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A review by podanotherjessi
To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I love so much about what this book is saying, and the characters are really fun to follow, but the package the messaging comes in leaves a lot to be desired. The worldbuilding was distractingly bland, the plot had very little story, and the main character was both unrealistically wise and rarely experienced consequences for her actions. I think a lot of this is due to the audience age. Anequs is 15 years old, and I think the book is perfectly suited for that age or even someone younger. And for that audience, it makes sense to have a character spouting the themes and have the MC be more mature than any 15 year old realistically would be. So ultimately, I think this book is perfectly suited for the target audience, and I'll keep reading the series, but it's far from a favorite novel for me.
The characters were probably the strongest part of the series (aside from the theming). None of the characters were particularly complex, but they were all interesting, and I can see the room for the characters to grow and become deeper as the series goes on. There's also fantastic representation, with characters of various sexualities and neurodivergence. Anequs, however, is sometimes very unbelievable. She has an emotional maturity that just surpassed plausible deniability for me. I was fine with the moments that were cultural - such as being more accepting of differences in people - but the way she talked and articulated her feelings were just not something I've rarely seen in adults, let alone teenagers.
The plot was weaker, but in a way I think is fairly typical of a first book in a magical school story. There just wasn't really much plot. It's mostly slice of life with the intrigue coming primarily from cultural conflict and racism/xenophobia. This isn't a bad thing, but it does make the story lag at times. If you're not invested in the characters, you'll probably be rather bored by the book as a whole.
And then there's the world building. There were two things that really bothered me here. The first is that this did that thing in fantasy novels where the world is basically just Europe but magic. And this is boring but fine, except that the world was developed in a way that was really confusing. I could never quite figure out the 1:1 analog of real world place to fantasy place. Which would seem like a good thing, except it just felt kind of frustrating. And this led into the second problem, which is that the magic was just science but presented in a magical way. Normally, this is actually a thing I really like. Magic being just chemistry - or really more alchemy - is really fun in theory. But I found myself kind of annoyed by the different names of things. Eventually it clicked that Blackgoose was using Germanic (or, based on the setting, more likely Norse) names for the elements - Eisen for iron, Geld for gold - and that made it more tolerable.
The themes, in the end, are where this book really shines. Themes around communicating discomfort, accepting others, and embracing difference were heavy-handed but very welcome. I enjoyed every moment Anequs had of essentially saying "what do you mean this totally harmless thing is shunned because of pointless cultural norms?" It was so refreshing to read from a perspective where the MC isn't learning to accept differences and instead accepts it as the norm.
In the end, I would readily recommend this to any young reader looking for a new fantasy to try. I can't wait for the next book!
The characters were probably the strongest part of the series (aside from the theming). None of the characters were particularly complex, but they were all interesting, and I can see the room for the characters to grow and become deeper as the series goes on. There's also fantastic representation, with characters of various sexualities and neurodivergence. Anequs, however, is sometimes very unbelievable. She has an emotional maturity that just surpassed plausible deniability for me. I was fine with the moments that were cultural - such as being more accepting of differences in people - but the way she talked and articulated her feelings were just not something I've rarely seen in adults, let alone teenagers.
The plot was weaker, but in a way I think is fairly typical of a first book in a magical school story. There just wasn't really much plot. It's mostly slice of life with the intrigue coming primarily from cultural conflict and racism/xenophobia. This isn't a bad thing, but it does make the story lag at times. If you're not invested in the characters, you'll probably be rather bored by the book as a whole.
And then there's the world building. There were two things that really bothered me here. The first is that this did that thing in fantasy novels where the world is basically just Europe but magic. And this is boring but fine, except that the world was developed in a way that was really confusing. I could never quite figure out the 1:1 analog of real world place to fantasy place. Which would seem like a good thing, except it just felt kind of frustrating. And this led into the second problem, which is that the magic was just science but presented in a magical way. Normally, this is actually a thing I really like. Magic being just chemistry - or really more alchemy - is really fun in theory. But I found myself kind of annoyed by the different names of things. Eventually it clicked that Blackgoose was using Germanic (or, based on the setting, more likely Norse) names for the elements - Eisen for iron, Geld for gold - and that made it more tolerable.
The themes, in the end, are where this book really shines. Themes around communicating discomfort, accepting others, and embracing difference were heavy-handed but very welcome. I enjoyed every moment Anequs had of essentially saying "what do you mean this totally harmless thing is shunned because of pointless cultural norms?" It was so refreshing to read from a perspective where the MC isn't learning to accept differences and instead accepts it as the norm.
In the end, I would readily recommend this to any young reader looking for a new fantasy to try. I can't wait for the next book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia and Ableism