Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

44 reviews

hawksrye's review

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Animal death, Confinement, Bullying, Child abuse, Grief, Genocide, Slavery, Colonisation, Homophobia, Blood, Hate crime, Death of parent, Gun violence, Ableism, Alcohol, Misogyny, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, and Transphobia

discarded_dust_jacket's review against another edition

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

4.75

If you want to read an incredibly well-written fantasy with vivid and expansive worldbuilding (which will, to the American reader, seem verrrry familiar) that involves dragons, some queer romance, and, most importantly, a clever young Indigenous woman handily beating the racist colonizers at their own game even with all the chips stacked against her, then this is an absolute MUST.

I read this in audiobook format on a couple long drives, and I thought the narrator, Charley Flyte, was really impressive. It was an engaging and thrilling listening experience.

This story will make you laugh, it’ll make you cheer, and it’ll most certainly make you viscerally angry. I highly HIGHLY recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Ableism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Bullying, Misogyny, Death of parent, Classism, and Hate crime

Minor: Homophobia and Gun violence

novella42's review

adventurous hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

Such a phenomenal read, and my favorite speculative fiction book of the year! Indigenous otter dragons!!! Moniquill Blackgoose made a truly audacious worldbuilding choice I have never encountered before, and which took me something like 70 pages to understand. But once it clicked, I felt in awe of her. I won't spoil it for anyone, but the risk she took and the monumental effort she put into her worldbuilding absolutely paid off on multiple levels. 

Also, I don't know what the audiobook is like, but I can't imagine getting the same effect without a text version. I'm very glad I have the hardcopy so I could page back and forth to the pronunciations, maps, periodic table, etc. I wish I could share photos of the pronunciation guide because it's a sliver of a glimpse of the amount of brainpower Blackgoose poured into this work. I wish I could show you some of the heart, too, but for that you'll need to immerse yourself in the story.

As a lifelong wheelchair-user, I really enjoyed the steampunk wheelchair alternative (though if I were that character I'd probably try and develop some sort of smaller backup mobility aid to allow me to move into all the inaccessible places around the school where the larger device couldn't go). I loved the magical AAC device the neurodivergent character uses to communicate, too! Brilliant and respectful rep for disability, neurodivergence, queer, and polyam characters. I've been recommending it left and right. I cannot wait for the next book in the series! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Racism, Misogyny, Gun violence, Colonisation, Sexism, Xenophobia, Hate crime, Lesbophobia, Bullying, Classism, Homophobia, Ableism, Violence, Biphobia, Racial slurs, and Genocide

Moderate: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Child abuse, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Toxic friendship, War, Slavery, Transphobia, Body shaming, Murder, Confinement, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, Death, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Medical content, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, and Physical abuse

noellelovesbooks's review

4.75

 Content Warnings: racism, colonialism, ableism, sexism, homophobia, blood, gun violence, hate crime, and violence.
Mention of: genocide, animal death, animal cruelty, suicide, death of parents, and internalized racism.

This book was incredible. I love all the lore within, how every so many chapters we get a story told to us, and I LOVE how the dragon's look.

Anequs is such a great main character. She knows who she is, where she's from, and isn't ashamed to speak up when she needs to. Although she's stuck living within a different culture, one that views hers as below them, she stand firm in her teachings and culture. She is determined to learn what she needs to ensure her dragon doesn't cause unintentional harm or danger so that she can return home and help her people.

I love that this book has short chapters, short chapters always make it easier to get through books imo.

I have no idea when book 2 is set to release but I look forward to learning more about Anequs, her people, those that she's connected to, and just more about her life. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Gun violence, Violence, Racial slurs, Sexism, Hate crime, Racism, Homophobia, and Blood

Moderate: Genocide, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, and Suicide

rockyroadbutch's review

adventurous emotional informative reflective 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

Wonderful, interesting, compelling. A bit slow to start but worth it. Love the diverse representation and the opportunity to get to know such a powerful main character. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, and Colonisation

Moderate: Blood, War, Homophobia, Death of parent, Grief, Alcohol, Bullying, Violence, Sexism, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Genocide, Child abuse, Classism, Slavery, and Lesbophobia

thewildmageslibrary's review against another edition

5.0

Wow, I loved this!! I was pretty anxious throughout the whole book because

I kept expecting the Anglish to go kill everyone because...yeah

but I should have trusted the author. <3 Also I wanted to slap so many people in this book. Except Sander.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Genocide, Police brutality, Death of parent, Bullying, Transphobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Slavery

courtnoodles's review

challenging 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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Sexism, Gun violence, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Ableism, and Mental illness

Moderate: Classism, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, and Abandonment

Minor: Confinement and Fire/Fire injury

epsilonecho's review

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective

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

5.0

A riveting exploration of an indigenous girl's journey into an unfamiliar, often hostile, colonial culture. Most of the story focuses on Anequs' experiences at school, while slowly developing a larger, more intricate plot in the background.

