- thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an arc to review!

- a stunning debut about dragons, fighting in a hostile world, and reclaiming power against those who oppress you. the main character was a determined heroine, and her bond with her dragon was a relationship that had me invested from the get-go. Blackgoose is an author to look out for, and i can't wait for the second book in the series!

I am kicking myself for taking as long with this book as I did.

What a masterpiece.

The characters are all dynamic and have faults and come by them honestly. Trying to work through a world that doesn't accept you for breathing, while still trying to do the things you need to do in order to fully live. It was heartbreaking, but also full of self love.

I've read a lot about dragons as of late, I don't think I've enjoyed half of them as much as I did this one. This was soft but fierce. It was so tastefully written that I felt like I had the perfect meal. It was lush and also made you take a hard look at yourself and society. All in all, just an excellent read.

I don't have the words to do this review or book any justice, but it was quite literally the perfect read, and I want nothing more than people to experience the melancholy and beauty that is this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ballentine for an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was amazing!!! This is an explosive, sharp, fun, and angry book that will stay with me. I loved the exploration of anticolonialism and the queer poly indigenous characters. I cannot recommend this enough!

Consider a world where the Norse went a conquering even more than in our world. So there are Norse settlements and cities on what is North America in our timeline Add in dragons and magic that can be shaped by human directed dragons. alongside nineteenth century technology. This is the world of Anequs, a native inhabitant of the islands of the east coast of Markland, who finds a dragon's egg and becomes bound to it. According to Anglish law, she need to attend a school of dragons to learn how to control the dragon and gain skill in working with dragons. This requirement poses issues both for Anequs and for Anglish society which is working out issues of equality, political representation, and social norms. Anequs's foray into Anglish schooling and society allows plenty of room for storytelling that provides a different look at the world we live in. An interesting and engaging read on many levels. It will be interesting to see what a second tale set in this world will bring forth!

Thanks Netgalley for the opportunity to read this title.

I enjoyed many things about this book. There's the diversity of the characters, the world-wide got, and the generally cozy atmosphere. I do, however, think the story could be a couple hundred pages shorter and still fit in the same amount of information.

Several events, pieces of exposition, themes, and conflicts show up repeatedly, get discussed or explained multiple times, even after these points have been resolved. It gets repetitive. It sometimes feels that the story dwells on itself instead of moving forward.

My main issue with this book is its black and white view of the Anglish versus the Masquisit. Everything Madquisit is good and right and ideal. Everything Anglish is bad. There is very little nuance.

And because of that, Anequs, the main character, doesn't really have a character arc. She doesn't grow or learn any particularly paradigm-shifting lessons. She's just always right. She's always logical and empathetic and moral, and everything to the contrary is actually a misunderstanding or malicious misrepresentation. It's all very holier-than-thou. And that gets tiring.

Still, I'm interested enough that there's a 75% likelihood I'll pick up the next book. I did have a good time, and this book felt like a Part One more than an entire story anyway. I want to see more of the dragons and steampunk elements.

This book was interesting from beginning to end... you have Anequs seeing a dragon that was thought to be extinct and then finding its egg before being shipped off to an Anglish school to be "civilized" and taught how to shape her dragon's breath through what is basically magic. Kasaqua is the little dragon that helps Anequs look inward and discover strength and truths about herself that she may not have discovered otherwise. The backdrop to their story is one of colonizers and "savages" and their ability/inability to coexist. I look forward to book two seeing as Anequs and Kasaqua BOTH have a lot more growing to do.

THIS BOOK. It's only March but this is going to be one of my top reads of the year. Absolutely showstopping, I couldn't put it down. To Shape a Dragon's Breath is a blockbuster of a book that you will regret missing. It's sharp, wise, fun, and angry all wrapped in one which makes for the most brilliant mood for a book. Highly recommend this to anyone looking for anticolonialist writing with dragons (which should be everyone, by the way).

This book doesn't hold back at all? the white people are called the ANGLISH. This book is a loosely veiled story of colonialism and i'm HERE FOR IT. If white men can do loosely veiled medieval England time and time again, indigenous authors can and should do loosely veiled colonization. Incredible. I can't wait for more by Moniquill Blackgoose.

