Reviews tagging 'War'

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

51 reviews

cadence99's review

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I absolutely loved this book- incredibly lovable characters, dragon companions, romances that had me giggling and kicking my feet and a nice leisurely (though certainly high stakes at times!) plot to carry us along. I loved the intertwining of historical elements and serious subject matter woven into this fantasy world and truly cannot wait to see where the series leads

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Bullying, Colonisation, Racism, and Ableism

Moderate: Misogyny, Forced institutionalization, Animal death, Animal cruelty, War, Classism, Death of parent, Homophobia, Violence, Lesbophobia, Biphobia, and Hate crime

Minor: Alcohol, Blood, and Genocide

centrifugepolitics's review against another edition

emotional hopeful informative reflective tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Ableism, Classism, Colonisation, and Racism

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Genocide and War

The content warning are for explorations of the subjects, the book obviously doesn’t espouse any of these things

audelidou's review

adventurous inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Ableism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Gun violence, Homophobia, and War

mateyy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

This felt like a fresh breath of air. I was so absorbed from beginning to end following Anequs battle her way through a world that wishes for her to fail at every turn. 

Moniquill Blackgoose created a really cool almost steampunk-y Colonial North American setting that lends itself well to the story being told. How Anequs (and subsequently the audience) interacted with the setting worked well and it did not feel like I had to sift through so much exposition. 

I think coming into this book with the notion that it was a bit like Fourth Wing but TSADB actively deals with the horrors that Native Americans had to (and still deal with the repercussions) face in a fantasy setting, definitely set me up for a different novel than I got. I think if I read this without that bias, I think I would have enjoyed the book more because the stakes were a lot different than I was expecting. 

I am excited to see the story continue in the next installment! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Racism, Colonisation, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Violence, and Mental illness

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Lesbophobia, Genocide, Sexism, Murder, Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Homophobia, Xenophobia, War, Transphobia, and Slavery

saltylane's review

adventurous challenging inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I enjoyed reading this book, though some parts are a bit rough around the edges, imo. The world building is thorough, but I’m unsure  if it all “worked” for me. Some words were used to replace common ones, like names of chemicals/elements, and those words were used in a way that I couldn’t follow what meant what, but that may have been wholly intentional, in order to show the reader how the main character, Anequs, felt being tossed into an unfamiliar world. 
Some of the scenes were rather detailed to the point that I was a bit bored with them, like a couple of the class scenes wherein Anequs had to learn detailed concepts. It’s possible they were intentionally written that way to have the reader share the confusion of Anequs upon having to learn the complex concepts, but I almost skipped the scene entirely about midway through. On the other hand, some scenes were briefly described when I might’ve liked to read more about them in detail. 
The descriptions of the dragons when they first appeared were added in such a way that it was hard for me to actually picture the individual creatures in my mind. The species were almost all described at once, and I couldn’t retain what they looked like after that point because the ideas blended together. The descriptions were thorough, but being introduced to most of them all at once made it harder for me to keep up with what was what afterwards. I would like to see illustrations of them, though, because they did sound interesting to see!

The story itself is inspiring as Anequs faces much adversity in the community she’s thrust into. The analogs to real-world issues can be painful a lot of the time, but it’s informative and inspiring when Anequs fights to make change. The way she becomes an agent for change in those around her with her tenacity and kindness/empathy is heartwarming. 

Overall, I enjoyed the read, and I look forward to the sequels. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Colonisation, Misogyny, Classism, Sexism, Racial slurs, Racism, and Violence

Moderate: Genocide, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Death, and Murder

Minor: Cursing, Death of parent, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Miscarriage, Grief, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Transphobia, Slavery, War, Alcohol, Blood, Child death, Physical abuse, and Pregnancy

onegalonelife27's review against another edition

At this moment, the book is a bit slow and long for my liking. I do want to finish it later. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia and Colonisation

Minor: War and Pandemic/Epidemic

rorikae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

'To Shape a Dragon's Breath' by Moniquill Blackgoose is a fantastic start to a new YA fantasy series about a girl training to be a dragonrider so that she can bring dragon's back to her homeland. 
Dragons are scarce on Masquapaug so it is a surprise when Anequs finds a dragon egg and bonds with the hatchling. When the Anglish colonizers hear that a dragon has been born, they are unhappy and reluctantly allow Anequs to enroll at the dragon academy to study and potentially become a dragon rider. But at this new school, Anequs has to face a society that looks down on her people and doesn't believe that she is capable of studying at the school, let alone being a dragon rider. But Anequs' presence at the school has the potential to affect the political landscape and she is determined to do what she can so that she and her dragon can live and bring dragons back to Masquapaug. 
This is such a fantastic start to a fantasy series and I cannot wait until we learn more about the next installment. Blackgoose has created an engaging world reminiscent of North America, with steampunk and fantastical elements. She weaves together an engaging coming of age story that touches on colonization, representation, academia, and more. Her characters are easy to root for and fully fledged people that feel like they could walk right off the page. I'm fascinated to see where this story goes next as the first book introduces so many great concepts, a fascinating world, and great characters. If you like dragons, I cannot recommend this book enough. A wonderful start to a new fantasy series. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Bullying, and Classism

Moderate: Genocide

Minor: Animal death, War, and Death of parent

hailstorm3812's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Look at me, you are going to want to quit this book at the first third where they start introducing fantasy chemistry. DO NOT. I promise it is worth it for the way it is used later in the book, with a twist that made me gasp aloud. I do think in general this book would be greatly improved by just saying this is America but it has dragons, deal with it, instead of making the audience memorize fantasy words for everything. Other than that I had so much fun. I really liked the characters, with Anequs someone I would have been utterly obsessed with if I had this book at the right age. I love that she knows who she is, what she wants, and what is right and she is going to do that. The bisexual poly romance is super cute as well. And the exploration of native vs colonizer ways of the same knowledge was so interesting.

I called my roommate when I got to the dance reveal, I was so excited.

Can't wait for the next one!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Colonisation, and Sexism

Moderate: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, Hate crime, Murder, and Animal death

Minor: Genocide, Slavery, and War

blakeandbooks's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Ableism, Classism, Lesbophobia, Mass/school shootings, Racial slurs, Death, Death of parent, Police brutality, Murder, Sexism, Racism, Colonisation, and Misogyny

Moderate: War, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia

quartofgoats's review

adventurous emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book is such an absolute gem I don't know what to say. I can't wait for more of this series. 
The protagonist is the very very best of humanity and forges through horrible circumstances and upfront racism with unbelievable grace and eloquence. Which, while unrealistic, was inspiring and heartening. It was also just tremendously fun. I read it in like 24 hours.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Bullying, Classism, Genocide, Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, Colonisation, and Misogyny

Moderate: Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Racial slurs, and War

Minor: Gun violence