.

There's a quiet melancholy throughout the book, which is fitting because of the tragedy that informs the entire story. I love anything with dragons in it, and this was no exception.

A few months ago I was at the Washington Library Association conference. Christine Day was speaking as the keynote and spent most of her time just talking about what she has read recently that she recommends. This book was one of the ones she mentioned and I put it on hold through Libby. The audiobook popped up at ready to borrow while I was looking for titles on NetGalley. I decided to request this despite it already being published and checked out the audiobook as soon as I was approved.

No regrets.

I have always loved a good dragon book, ever since reading something about princesses who didn't want to be rescued from dragons as a young child. This might be the PERFECT dragon book.

The use of colonialism with a twist of being not quite recognizable, a mixture of Norse, English, German, and other Europeans are intriguing and allow the author to explore colonialism in a way that I have found is typically restricted to sci-fi.

The characters are compelling, the plot is faced -paced, and the writing is lyrical.

I have listened while commuting as well as reading the ebook and found both to be perfect. Many times I prefer one over the other in a particular work but this one did not face that criticism.

I CANNOT wait for the next book in the series.

I have already ordered myself a copy of this book because I need it as a shelf trophy. I live in a small house and my shelf space is limited so this is HIGH praise! Why is there not a hardcover version? I would totally buy a special edition hardcover!

Thank you to Random House- Ballantine and NetGalley for the eARC.

Unfortunately this was too long for me so I felt like the story lost some of its spark for me and it would’ve been a lot stronger if it was cut off a bit. Not a bad book by any means but won’t be continuing the series.

Thank you for an advanced copy of this book!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the E-ARC.
I love this book! It is a beautiful story of an indigenous girl who is forced to go to a school for dragon riders. The school is usually only for the people or have colonized her families lands and driven their dragons away. She has to learn how to mesh with the other students but doesn't want to forget her heritage and her culture! I can't wait for more from this author