100,000/10 ⭐ I haven't felt this way after reading a book since reading Babel by R.F. Kuang, and in all honesty, I almost loved this more. One of my favourite aspects of the story, aside from the plot and characters, was the narrative. The chapter titles told a story all on their own, and it felt like I was hearing a tale from a storyteller, rather than reading it myself. From reading other reviews, I realized that this method of storytelling, which at times and to some extent feels more like telling rather than showing, isn't for everyone, but it made it very engaging and easy to follow along with for me.

To Shape a Dragon's Breath is a historical fiction taking place in the 1800s. An amazing exploration of colonization and forced assimilation through a fantastical lens. The story follows Anequs, a young woman, indigenous to Masquapaug, who discovers the dragon egg of a thought extinct species. This forces her attendance at an Anglish school, acting as a catalyst for tensions between the indigenous populations and the Anglish settlers. The story is incredibly thought-out, introducing a diverse cast, a wide range of religious and mythological beliefs, and creating its own science that leaves me feeling completely lost whenever it comes up. The queer and disability rep in this book was handled beautifully, and I'm incredibly eager to see where the story takes a lot of the plot points presented in this first book.

Anequs, our main character, was a breath of fresh air for me. I recently dnf'd a book because the FMC felt weak in a couple of ways that started grating on me, and while I was initially worried about that, Anequd proved to be one of the strongest protagonists I've seen recently. Her strength is in her love and understanding of her people, herself, and what she wants her place to be in the world to be. She actively stands up for what she believes to be true and never once relented to what the colonialist powers were trying to make of her.

I genuinely loved each and every character, even the characters I hated. I understood the motivations behind every character's actions and decisions. Besides Anequs, my favourite characters as of right now are easily Theod and Sander. Each one of them presents such deep and complicated situations that I thoroughly enjoyed exploring through the book. I loved watching each of them come out of their respective shells due to their exposure to Anequs and her way of thinking and looking at the world.

I have been approved for the arc of the second book (which releases in like 5 days 😅), so I'm ridiculously excited to dig into that and see how the story continues.