If dragon magic school + second world indigenous fantasy sounds as appealing to you as it did to me you should read To Shape a Dragon's Breath.

Reading this book is like getting to curl up on the couch with a dragon at my feet while a friend tells me about their day. I get to go to dragon school without worrying about a murder mystery, trying to join a secret rebellion, or whatever else folks at magic schools seem to get up to these days. (Not that there's anything wrong with those kinds of stories, it was just nice to get to well, be present in the story of Anequs's schooling).

While there are probably too many atrocities in the history of the main characters people + some other bad things that happen, to truly call it cozy fantasy, for me, these events only made the book more heartwarming and highlights the main characters fortitude, goodheartedness, and optimism. Overall the tone did still feel like reading a cozy fantasy.

The characters are delightful. While none are getting on any of my best character lists they were all quite fun. the truly heinous racist professors as well as the ones truly trying to teach everyone, the condescendingly racist but trying to be good hearted peers, some truly good friends to be made, and lots of family. I also really enjoyed how Moniquill gives us tidbits that suggest and enable me to imagine entire other stories centering these characters. Eg the headmistress had your classic girl disguised as a boy to get to attend the magic school story, one of her first friends has a history of struggling with autism how his mother and classmates treat him because of it. My main complaint is probably that we don't really get to see any one character enough to truly dig into them. I also wish that I got to know more about the dragons as characters.

The worldbuilding felt fairly bland to me. While I can enjoy a book without great worldbbuilding I do think if it had been more inventive/vivid that would have greatly elevated the book. As it was the classes were fairly normal (Anglerekoning for geometry, natural philosophy for science, dragon husbandry for caring for dragons). The settler culture was just british with a coat of Norse paint (and doing things like calling Odin Joden).

Overall it was a very enjoyable read and one I'd heartedly recommend if the premise sounds intriguing and you don't mind your worldbuilding a little bland. I'm greatly looking forward to the sequel.

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.

Thank you NetGalley for an eARC of To Shape a Dragon’s Breath.

Really enjoyed this book. There’s dragons/dragon-rider/academy vibes which made this feel like a cozy read for me. HOWEVER, I also feel like this book is a great YA fantasy to demonstrate the effects of colonialism.

This was a great introduction to the history of colonialism. Fantasy mixed with historical context at its finest, this is one to not be missed.

The remote island island, Masquapaug has been dragon-less for generations. 15 Year old Anequs finds a rare dragons egg and kick-starts a series of events she never saw coming. She bonds with the dragon and her people who remember the days of dragon riders. but, this tale is one that has a common theme, the outsiders who conquered her island have differing opinions on the dragon riders and with great disdain they ship Anequs to a dragon riding academy on the mainland, where if she can not thrive there her dragon will be killed. the world may be changing but, is it for the worse? This moving, fierce tale shows that any one with the desire to change it for the better just may be able to.

I stopped at 10% but easy four stars for the right reader. It feels very young adult and should probably be marketed as such. I wasn’t personally engaged with the writing style. This is somewhat niche, but would go over well with the high schooler age group. Probably too niche for our small libraries though.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

The story takes place in a rapidly industrializing, vaguely steampunk world where colonizing forces have almost entirely wiped out Indigenous peoples and the dragons native to their home. When Anequs finds a dragon egg she knows that her life is going to change drastically. Although her people have had knowledge of dragons for centuries, the colonizing Anglish neither acknowledge nor respect their history or culture. Anequs chooses to leave her home and attend a dragon school but faces discrimination, racism, and classism as she pursues her goals.

My only complaint is that I felt like Anequs never made a mistake but this is a minor quibble with an otherwise fantastic story. I'd hand this to teen and adult fans of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series.

A solid fantasy tale with bildungsroman vibes and an anti-colonial mindset.