There is certainly no lack of YA books about dragons and even dragon rider schools, so finding one that stands out can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. To Shape a Dragon's Breath is somewhat original and brings a breath of fresh air to a space that could definitely use it. Now the story isn't perfect. The main character is a teen full of righteous indignation and following her point of view feels as though she only sees herself as right and doesn't even strive for perspective or understanding an alternate view. That said, she is a teen and that headstrong determination is a symptom, this is the age for idealism and taking a stand for your beliefs. This girl leaves her indigenous community to attend a dragon rider school run by the colonizers of her native land. She is confronted by those who do not want her there as well as some who would have her assimilate and her experiences as she finds her way, makes friends, and learns what she needs to know to be able to keep her dragon make this so much more than a run-of-the-mill dragon rider novel. This is definitely targeted to teens who are more interested in social issues than how much dorm furniture the main character and her love interest can break. (3.5/5)
I received access to this eARC thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

This was fantastic. Highly recommend if you enjoy fantasy and dragons. Looking forward to more from this author as this was highly entertaining and engaging. I cannot wait for book 2.

"To Shape a Dragon's Breath" by Moniquill Blackgoose takes place in the 1800's on the East Coast of what we know as the United States. There are a few fundamental differences though. The biggest would be the existence of dragons. From the first moment they hatch, these dragons choose and bind for life with a human. These dragons can use their breath to wreak destruction, and with training and guidance from their human partner, dragon breath can also be used to create various alchemical reactions to further benefit (or harm) society. One more twist: the east coast seems to be ruled with a fairly heavy hand by settlers from various European countries. It is not a comfortable place to be a native American.

Early in the story a native American heroine discovers a newly laid dragon egg, and without going into too much detail, needs to learn how to be a successful companion to a newly hatched dragon, while dealing with an incredible amount of prejudice and danger.

Readers that enjoy fantasy stories such as the Golden Compass and the Harry Potter series will likely enjoy this book.

I thank the author and publisher for kindly providing an electronic review copy of the work.

4.5/5 stars. This book was amazing. It had both indigenous and LGBTQ+ representation and was a painfully beautiful fantasy tale. The subtext of struggles to be seen as worthy and equal in this story touched my heart. This story very vaguely reminded me of the fantasy series Dragonriders of Pern that I devoured as a child. More in the sense of the dragon's connection to its partner than anything else. I think this is a stunning YA fantasy entry and highly recommend it to all readers.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

When teenage Anequs finds a dragon egg on her island, she is very aware of how much her life will change. The Anglish who govern the island as part of their colonies chased dragons from Masquapaug, so Nampeshiweisit (humans with bonds to dragons) have no existed on the islands for years. After the decision is made that the safest path is for Anequs to inform the Anglish of her dragon, the two move to the mainland to attend a boarding school where dragons are monitored and grow under supervision and among others. A school where Anequs is one of only two non-Anglish students, and subject to harsh scrutiny.
'To Shape a Dragon's Breath' is a magical academia that explores legacy, race, and magic, in a culture that blends Nordic and British culture as colonisers in a quasi-historical setting. Anequs is unashamed of her identity as a queer (polyamorous bisexual) indigineous woman, and reinforces this throughout the book, hitting back against unjust expectations and stereotypes from both schoolmates and family. The book includes a number of academia elements, from the worldbuilding/magic lessons, to intense study sessions, to making friends and enemies among peers and adults.
Dragons in this world are animalistic but have intelligence, especially as part of the connection with humans. There is more of an emotional intuitive bond than speaking connection (at least at the young age in the book) between the two, and lacks the military element (at this point) present in other dragon books. It is not a new idea, but is refreshingly different to other recent dragon books.
Would recommend to those who enjoy magical schools, bildungsroman, dragons (in a non-antagonistic role), and steampunk-tinged historical fantasy from a less-seen perspective.

I enjoyed this a lot! I felt the world was rich and complex, although this did make it feel hard to grasp aspects and I had a general confusion around the world for a fair portion.

I felt captured by the story from the start and i felt it was such an interesting take on a book surrounding dragons and school.

The representation and characters were great. This book centres indigenous experiences and character, it was refreshing and so important. I also very much enjoyed the LGBTQ rep as well.

Reminded me a little bit of Babel with the historic setting, magical realism and the horrifying consequences of colonialism. Unlike Babel it was a lot easier to get into.

