Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

34 reviews

scarlett_f's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Death, Grief, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Lesbophobia, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Chronic illness, Homophobia, Cancer, Toxic relationship, Misogyny, and Outing

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcoholism, Biphobia, and Addiction

Minor: Sexual content, Cursing, Infidelity, Pregnancy, and Panic attacks/disorders

hannahpings's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

didn't really grip me until the third act, which was wonderful––and retrospectively enhanced the first and second, closing a loop and tying off a careful and intricate knot that barnhill began on dragons' first page. some strong craftmanship and a remarkably well-earned emotional payoff that i'm not ashamed to say made me weep.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Misogyny, Cancer, Grief, Abandonment, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Sexism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Alcohol

Minor: War and Violence

kistasaurus's review against another edition

emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Misogyny, Sexism, and Grief

Moderate: Terminal illness, Abandonment, Homophobia, Infidelity, Lesbophobia, Cancer, Death, and Death of parent

Minor: Physical abuse and Alcoholism

romy91's review against another edition

funny lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A fun and interesting concept. Addresses some interesting concepts around gender and civil rights. FMC sometimes challenging as she is a child for a good chunk of the book and is somewhat unreliable, but becomes clearer as she ages.

*minor spoiler*




Particularly enjoyed the moment when the dragon woman commented that the only reason she didn’t eat her abusive husband was because she wanted to save herself the indigestion!

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Cancer, Child abuse, Alcoholism, Infidelity, and Death of parent

mamaewalk's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Creative, unique, and utterly badass story. Reads like a memoir. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Gaslighting, Abandonment, Death of parent, and Misogyny

Minor: Cancer, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Physical abuse, Violence, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Child abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War, Fire/Fire injury, and Panic attacks/disorders

ephermeyal's review against another edition

hopeful reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Misogyny, and Sexism

Moderate: Infidelity, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Gaslighting, Cancer, Grief, Death of parent, and Homophobia

Minor: War and Sexual violence

lady_valhella's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

The societal challenges women face are  so briliantly and ridiculously exposed in this book. Well maybe not exposed. But the analogy of how we don’t talk about all of the issues that affect us because it is indicent or inappropriate to talk about our reproductive health or our desires or our pain. How the society we built prefers to pretend those things don’t exist and yet we persist and defy and thrive. Thank you for writing this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexism

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Alcoholism, Cancer, and Chronic illness

tamara_joy's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Sexism, Misogyny, Transphobia, and Homophobia

Moderate: Grief, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, and Alcoholism

Minor: Death of parent, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Cancer, and Fire/Fire injury

jennmichelle_otsr's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I really did love this read, but something is keeping me from giving it five stars. Some of the imagery in the second half made me want to grab my sketchbook because Ms. Barnhill painted some vivid pictures with her words. I think ultimately the reason I am giving it a 4.75 is because at points the main messages got a little more heavy-handed than was needed. It is a beautiful story. It made me laugh, cry, and made me get angry at points (I’m looking at you, Mr. Green.). Good stories do that. They also make you look back at things when they pop up later. Strong threads go throughout this entire tale. Blending in history with the fantasy was a stroke of genius.  It will probably be among my top reads of 2024 when all is said and done because I really did enjoy it. I want to read some of the author’s YA books now.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Cancer, Infidelity, Sexism, Terminal illness, and Violence

The prom sequence gets a little graphic when it is finally spelled out what happens during a dragoning.

rachel101's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was slow to start but definitely worth staying with, I was completely lost in it and couldn’t put it down…

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Content Warnings

Minor: Violence, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Cancer, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Death of parent, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Panic attacks/disorders