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To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose, the first book in a trilogy set in an alternate historical version of our world with dragons, was one of my favorite books published in 2023. Since I wanted to refresh my memory before reading To Ride a Rising Storm, the second book in the Nampeshiweisit trilogy that was released earlier this year, I decided to reread it and write a lengthier review than my previous best-of-the-year summary before continuing the series.
Fortunately, I found To Shape a Dragon’s Breath every bit as delightful as it was the first time I read it. Once again, I was a bit puzzled by just how much I enjoyed it since I tend to gravitate toward books with complex, messy characters dealing with internal conflicts, and this novel’s protagonist is very much the opposite: someone with a strong sense of self who comes close to being a bit too neat and perfect at times, though I felt this fit her background and character since she doesn’t quite cross the line into unbelievably faultless. I suppose my love of academic settings, fantasy of manners, and characters who call out ridiculous social rules supersedes my love of deeply flawed protagonists when handled as well as Blackgoose did in her award-winning debut novel—and it actually ended up being refreshing to follow a self-assured character helping those who are still trying to figure out who they want to be in this case.
Though published through an adult speculative fiction imprint, To Shape a Dragon’s Breath has received recognition in both young adult and adult fiction award categories. It tells the story of a young Indigenous woman who attends a college-like academy for people bonded with dragons in an alternate 1840s North America (set in the New England region, namely versions of Rhode Island and Massachusetts). The novel opens with the protagonist, Anequs, becoming the first person from her island to see a dragon in ages, prompting her to discover an egg that was left behind. After this egg hatches, Anequs also becomes the only one of her people in living memory chosen to be a dragon’s companion. Since much of her people’s knowledge about dragons and their bonds with humans has been lost over time, Anequs ends up deciding it is her duty to go to a dragon academy run by the colonizers on the mainland after her dragon accidentally burns her younger sister when frightened.
Life at the academy is a challenge for Anequs, between navigating a different culture with different social rules and learning some unfamiliar subjects, particularly the chemistry-based system that allows someone to shape a dragon’s breath into various elements. Worst of all, many people do not want Anequs at the academy, and her studies are made more difficult by several people—ranging from her fellow students to her teachers to powerful politicians—who feel threatened by the idea of Indigenous people having dragons, particularly now that there are a grand total of two of them. But Anequs is determined to succeed: if she cannot prove she’s capable of shaping her dragon’s breath and preventing her from being a danger to others, the cost will be her dragon’s life.
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath has collected several awards and accolades since its 2023 publication—including winning the Andre Norton and Lodestar Awards and being nominated for the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel—and it’s easy to see why. I found it riveting from start to finish, and I loved the world, the oral stories sprinkled throughout, and the school setting. Although I prefer stories with more richly developed characters, felt conflicts were often resolved too quickly and easily, and thought major events toward the end were not given the weight they deserved, I found this to be an engaging, delightful book that stood out more than most of those I read.
I can’t comment on the next book in the series yet, but this novel is somewhat small in scale, focusing on a localized region containing a couple of islands and the area on the mainland relatively close to the school. The stakes are not the fate of the world, and although a lot of it feels low stakes given the heavy focus on classes and social gatherings, the stakes certainly aren’t low for Anequs and her dragon. While dragons are sacred to Anequs and her people, she discovers that the Anglish people who came across the ocean kill dragons they consider feral and have even put them to death because they don’t like their choice of companion. These dragons are wild animals that can be a danger to people, and although they form a bond with a human, they aren’t the type who use language or communicate clearly. The dragon and their human companion can only sense what the other is feeling in the moment, such as when Anequs picks up on the fear that makes her dragon loose the breath that hurts her sister early in the novel—and it’s vital for these creatures’ safety and longevity that they learn to refrain from actions making them seem too prone to violence.
In this version of the world, there never was a Roman Empire. The people who colonized North America followed Scandinavian culture and traditions, and though the names have been slightly altered, many of their stories and holidays are steeped in Norse mythology. In addition to containing alternate history, there are also speculative elements in the form of steampunk/Gaslamp fantasy technology like automated horses, chairs with crab-like legs for those unable to walk, and various inventions powered by the dragon’s breath that can be broken down and shaped into different elements.
