Moniquill Blackgoose’s To Shape a Dragon’s Breath is a fantasy novel set in an alternate 19th-century world where dragons exist and colonial powers run “dragon academies” to control them. When Anequs, a young Indigenous girl from the remote island of Masquapaug, bonds with a dragon, she is forced to attend an Anglish dragon school that wants her obedience, not her culture. As Anequs navigates racist classmates, rigid rules, and the politics of dragon warfare, she refuses to abandon her people’s ways of relating to powerful beings. The book becomes both school story and anti-colonial fantasy, centering Indigenous knowledge in a genre that usually defaults to empire.

WHY WE PICKED IT: Because it’s the rare dragon book that asks who gets to control power and knowledge, and what happens when an Indigenous girl walks into an institution built to erase her. It’s a great pick for readers of Naomi Novik and N. K. Jemisin who want dragons, magic, and a very clear critique of empire.

DETAILS: • Author: Moniquill Blackgoose
• Publisher: Del Rey Books
• Format: Paperback
• Publication Date: May 9, 2023
• ISBN: 9780593498286
• Series: The First Book of Nampeshiweisit
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