Our protagonist, Anequs, is out of place in the Anglish world but certainly not lost, she has fire and drive and we learn about the new world she has entered as she does. Think cyber punk with Nordic inspiration, add disability and queer rep, a celebration of indigenous culture and commentary on “civilisation” in an academic setting and you’ve got TSADB.

There is romance but it is not a central plot point, the dragons are different to any that I’ve read before but more time is spent describing the process of an engine than the breeds which is a little disappointing.

The main thing I didn’t really like were the chapter titles, I don’t know why I just found them off putting as they so clearly told you what was happening in the chapter.

I will definitely be keeping my eye out for the next in the series and recommending this for any YA fantasy fans.

I need time to sit with this one- Viking Steampunk Victorian era setting with witchcraft, organic chemistry, and dragons… But also a realistic look at the far-reaching harm of colonialism and prejudice??? I’m not sure how to even accurately rate this it was unlike anything I’ve ever read (but did give me some blood over bright haven vibes with some of the overarching themes). Amazing.

Note: I received a galley copy of this book for purposes of award voting.

This is a standard Bildungsroman (coming of age story) and if the use of a German word there annoys you, you will NOT like this book as it is heavily sprinkled with psuedo-German, -Norse, and -Wampanoag vocabulary throughout. Given the author's background, I'm going to assume the Wampanoag is valid.

Anyways, your standard dragon-girl from Nantucket going to a magic dragon training school Bildungsroman, filled with dragon-owning Vikings. Lightly sprinkled with the expected tropes: hatchling dragons bonding, one really mean professor, more seemingly-stern-but-ultimately-good-on-the-inside professors, a protagonist that despite coming from informal schooling manages to master Algebra in a weekend, etc. As you would expect, the action takes place during a single school year, running September-May. (It's nice of the local pagan Vikings to use the Christian Gregorian Calendar.)

The anti-colonialism is laid on pretty thick at points, with most of the villains managing to be basically caricatures of racists. The conflict mostly revolves around the fact that the antagonists don't want this particular teenage girl to have <s>an Assault Helicopter with WMDs</s> a Dragon.

Lots of characters, very few of whom get any sort of character development. Many of the characters manage to be one-dimensional tokens.

The writing is decent. The pacing is a bit rushed at the end. The worldbuilding is fun but at times illogical (they have steamships and flying dragons but don't seem to have managed to mapped the far side of North America). There's a whole steampunk thing going on that has zero relevance to the plot beyond the need for coal providing a reason for natives to have been pushed off their land. But the steampunk stuff might just be laying groundwork for the sequel.

Yes. Freaking yes. Freaking yes. The perfect book to start pride month for sure. This takes YA fantasy and balances it on the wings of science, machinery, and Dragons. Holy heck. give me book 2 mas rapido!

This is about a teenager who finds she has a connection to a found dragon egg on the island her people live on that hasn't seen one in in generations.

In accordance with the law, she has to go to school with the dragon to learn the ways of Shaping Dragons Breath (controlling their fire, which can harm). She learns history, dragon chemistry, husbandry, and how to "act" in polite society, in which conflict arises.

Themes of equality, colonialism, destruction of cultural heritages, beauty of family, LGBTQ characters, and found family/friends.

I loved the chemistry between the characters. It is a great book for adults and YA alike.

Thank you, @netgalley, for the free ebook.

I absolutely loved this book and cannot fathom waiting another six months for book two! The characters were universally well written, and the story pulled me in right from the start. I have read some good (and not so good) books with dragons in the last year. This one blew me away! One of the things that really stood out to me was how the author reimagined the casual horrors of colonialism in such a thoughtful, and powerful way. The complex history of Canada was such a wonderful backdrop to the challenges the Anequs is put through. The way the other students and staff treated her was infuriating, but so well done and felt very true to what others endured in canadian higher level academia. Their racism wasn’t always loud or obvious, but you could feel how much they didn’t want her to succeed just because of their own pride. It made me root for her even more. I cannot express how much I adore this book!

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath might just be one of my favorite reads this year. It’s YA, there’s a dragon school, and it’s way more layered than I expected. There’s a lot going on beneath the surface; questions of culture, power, and who gets to make the rules.