What an amazing story. So unique and a beautifully written story. It makes so much sense this is the start to a series because there's so much of this story that's begging to be told. The characters are incredible and the stories are interesting. The fantasy aspect is just cool and that coupled with the intriguing characters makes for a perfect fantasy. I think this deserves all the hype and more. It was easily better than most of the really popular fantasy I've read and there's a lot to be said within its pages. A lot of things happen in this book, but I couldn't put it down. There's so much emotion in this story and I loved it so much. I'm also a sucker for any dragon kind of story, big or small, so this had me right away. This book is amazing

This book was well written and I enjoyed the perspective of an Indigenous character, but I struggled to finish this book because it was just a little boring. For a fantasy book with dragons, I was not often excited. And I get that this book was not about dragons; it was about racism and politics and whatnot. But the lack of page-turning-ness made me finish this book pretty slowly.

What I liked: a unique type of dragon magic, BIPOC main character(s), LGBT+ perspective, important themes, the stories within the book

What I disliked: Why does everything have to be renamed something different if it's essentially the same thing? Lindmarden is called England. Hydrogen Oxygen and other chemicals have all new names. The dialogue also didn't feel like dialogue. I get that this was written in the past, but couldn't they have talked in more distinct ways? Still didn't fully understand how the dragon magic worked, but okay. What I will say is the word "nackie" was perfectly chosen; it gave me such a negative connotation, which I think was deliberate. The themes also seemed to hit you over the head and felt extra hashed out.

Anequs both frustrated me and inspired me. If there was one thing she was going to do, it was ride for her people and say exactly how she felt. At the same time, as clever as she was, it felt like she didn't understand that her actions had consequences, fatal ones at that. But she kept doing what she was doing. Frau Kuiper was trying to insist that it's either assimilate or die, but Anequs was just like NO. I guess she got a small victory in the end and seeing how this is a continuing series, maybe Anequs will continue to see how her actions play out, for better or worse. Maybe she'll learn how to move smarter somehow without assimilating.

All in all, though I wasn't a big fan of the storytelling and writing, the author is a competent one and the book was pleasant enough for me to finish, though I wished I'd skipped some sections. I hope maybe the author can liven things up in subsequent books, though I don't know if I'll continue to read this series.

Received a Netgalley ARC in exchange for honest feedback.

Fantasy is my least read genre. I'm always a little intimidated and confused going into one, but I couldn't put this one down! The world building was great and set up where it's easy enough to follow along but still have to pay attention. The OwnVoices Native American rep was great to see as fantasy, I feel, is very behind in opening doors for marginalized authors. It's one of the straightest, whitest genres on the shelves and bringing diversity to it is both important and exciting. As a bonus, there's also dragons!

The plot moved at a good pace and the characters were well fleshed out. As a non fantasy reader I was really impressed by this one!

This book touches on so many topics - with quiet rage and grace. Discrimination. Sexism. Women pitted against women. The fear to be honest about sexuality. Classism. I could go on.
Anequs finds a dragon's egg - changing in her life along with her family and community. She feels it is an honor, a gift, rather than others at the prestigious school.
She posses such grace and strength, refusing to bend to the acceptable version of herself.
Great start to a new series.

Wow was this good. Before anything else, highly recommend!

This book is about Anequs, an Indigenous teenager who just happens to see a dragon, and be chosen when said dragon's egg hatches. Her people have not had dragons for quite some time, and they decide to report the dragon's birth, and Anequs' choosing, to a nearby Anglish school for dragoneering in order to comply with the law.

This book is in a fantasy world with fantasy countries and fantasy peoples, but they're very clearly supposed to be reflections of our own world. This is very much a book about colonialism and racism, and because of that, I would heavily suggest readers who are sensitive to those topics check trigger warnings. As a white reader, it was very difficult to read through Anequs' repeated mistreatment. However, I think this book has so many important things to say, and I would recommend it repeatedly.

This book does not hold back, and it will anger you. The Anglish are the worst (shocker, I know), but Anequs is resilient. The tone of this book is uniquely angry and proud. Anequs truly loves her people and her culture, and she was willing to stand up for them in front of anyone. My only critique is that Anequs can, at times, feel a bit overly confident for her age and situation. Regardless, I loved cheering her on, and I can't wait to see what she will do in the sequel.

Thank you to RHPG - Ballantine and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for a review!

Dragons and academia aren't top of my list in reading interests but this one pulled me in and I can't wait for the next book. What a refreshing take on alternate history, colonialism, and an indigenous protagonist.

