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A review by jaina8851
To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose
adventurous
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? It's complicated
4.25
My sentiment about this book throughout the whole thing was basically "this book is pretty great, and I'm extremely glad it exists, but it just isn't for me." I am absolutely not the target audience for "magic school" books anymore and so there were aspects of this book that were pretty grating for me.
I found the extreme amount of jargony world building at the beginning of the book to be pretty frustrating. I felt like I couldn't get a good handle on the time period or setting as a result. As the book progressed, I realized that it was actually a pretty clever intentional narrative device on the author's part to make me as the reader feel as unsettled as Anequs having to figure out the language and customs that she found herself thrust into, but it still made the reading experience more challenging than I find enjoyable.
My other big criticism for this book was the pacing. Things felt very slow for a lot of the book, and then all of a sudden things literally happened bang-bang-bang at the end and suddenly the book was over. I think this could have been handled a lot more smoothly.
All of that said though, I did really enjoy this book. I felt like the characters all had good unique voices and I enjoyed the relationships that developed between them. Someone in my book club mentioned that she felt like Anequs was a little bit "I'm not like other girls" but I countered that actually ALL of the girls in the book were "not like other girls"!! Liberty, Marta, and Lisbet each went against their society's expectations in various ways and I thought it was really cool.
I also really loved the richness of the Indigenous culture and stories that were woven throughout the book. The descriptions of all of the food and life on Anequs' island were so beautifully and lovingly described and I felt like that added such depth to the story.
Overall I would strongly recommend this book. I don't currently plan on continuing the series when the sequels come out, but I'd be interested to read potentially other stories or series by this author in the future.
I found the extreme amount of jargony world building at the beginning of the book to be pretty frustrating. I felt like I couldn't get a good handle on the time period or setting as a result. As the book progressed, I realized that it was actually a pretty clever intentional narrative device on the author's part to make me as the reader feel as unsettled as Anequs having to figure out the language and customs that she found herself thrust into, but it still made the reading experience more challenging than I find enjoyable.
My other big criticism for this book was the pacing. Things felt very slow for a lot of the book, and then all of a sudden things literally happened bang-bang-bang at the end and suddenly the book was over. I think this could have been handled a lot more smoothly.
All of that said though, I did really enjoy this book. I felt like the characters all had good unique voices and I enjoyed the relationships that developed between them. Someone in my book club mentioned that she felt like Anequs was a little bit "I'm not like other girls" but I countered that actually ALL of the girls in the book were "not like other girls"!! Liberty, Marta, and Lisbet each went against their society's expectations in various ways and I thought it was really cool.
I also really loved the richness of the Indigenous culture and stories that were woven throughout the book. The descriptions of all of the food and life on Anequs' island were so beautifully and lovingly described and I felt like that added such depth to the story.
Overall I would strongly recommend this book. I don't currently plan on continuing the series when the sequels come out, but I'd be interested to read potentially other stories or series by this author in the future.