To Shape a Dragon's Breath

I'm not going to rate this one because I'm absolutely not the right audience for it (I would no longer consider myself a fantasy reader, I don't particularly care for long books and YA is most often not my thing).

The main character got on my nerves because she was a teenager acting like one, I felt like nothing much happened except the dynamics between the characters which evolved a little and the dragons that grew. If I had read this one as a younger reader, I would have probably adored it though.

What to say about this book. It's beloved but didn't hit for me.

I loved the start (though I wished it would hurry along a tad. Took too many pages to get to the school) and I ADORE the neurodivergent rep in this. The characters leapt from the page but that's where my enjoyed of this ended.

There is a tension that is missing throughout the narrative if this book. A threat of the MC loosing her dragon if she fails and yet it's mentioned once with no tension after or fear. Things happened in this book but they failed to connect in a cohesive plot. Little to no character development. It was boring.


I wanted more from the book. More exploration on the school and frankly more dragons. For a dragon book there is very little dragons in it.

Seeing the life native Americans lived through the lense of the MC was a lovely insight. I enjoyed the culture and their ways immensely.

It's a shame this book failed for me I started off loving it.

TWs: Discrimination

“What's wrong with living the way our ancestors have always lived?

3.5 rounded down.. or is it a 4?? I don't know!! I really enjoyed the aspects and the topics of indigenous people, their traditions/cultures, and being placed into a colonized, modern world. A topic and question still important to our current modern world as many cultures shift into modernization and integration of technology.

The con for me was also the pacing, repetition, and the odd romance (I say odd because I personally did not expect it lol). Much of the action happens at the very end of the book, so the pacing confused me quite a bit throughout the book. The writing was not my cup of tea, perhaps it is because it's a YA book.