Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

108 reviews

leweylibrary's review

adventurous 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? No

4.25

So I really love the idea of this book. It's basically Harry Potter meets Fourth Wing but much better than both of those things lol. The dragon element is well done and a lot of fun imo, and I love watching the MC's dragon grow up 🥹

I think my biggest issue with the book is the pacing. It's super slow, like the first 300ish pages only covers like 5ish months of time. I was totally cool with that pace, although I was starting to wonder when something significant was going to happen. But then the pace started picking up and time started moving in bigger chunks, but it didn't feel like it was moving towards anything? At least not anything big. And then something big at the end just happened and you're like WHAT but then it's super quickly resolved. I was just confused and now I'm annoyed that who knows when the second book will come out 🫠 I do want to know where the story goes from here, though.

BUT! This book's reflections on colonialism, racism, and classism were absolutely by far the best part. It wasn't quite as intricate or well-developed as something like Babel (that world map was...idk how to feel about that lol), but I think this is probably more a YA speed, so that's alright. I liked that it had characters that showed the different levels and aspects of those isms. Like we have the MC who's a proud of her indigenous culture and doesn't know anything else and therefore doesn't think Anglish is at all better versus Theod who is also indigenous but has been raised in an Anglish world and taught to believe that culture is best.

I also loved her friends, especially Sander. Her relationship with him is just so wholesome. Oh! And the love interests were fun! We love some LGBTQIA+ rep, and it was refreshing that Anaqus' culture just respects those differences and doesn't think they're a big deal like the Anglish do. Last thing, we love the pronunciation guide! So helpful. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Classism, Colonisation, Slavery, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Sexism

Minor: War

smittonwith's review

adventurous reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is a great read. It is a longer book, but I throughly enjoyed the storytelling in this novel. There are plenty of parallels between this novel and our current world. This book follows the story of Anequs, an indigenous teenager who discovers a dragon egg on her island. This discovery means that Anequs must enroll in a specialized dragon minding school on the mainland that is run by colonists. This creates a string of challenges for Anequs and her family as they are forced to disregard their cultural upbringing and traditions and instead learn the “approved ways”. This book touches on the topics of racism, colonialism, magical realism, queer identity, polyamory and plenty more. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a solid fantasy read that makes an attempt to draw similar parallels and realizations between this world and our current one. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Colonisation

jpitts's review

adventurous inspiring reflective 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: Colonisation, Ableism, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent, Homophobia, and Genocide

Minor: Gun violence

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

susanatherly's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Slavery, Religious bigotry, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Sexism, Violence, Bullying, Gun violence, Colonisation, and Classism

star_charter152's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Genocide, Mass/school shootings, Bullying, Hate crime, Violence, and War

Minor: Slavery, Animal death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Sexual harassment, and Homophobia

luckykosmos's review

reflective 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

4.25

I've been describing this as if RF Kuang wrote Temeraire - Blackgoose brings that same acuity of one's place in a society as a machine and how that affects Anaqus' interactions with her peers. I loved how that was contrasted with Theod's experiences, paralleled with Sander's and Liberty's and her professors'. Moreover, the way the author reshaped our world a step further than just renaming a country left just enough mystery in the worldbuilding to wonder what may come next, but it left room for a development in the magic system that felt like a reflection from 'Braiding Sweetgrass' - understanding that cultural tradition was born out of a pattern of observation and shouldn't be dismissed simply because it doesn't fall in mainstream confines of science. Some dialogue during lectures dragged and became walls of text, but I'm excited to see where the author goes next in this world.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism

Moderate: Hate crime, Colonisation, and Gun violence

annamay1021's review

adventurous challenging 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Gun violence, Xenophobia, Homophobia, and Racism

Moderate: War