Possibly one of my favorite books I've ever read. Scratches the character-focused school story itch I obtained in childhood. Don't let some negative reviews about "lack of action" fool you: not all stories need to be directly about violence or conflict. This book proves that by immersing you into Anequs' life, not just her battles. 

I've also seen criticisms that the dragons don't so much in this book:

by the end of the book, most of the main character's dragons are just about a year old!

While dragons provide the impetus for the plot, they are not what the story is about. The story is about Anequs and her journey into this unfamiliar world.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death of parent, Ableism, Misogyny, Slavery, Violence, War, Death, and Genocide

Minor: Animal death, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Homophobia, Alcohol, and Gun violence

All of the themes are treated very respectfully by the author, but they are serious and their impact on people shouldn't be lessened. Overall, I was never uncomfortable reading this book, and I felt the author handled all of these very delicate ideas very well as to not trigger readers, while also ensuring the emotional weight is understood.

brogan7's review

adventurous hopeful medium-paced

4.5

A rollicking tale!  Dragons, colonialism, a boarding school, a rebellious, smart, questioning student, young love, a world of inequalities and contradictions, all make for a grand adventure.

There are some distractions, such as lengthy bifurcations of the plot to attend to finer points of chemistry in an invented language, well beyond this reader's interest, and a focus and fascination on the finer points of sewing that made me think if she talks about another dress I am just going to stop reading.

Also, parts of the book (the chapter titles, the style) read more like a 19th century English novel than like 21st century steam punk fantasy, but again, I felt great tolerance for this because the characters, the world building, the dragons!!, the relationships between the characters, and the storytelling were so rich and engaging and compelled you to read more.

I'm not sure what were the antecedents to this story...the boarding school / magic boarding school trope but it's much more than that...a story of resistance and diversity and alliances in the face of the ugliness of the world in ways both big and small...

Not to be missed.  We all want to be Nampeshiweisit now!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation

Moderate: Genocide, Racism, Sexism, and Death of parent

Minor: Bullying, Animal death, and Classism

svangleboyer's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.5

To Shape a Dragon's Breath is an interesting fantasy that takes place in an alternative timeline where North American is colonized by Anglish conquerors. Anequs, an Indigenous woman living on the island Masquapaug, finds a dragon egg that hatches and becomes bonded to Anequs.  Anequs ends up going to a dragon academy on the mainland to learn to shape her dragon, Kasaqua, breath so that the dragon doesn't accidentally hurt anyone.  Anequs has to fight against the prejudices from the Anglish who see she has nothing but a savage while trying to learn how to be what Kasaqua needs to survive and thrive in the world.

I enjoyed gaining more perspective into the Indigenous culture that Anequs belongs too.  Some of my favorite chapters were hearing old stories from their culture.  I find their storytelling to be so magically and feel like I am experiencing it along with the characters.  I actually wish we could have had more focus on her culture as opposed to the Anglish trying to convert Anequs.  I also love all the various dragon breeds because each one is so unique and have their own personalities that I find so endearing.  I admire Anequs for sticking to her culture and not letting the Anglish try to convert her to their way of thinking and trying to make her a proper lady.  It was nice to see a strong female who is not afraid to stand up for herself against authority and not letting others insult her and her people for being different from what society says is normal. 

While I wanted to love this novel, I was a little disappointed, so I had to give it fewer stars.  One major issue I had is that this novel is just too long.  The author did a wonderful job world building but there was quite a bit of info dumping that just didn't need to be in the novel.  I believe it could easily have been 200 pages short and still made a strong impact.  There were several times I put down the book because it was a little overwhelming.  I mean if you are going to give us multiple chapters about the actual class lessons, maybe provide some images to accompany the actual lessons specially the various skiltas that is essential to shaping a dragon's breath.  

The other major issue I had was that this book had me sold from the beginning because I am a sucker for dragons.  While there are dragons throughout the novel, there are more just there, and you don't really get to see what they can do.  I would have liked to see the dragons have a more active role in the story besides just being with their owners.  

I will be reading the sequel because I am interested to see what comes next for Anequs. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Colonisation, Misogyny, Bullying, Mental illness, Classism, Ableism, Emotional abuse, Racial slurs, Hate crime, Sexism, Slavery, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Racism, War, Homophobia, Animal death, and Death

Minor: Murder, Sexual harassment, and Forced institutionalization