Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

40 reviews

pandact's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective 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 like the other review saying the author would be friends with R. F. Kuang, and I'll add Brandon Sanderson because it's almost as similar to the Rithmatist as it is to Babel.
It hits all the right notes If you like magical realism that combines science and mysticism in an alternate history world with multicultural mythologies foreshadowing worldbuilding. The dragons and Skilta system could be developed more, but it almost qualified as math magic and still didn't distract me too much with trying to figure out if it was chemistry or alchemy...

All the more reason to look forward to the sequel because the third act passed five stars! Maybe I'll also read the next one during finals and student protests 🎒

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Forced institutionalization, and Bullying

Moderate: Ableism, Alcohol, and Misogyny

Minor: Religious bigotry, Toxic friendship, and Xenophobia

theirgracegrace's review

emotional hopeful inspiring slow-paced

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

4.25

Flying in with a masterpiece, Moniquill Blackgoose sets up a world with this first instalment of the Nampeshiweisit series. The story centres around Anequs, a young Indigenous woman who discovers a dragon egg on an island near her home. When it hatches, the dragon bonds to her, and the Anglish settlers of her land order that she join a local dragoneering academy.

My favourite part of this book was the worldbuilding! Blackgoose builds a world like our own, but without a Roman Empire or Christianity, the Europeans have a distinctly Norse flair that matches well with the themes of resistance against colonialism. Each character has distinctive features, mannerisms and traits that make them real and powerful parts of the narrative.

Eagerly awaiting the next book of this series, particularly in light of the final handful of chapters!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Blood, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Violence, Ableism, Child abuse, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Genocide, Bullying, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Animal death, Body horror, Classism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Murder, and Sexual content

Moderate: War and Medical content

Minor: Cannibalism, Cursing, Infidelity, and Vomit

mj1588's review

reflective slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Genocide, Hate crime, Police brutality, Sexism, Racial slurs, Misogyny, Racism, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Gun violence and Fire/Fire injury

dragonstuck's review

challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism and Racism

Moderate: Violence, Classism, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Biphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, War, Lesbophobia, Transphobia, Genocide, Colonisation, Miscarriage, Slavery, Racial slurs, and Homophobia

tamarant4's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring slow-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 was going to make sure that the Anglish understood that we had never gone anywhere. That despite their best efforts, we were still living here among them on the lands where we’d always lived. I was going to show them just how many of us there were. [loc. 6012]

Anequs is fifteen, two years a woman, when she discovers a dragon egg -- the first her people, the Naquisit, have seen for many years. When the egg hatches, in Masquisit's meeting-house and surrounded by the people of the island, the hatchling Kasaqua chooses Anequs to be its person -- its Nampeshiweisit. (If the unfamiliar names and words in that summary have put you off, this is not the book for you.) Anequs quickly learns that the Anglish colonisers have Rules about dragons: they must be registered, and properly trained, because a dragon's breath can reduce any material into its component atoms. Anequs and Kasaqua have to go to Kuiper’s Academy of Natural Philosophy and Skiltakraft in Varmarden, run by the formidable Frau Kuiper: almost all of the other students are male, and there is only one other Naquisit at the Academy.

This is a world in which history happened rather differently. Christianity doesn't exist (despite which -- and I realise this is a minor vexation -- the year is 1842: on what calendar?) and science and culture seem to have their roots in northern, rather than southern, Europe. The Anglish are not English, but a Viking-flavoured hegemony of colonisers. Their religion features Fyra, Joden, Enki and Rune: their interests are conquest and exploration. (There's a map, but it's not very readable on the Kindle.) The Naquisit -- nicknamed 'nackies', a name that they use among themselves and which doesn't seem to have any negative connotation -- mostly inhabit coastal islands, sharing resources communally. Anequs misses her brother Niquiat, who's working in a fish cannery on the mainland, but he sends back enough money that they can buy kerosene and calico 'to share with our neighbours'. Niqiuat also has some ideas about bringing the Naquisit into the modern world, and Anequs is determined to learn all she can about the Anglish.

This is, apparently, a YA novel (it's shortlisted for the Lodestar Award for Best YA Book), so it's unsurprising that a great deal of the novel deals with Anequs' attempts to fit in at Kuiper's Academy. She befriends a Black maid, Liberty, despite Liberty's protests that it is not the done thing; she also befriends the autistic Sander, and Theod, the other Naquisit at the Academy. She stands up to bullies -- some of whom are teachers -- and studies hard, and even manages to get along with her snobbish roommate Marta. She forms not one but two romantic relationships (bisexual and polyamorous!). And she learns skiltakraft, which is basically chemistry, and finds ways to connect it to her own experience.

I would have liked more of Kasaqua, especially her development and personality: she's no Temeraire. I did occasionally find Anequs a bit humourless, though one can hardly blame her in such an atmosphere of racism, social unrest and prejudice. But I enjoyed this alternate history a great deal, and I'm very much looking forward to the next in the series.

Fulfils the ‘featuring indigenous culture’ rubric of the 52 books in 2024 challenge.

Fulfils the ‘a fantasy by a non-Caucasian author’ rubric of the Something Bookish Reading Challenge.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Bullying

booksdogsandcoffee's review

adventurous challenging emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.75

An absolute masterpiece. Blackgoose melds the perfect combination of political intrigue, an in depth view of colonization, inequality and adds in dragons to create this world that is very parallel to ours. 

If you weren't uncomfortable while reading this book, you missed the point. To Shape A Dragon's Breath invokes every emotion imaginable while reading.

 I loved everything about this book and will be eagerly awaiting the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Bullying, Violence, Racial slurs, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Racism, Classism, Misogyny, Ableism, and Death

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Lesbophobia and Genocide

bisexualwentworth's review against another edition

• 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

This is my new favorite book. it delivered on every possible level. I adored the characters and the worldbuilding and the writing style. I will come back and write a longer review when I can express my love for this book more coherently, but wow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Misogyny, Violence, Xenophobia, Bullying, Death, Colonisation, Classism, and Ableism

Moderate: Homophobia, Genocide, Death of parent, War, Slavery, and Murder

Minor: Animal death

anazap's review against another edition

emotional reflective slow-paced

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

4.0

This book tackles a lot of heavy topics (colonialism, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism) but I think it does it well. Anequs was an easy character to like, though I felt she had less depth than many of the other characters. This was definitely more character driven than plot driven, which was not necessarily what I was expecting but I am excited to see where the series goes. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Classism, and Ableism

Moderate: Misogyny

Minor: Transphobia, Animal death, and Homophobia

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

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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

readwithria's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Lesbophobia and Homophobia