Despite these speculative and historical changes, the Anglish people in this setting did carry over the hierarchical views and social rules associated with the Victorian era. Part of what I found compelling about this book was being immersed in this society while getting the first-person perspective of an outsider who didn’t grow up with these rules and often challenges them. Anequs doesn’t see any reason she can’t befriend a maid or consider courting a woman (or a man and a woman at the same time), and it doesn’t make sense to her that some things are “for ladies” and others are “for gentlemen.” But as much as I enjoyed her character, I sometimes wondered if maybe she seemed a little too wise and together, given she always seemed to have all the answers and not one drop of uncertainty. Although I can’t think of many qualities she has that would be considered flaws, I feel like she’s just imperfect enough to be realistic. There are times she speaks her mind when it may not be advisable, even if she does tend to be in the right and being outspoken doesn’t get her into as much trouble as one might expect. Given that, the main factor that convinced me was a moment when she realized she’d previously been wrong to dismiss her roommate’s offer of help as not being useful after she’d gained a better understanding of Anglish society.
After putting some thought into it, I ended up deciding that being wise and together fit her character. Although she’s only fifteen years old at the start of the novel, she’s been an adult in her culture for two years at that point. As the older daughter in a family with four children, she’s also been raised to understand how to run a household with the expectation that she’ll take her mother’s place one day, and she’s helped look after her two younger siblings. Her reactions to life among the Anglish showed she was raised in a culture that valued respecting others and allowing them to be who they were so long as they weren’t hurting anyone else. Starting from this point earlier in life seems like it would make it easier to be self-assured and secure in oneself at a younger age, and she wouldn’t have to unpack all the social baggage so many accumulate and end up contending with when they leave home for the first time.
With these qualities, Anequs is the person in the friend group who is always giving good advice, trying to help, and supporting everyone else. The other students and young people around her have more internal conflicts and struggles with figuring out who they want to be and how they can exist in their society. Liberty, an indentured maid with a talent for sewing whom Anequs befriends and crushes on, has had to hide that she is only attracted to other women. Theod, the other Indigenous student (whom Anequs also crushes on), only knows what the Anglish have told him of his heritage, having been raised among them after his parents were executed when he was a child, and is frustrated by Anequs’s refusal to behave as expected and try to blend in. Sander, who becomes Anequs’s friend after he helps her in one of their classes, is often treated poorly and underestimated due to his autism. Marta, Anequs’s roommate as the only other young woman attending the academy, has a lot of the aforementioned social baggage but seems to have a good heart underneath it all—if only she can learn to follow it instead of pursuing status and propriety, which she feels is even more necessary given she’s going into a male-dominated field and is therefore a bit of an oddity.
I enjoyed all these characters and their dynamics with Anequs, and I also appreciated the variety of adults at the academy. Its headmistress is the type who has often been the protagonist in a fantasy novel: she disguised herself as a boy to gain access to the male field of dragoneering when she was young, eventually becoming the first woman in the field. Though she has some clashes with Anequs due to her overall Anglishness and insistence on “proper” behavior—in large part because she realizes there are many people looking for excuses to make her stop doing unusual things like teaching people who aren’t young white men—she’s also advised by the softhearted matron of the house who tends to be sympathetic to the students. The professors range from one who actively tries to sabotage Anequs’s education to one who supports her by showing that she knows a lot more about natural philosophy than she thinks she does when starting his class. Most of the others are between those two: it’s common for them to do things like show surprise at Anequs’s knowledge or make uncomfortable comments related to her people and culture, but they don’t seem to be trying to make her studies any more difficult than they’re supposed to be.
As much as I enjoyed the dragons and the scholastic setting, I found the alternate world and the mythological stories covering subjects like how one of Anequs’s people became the first to bond with a dragon stood out more (and as previously mentioned, I love fantasy of manners). Yet in the end, what I found most memorable was Anequs herself: like many characters in this novel, she was shaped by her background and circumstances, and she showed what formidable strength can come from growing up among those who value community and acceptance. I look forward to reading more about her and seeing where her story goes next in To Ride a Rising Storm.
My Rating: 8/10
Where I got my reading copy: Finished copy from the publisher.
Read/Listen to a Sample from To Shape a Dragon’s Breath
Read Moniquill Blackgoose’s 2023 Women in SF&F Month Essay
