To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose
Nampeshiweisit series, Book 1
(2023) 511 pages

Final Rating: 5/10

Blurb:
A young Indigenous woman enters a colonizer-run dragon academy—and quickly finds herself at odds with the “approved” way of doing things—in the first book of this brilliant new fantasy series.

The remote island of Masquapaug has not seen a dragon in many generations—until fifteen-year-old Anequs finds a dragon’s egg and bonds with its hatchling. Her people are delighted, for all remember the tales of the days when dragons lived among them and danced away the storms of autumn, enabling the people to thrive. To them, Anequs is revered as Nampeshiweisit—a person in a unique relationship with a dragon.

Unfortunately for Anequs, the Anglish conquerors of her land have different opinions. They have a very specific idea of how a dragon should be raised, and who should be doing the raising—and Anequs does not meet any of their requirements. Only with great reluctance do they allow Anequs to enroll in a proper Anglish dragon school on the mainland. If she cannot succeed there, her dragon will be killed.

For a girl with no formal schooling, a non-Anglish upbringing, and a very different understanding of the history of her land, challenges abound—both socially and academically. But Anequs is smart, determined, and resolved to learn what she needs to help her dragon, even if it means teaching herself. The one thing she refuses to do, however, is become the meek Anglish miss that everyone expects.

Anequs and her dragon may be coming of age, but they’re also coming to power, and that brings an important realization: the world needs changing—and they might just be the ones to do it.

Review:
I really loved the idea of this book: a Native American girl trying to raise a dragon in an American society, filled with action, new friendships, tensions, and romance. I was so, so excited to see some dragon action, some befriending people of all different races, some romantic balls, and some situations where the main character, Anequs, demonstrates her intelligence. Instead, I was met with dragons behaving more like pets and not being important to the plot; there were stereotypes towards white people from the Indigenous main character; and there was little to no character development in our protagonist!

Anequs is a smart and wise character, and she shows her appreciation for her culture and her intelligence at the very start of the book. However, because of these traits, she is always right about everything. And sometimes, she is so sure of herself, that I even manage to believe her even when I don’t agree with her. For example, she’s so sure that her Native culture follows the best way to live and completely disapproves of the English, or in this book they’re called Anglish, ways. She is perfectly fine with being alone, and she always tells one of her Anglish friends to back off when she tries to bring her to Anglish events. Although I understand that racism towards minorities is horrible, and it absolutely should never be tolerated, that doesn’t mean that you can have stereotypes about the majority because that simply makes you the same as them. 

And again, Anequs always seems to be right about everything. She never gets something wrong, she never faces a problem she doesn’t struggle to solve, and if she does it’s probably a problem that she doesn’t care about enough to solve anyway. This makes her a rather boring character to follow in her story. She doesn’t learn anything in the book, she just confirms how right she was since the beginning.

Another thing that I was really disappointed about was the dragons! I wanted to see more dragon action, cool abilities, and dragon bonding! I wanted Anequs to learn more about her dragon and spend more time with her dragon instead of just immediately forming a bond and then the dragon becomes background noise. All of the dragons are barely distinguishable from house kittens by the last half of the book. That’s how bad this dragon part is.

Lastly, the plot is completely nonexistent. The plot is just this: Anequs is sent to Anglish school, she learns a lot, decides she hates it, and goes back to her home. That’s a simple summary of the storyline. I was mostly reading this book for the polyamory representation, Native American representation, and the historical fantasy school aspect. But I ended up being so bored at the end that I had to skip the last fifty or so pages to finish it. 

But overall, I enjoyed this book. The world-building was immersive and well-thought-through. I loved that there was a system for everything and that I got to learn along with Anequs as she had each class. I loved the secondary characters in this book as well because it made it seem like Anequs really had a special group of friends in her school.

I will continue to read it because I want to see the polyamorous relationship happen! I want to see how Anequs works her relationships out with her two love interests. Healthy polyamory is never represented in literature. In fact, polyamory is barely seen in literature completely, and when it is seen, it usually is the worst representation I’ve ever laid eyes on. Many people have stereotypes about polyamory, thinking it’s mostly for people with shallow feelings who want to cheat on their partners, but in real life, polyamory can be extremely healthy because communication is key. Of course, it is not for everyone, which is totally cool. But it is important that we don’t have any stigmas towards polyamorous relationships, and representation through literature is a great first step.