Anequs, a fifteen-year-old Masquapuaq girl, bonds with a dragon, something incredibly rare in their culture and heavily regulated by their colonizers. To keep her dragon safe and ensure it doesn’t get labeled dangerous later on, she decides to go to an Anglish academy on the mainland. The culture clash is immediate and sharp, but what I really liked is that the story doesn’t pick a side and call it a day. Both the Anglish and Masquapuaq ways are shown with complexity. Sometimes they’re right, sometimes they’re really not, and it all feels honest without getting preachy.

The standout for me was the voice. Anequs is a delightful narrator, and her relationship with her dragon Kasaqua is a highlight. I would’ve happily read twice as much about the two of them. Masquapuaq culture was also fascinating to explore, especially in contrast to the uptight world of the Anglish academy.

That said, I do have a few quibbles. Anequs can feel a little too perfect. Confident, wise, and unshakable from start to finish, which leaves her with very little growth. For a dragon school, the dragons themselves barely get any narrative weight; they’re more symbolic than present. And while the worldbuilding is rich, it takes up so much space that both plot and supporting characters suffer. The climax, in particular, felt rushed and leaned a little too hard on a convenient solution.

Still, despite those bumps, I had a great time with this one (the audiobook narration definitely helped), and I’ll be first in line for book two in 2026.

This story was a beautiful low-stakes, school setting story with indigenous rep, queer rep, and autism spectrum rep.

Anequs is not your typical dragon riding badass, I’ll cut you YA protagonist and I loved her all the more for it. She is who she is and doesn’t let anyone influence her, and stands up for what she believes in. She struggled with the Anglish society that she must join in order to learn how to train her dragon.

Her dragon!! The absolutely cutest. It was so fun to see her grow and her personality come out. In the beginning she’s the size of a cat and I love how that was integrated in the story because dragon and dragoneer go everywhere together.

Also Anequs has a lovely family back home but I also adored the found family at school. I don’t normally like low stakes stories but I adore these characters and the conversations Anequs had are important. I could listen to her discuss for hours.

The story seemed like it would be really interesting but I struggled to connect with it and be interested. I do think others might really enjoy the story. The use of indigenous storytelling was great.

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley.
This book comes with some content warnings. There are quite a few disturbing scenes regarding violence and harassment towards (fantasy) indigenous peoples. If this would upset you, especially if you are an indigenous person, this may not be the book for you. At times, these scenes almost seemed to go too far, like I get it, white people did treat and still do treat indigenous peoples horrifically. I generally read fantasy books to get away from that kind of stuff. However, this book will stick with me because of those depictions and I'm not likely to forget it anytime soon. If that's what the author intended, and for some change to come from that, then well done!
Aside from that quibble, the characters were very well done here and I always enjoy the origin story and "training montage" of the MC coming into their powers. Some boarding school tropes here but on the whole, the MC is pushed to the outskirts of the school environment which both lessened those and felt realistic at the same time. Definitely recommended!

To Shape a Dragon's Breath is exactly the kind of fantasy we need nowadays. Diverse, strong characters, expert world building. This one was wonderful from start to finish.

I truly enjoyed this story, the world building was impecable it had me beliveing in dragons a little bit by the end! the author does an anmaxzing job seemlessly incorperating in a wide variety of representation and the story emphasises many important messages that deserve to be explored more in our world as well as this fantasy one.

Intriguing magic school premise with well thought out themes of the difficulties indigenous groups face attending schools designed for the coloniser.s

"To Shape a Dragon's Breath" is the dragonriding book I have always wanted to see. The worldbuilding is unique and well thought out. I enjoyed learning alongside the main character, and the lore of the various dragons and dragonriders portrayed. I really loved seeing Anequs interact with her community. The world was very lived in.

This was such an amazing book. I don’t know that I have the words to fully express it.
First off, the representation. The author is indigenous and writes about indigenous people. While this is fiction, it definitely shows the evils of colonization and mirrors much of real world happenings.
Then our FMC is queer, her village has no issues with this. It’s normal among them. It was refreshing to see bisexuality and polyamory as an everyday thing among their people. The normalcy of it was refreshing.
Then there is a character who’s most likely autistic, but he’s a well rounded character and not a caricature of stereotypes of autism. Next to our FMC he’s actually probably my favorite character.

This book will make you feel a wide array of emotions. I was angry, scared, sad, happy and everything

If this is Moniquill Blackgoose’s debut novel, I cannot wait for book 2.