Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

115 reviews

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

dani_dragon's review

adventurous challenging emotional 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? Yes

4.5

Soooo good! Definitely hard at times with the language and the intense world building/science and the racism elements. But I adored it! The characters are great and well-rounded, even the unlikeable ones have their moments and make sense. Cannot recommend it enough and so excited for more

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation, Violence, Gun violence, Racism, and Classism

sustainably_lucia's review

hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I was hooked after 4 pages! Strong indigenous FMC, dragons, anti-colonialism. It’s a slow-paced and low-stakes story that gets major points for diversity and inclusion. The realities of racism and prejudice are seamlessly integrated in a way that feels real and honest. I could tell it was written from experience. I would classify this as a cozy fantasy because of the low stakes but it definitely doesn’t shy away from the hard stuff. Anequs is a spitfire 15-year-old who is always challenging the status quo. She grew up in a supportive community where she didn’t have many opportunities to doubt herself.

The beginning was great but it dragged in the middle and I lost the main plot line. I wasn’t sure what the goal of the MCs was. The ending was good but not as well crafted as the beginning. Overall, this was a great book and I loved the prominence of indigenous culture and I recommend reading it for that alone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Colonisation and Racism

Moderate: Ableism, Bullying, and Violence

Minor: Animal death

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