I read To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose in November 2022, and it quickly became one of my favorite books of the year. I’m really looking forward to the release in May 2023 and having the physical book on my shelves!
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath
By Moniquill Blackgoose | Goodreads | Nampeshiweisit #1
A young Indigenous woman enters a colonizer-run dragon academy—and quickly finds herself at odds with the “approved” way of doing things—in the first book of this brilliant new fantasy series.
The remote island of Masquapaug has not seen a dragon in many generations—until fifteen-year-old Anequs finds a dragon’s egg and bonds with its hatchling. Her people are delighted, for all remember the tales of the days when dragons lived among them and danced away the storms of autumn, enabling the people to thrive. To them, Anequs is revered as Nampeshiweisit—a person in a unique relationship with a dragon.
Unfortunately for Anequs, the Anglish conquerors of her land have different opinions. They have a very specific idea of how a dragon should be raised, and who should be doing the raising—and Anequs does not meet any of their requirements. Only with great reluctance do they allow Anequs to enroll in a proper Anglish dragon school on the mainland. If she cannot succeed there, her dragon will be killed.
For a girl with no formal schooling, a non-Anglish upbringing, and a very different understanding of the history of her land, challenges abound—both socially and academically. But Anequs is smart, determined, and resolved to learn what she needs to help her dragon, even if it means teaching herself. The one thing she refuses to do, however, is become the meek Anglish miss that everyone expects.
Anequs and her dragon may be coming of age, but they’re also coming to power, and that brings an important realization: the world needs changing—and they might just be the ones to do it.
Review of To Shape a Dragon’s Breath
Fantasy Elements
The majority of the fantasy elements lie with the existence of dragons. Dragons, while rare and selective with whom their human partners are, are fiercely loyal and connected to their humans. They’re intelligent beings with an excellent grasp of the emotions swirling around them, particularly their human. As a huge fan of dragon partnerships like How to Train Your Dragon, I absolutely loved this element of the story, and Anequs’s connection to her dragon as a major plot point of the story was a large part of why I found this story so enjoyable.
Another fantasy element is how the dragon’s magic weapon works. There’s a lot of fantasy math and chemistry that is involved, and the author spends a lot of time describing how this works. With the academia setting, these explanations fit perfectly into the narrative and made the fantasy elements believable.
Characters
The cast of this book was, in my opinion, phenomenal. Anequs’s love of community allows her to build strong and genuine connections with the people around her, even when she attends Dragon Academy with the Anglish, away from her people. Anequs is the reader’s only POV, and her strength and agency and connection to her dragon felt so real and as a reader I felt connected to her.
Themes
Some major components of this book is the impact of violent colonization, breaking of treaties by those in power, racists being angry at non-Westernized peoples merely existing, Native characters having to navigate forced assimilation and racism, and so on. The topics are poignant and I felt these themes radiated well with the story and they were executed in a way that truly highlighted how community and self-acceptance = resistance and how much value the support of a community means in a society that would prefer to alienate and divide as they conquer.
Community was a major theme in this book. Anequs resides on her homeland away from the colonizing Anglish, and is raised with an astute understanding of the constant threat of colonization. Her connection to her dragon brings her to the Dragon Academy, where she is provided with an inside look at the way Anglish society views her people and those they deem Other. Anequs consistently rebels against othering people and calls it out when she sees it, and her love of building community while continually resisting against assimilation while among people who view themselves “more civilized” than she is gives her powerful allies… and also enemies.
Setting
The narrative of this book takes place in a world not unlike our own, with clear parallels like “Anglish” being inspired by the English, and their colonization of a new Continent that is much in parallel to North America.
One part of the setting that I found extremely interesting is that while in real life many of the foundations of colonization were echoed off of Roman and Greek society and government (senantes, governors, government architecture inspired by, etc), the world of the Anglish is founded upon Nordic Viking law and governance. So, there is a Jarl instead of a King/President, Thanes instead of governors, and so on. The Viking inspired worldview shifts this fantasy away from real life and explores other elements of white supremacy that are still relevant to the reader in real life.
As a historical fantasy that veers off into a parallel universe, this book was easily one of tmy favorite fantasies I’ve read. I look forward to reading more books by this author, and I really hope a sequel gets written soon. If you’re a fan of dragons, historical fantasy, academica themed fiction, then I’d definitely recommend this read!
I was randomly selected to read and review this book via Netgalley, and I am not an ownvoices reader.
A huge thank you to the publisher for sending me a copy of the arc in exchange for an honest review!
Cover image: Photo on Unsplash
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