Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

3 reviews

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

jainabee's review

adventurous challenging inspiring medium-paced

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

5.0

I couldn't put this down and I told each and every one of my friends, colleagues, and quite a few strangers that they really ought to read this book! I can barely wait for the next one—so curious to see where the story goes from the astonishing set-up of the first book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Xenophobia, Colonisation, Classism, Death of parent, Racism, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Gaslighting, Genocide, Gun violence, Homophobia, and Lesbophobia

The great thing about the challenging content is that is is witnessed from the point of view of a very confident young woman of color who calls out that %$#!

bookish_afrolatina's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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

An incredible start to a historical fantasy series! I devoured this book quickly despite the length of it because the main character and alternate timeline were captivating. Anequs was kind, smart, matter-of-fact, open-minded, and brave. Anglish society’s rules and customs didn’t have a hold on her unless they could help someone. She was relatable and her friends, for the most part, were from varied backgrounds.

According to the author Moniquil Blackhoose, “To Shape a Dragon’s Breath takes place in southern New England (Rhode Island, Massachussetts) in the 1840s in a very alternate timeline — the Roman Empire never existed, the British Isles were settled by Scandinavian seafarers, and the European colonization of the east coast of the US is proceeding differently. “ Therefore, all of the names of the countries, religious practices, and culture of the colonizers of Turtle Island are almost entirely different from our reality. 

I think that Blackgoose handled discussions of race, eugenics, queerness, polyamory, and the autism spectrum with care despite ableism, homophobia, and racism being acceptable by Anglish society. Anequs is our moral guide, in a sense.

I loved the pacing of this book. I found that no matter how many times I thought I knew what would happen next, I was wrong! So that was such a treat. I especially loved the way the characters shared their cultural stories. 

The audiobook was lovely thanks to the narrator Charley Flyte! Part way through it I began to wish I had a print copy. Now that I’ve finished the book I know I absolutely want the print since I expect I’ll reread it before the second book comes out.

Y’all need to read this!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Child abuse, Bullying, Sexual harassment, Sexism, Racism, Ableism, Classism, Colonisation, Gaslighting, and Homophobia

Moderate: Hate crime, Animal cruelty, War, Biphobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Alcohol