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose is an excellent new fantasy. The world building is finely crafted and complete. The characters are well-rounded and engaging. The story follows Anequs a young woman who has grown up on an island that is the home of a native community. Native culture is what she knows and believes. When she finds a dragon's egg and bonds with the hatchling her people are excited and remember their tradition of dragons, but they are also fearful for both her and the young dragon. Now the only people who have dragons, are the Anglish, the dominant culture who conquered her people. To keep the dragon, Anequs must train it in an Anglish dragon school far removed from everyone and everything she is familiar with. The story is also about otherness in a dominant culture that wants conformity to its norms and neither values nor wants otherness. Anequs has no choice but to succeed in training her dragon to Anglish standards, but she must also stay true to her people and culture to maintain her own identity. How can she do it? This is a great read with an really good story and over-arching themes that are relevant. Strongly recommended.

There's a lot to love about To Shape a Dragon's Breath! Moniquill Blackgoose gives us an academic setting, dragons, and an indigenous main character who has to put up with a lot of white people BS and colonialism. The writing feels like an excellent piece of classic literature, with a slower pace and more social focus than action, but Blackgoose perfectly injects humor and irony into the story as well. I loved Anequs and the queer rep in this book! I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next in this series.

Enjoyable.

Overall, this is a fantastic start to a series, but I really hope to see Blackgoose's writing progress for book 2. There are some parts that drag a bit, and it made me very tempted to skim. This is not to say that it wasn't interesting or relevant information, but rather that the presentation of this information could've been done differently so that the reader could better take in the story.

I really enjoyed this book! It’s a great first entry for a new series. I enjoyed the world building a lot though I thought that at some points there were too many details. There’s a fine line between informing the reading and overwhelming them, and I felt a bit overwhelmed at times.

I thought that the main character was well written and seeing her growth though the book had me rooting her on from start to finish.

I did think that the book ran a little too long and a good amount could have been cut out. But I will definitely be reading the second one because I can’t wait to see what happens next.

After many attempts, I need to give up on this book and say I read 100 pages, and I tried my best, but it is not for me. I enjoyed the setting greatly, but the depth I was hoping for, just seemed to be lacking.

Thank you so much, NetGalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Fifteen-year-old Anequs lives in a remote island of Masquapaug and it has not seen a dragon in generations, until she finds a dragon's egg and bounds with its hatchling. Remembering the old stories, when dragons kept the storms away and helped the people thrive, Anequs is revered as Nampeshiweisit, those who have a unique bond with a dragon. Unfortunately for them, the Anglish conquerors have their own ideas about how the dragon has to be raised and educated and she doesn't meet their ideas. They are convinced to let Anequs enroll into a dragon school, but if she cannot succeed there, her dragon will be killed. In a world so different from her own, with non-Anglish upbringing, Anequs struggles at first, but she's stubborn and smart and very determined into learning what she could do for her dragon, even teaching things to herself. She has no intention to become what they want her to be and by growing up together, her and her dragon start to become more and more stronger. The world needs changing and they are ready to do it.

2023 is the year of dragons and I'm so here for it! To shape a dragon's breath is funny, intriguing and so well written. I love the relationship between Anequs and her dragon, how they bond and grow together and how they are ready to fight against the Anglish imposed traditions and rules. Anequs is a magnificent main characters, very determined and stubborn and ready to do anything in her power not to become the meek woman the Anglish wants her to be and to help her dragon herself. I loved the contrast between her island, their thoughts and traditions and how they clash with their conquerors and how ready she is not to be like one of them. Also I loved the school setting and this intricate worldbuilding. Really, really recommended!

I fell in love with this book — this novel had everything I’ve wanted in a fantasy novel that I haven’t had in a long time. Everything about this novel, from the lore, the characters, the messages, the build up, was perfect.

I think Anequs was a perfect character for this story — she was steadfast in her beliefs and in her goals. Not once did she ever waver in them and while, at the beginning, it felt like she might just be a flat character, but she turned out to be the best character. It felt like several characters got to grow because of her character. It also felt like she’s where she needs to be to grow into an even stronger character as the series continues.

The world building was my favorite. It was so well-written and fleshed out, it felt familiar and new all at the same time.

I can’t wait for the rest of the series and especially can’t wait for the series to continue.