Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan

34 reviews

snerp_reads's review against another edition

Stopped reading after some weird choices for the portrayal of Vystrana that left a bad taste in my mouth. None of the other reviews on here mentioned this, but the entire crafting of their fictional religion was pretty obviously antisemitic. It took me a few pages to catch onto it, but it's very obvious that the Vystrana religion was based on Judaism. The religion of Vystrana in the book was portrayed as backwards, savage, and more superstitious and sexist than the main character's religion. 
I made the connection that she had based their religion off of Judaism when I came across two main details in the book; the specific detail that the villagers use graggers to symbolize their disapproval of her arrival, and a ritual the villagers have of fully submerging themselves in "living waters" (it was straight up just a mikvah).

The villagers were then written forcing the main character to take part in the submersion in front of everyone watching, and she even briefly thought they were going to rob or kill her at this point.

 
I wish authors would quit dragging in their own antisemitism into otherwise perfectly fine books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Animal death, Gore, Kidnapping, and Blood

Moderate: Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexism, and Antisemitism

gummiefox's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Misogyny and Miscarriage

jonwood's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

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

2.5

I liked this audiobook less and less as I continued to listen. Once the narrator gets her chance to go on an exploration, the book lost most of my interest as it seems to become a series of episodes and typecasting of primitive people's religions. When the

husband of the lead dies and I find it anticlimactic and leaves me uncaring something's not working

. Also, I found the narrator's voice too much like a pretentious, condescending professor for me to enjoy listening to her read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and Misogyny

Moderate: Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Death, and Sexual assault

mothmania's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Animal death

Moderate: Violence, Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Colonisation, Gore, and Death

Minor: Kidnapping, Alcohol, Cannibalism, Classism, Drug use, and Pregnancy

latenightnormie's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Moderate: Violence, Religious bigotry, Miscarriage, and Murder

Minor: Blood, Sexual assault, and Misogyny

In general, I enjoyed the pacing of the book. It read like a autobiography but with Lady Trent's reflective musings throughout the telling of the story. The world building is solid though not terribly in-depth when not in use for the plot. All in all, I'll be reading the next book in the because series.

judassilver's review against another edition

This book did a couple things I didn't enjoy: the retrospective interjection of the narrator recalling past events (the "I may be old now..." or "though I didn't know it then" type) and the fantasy names for what is very clearly our modern world. Call an England an England, please, not "Scirland". Also please note that the memoir part of the title weighs much more heavily than the dragon part, this is very much the story of an upper class woman struggling to foster science minded interests in a world of Victorian sensibilities. Set your expectations accordingly. (Most of the dragons featured are dead, suffering captivity, or being hunted. The MC also has some very classist and colonialist beliefs). This book (and series) is well written and definitely has an audience, I just bounced hard off it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Death, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Colonisation, Misogyny, Xenophobia, and Sexism

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail and Miscarriage

lunep's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Violence, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Blood, Death, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Animal death, and Classism

Minor: Cannibalism, Body horror, Death of parent, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, Violence, Death, Rape, Colonisation, Cursing, and Alcohol

readandfindout's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

4.0

Style/writing: 4 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Plot: 4 stars
Worldbuilding: 4 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Death, Animal death, Blood, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Classism, and Miscarriage

Minor: Pregnancy

mnstarr's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexism, and Miscarriage

crunchylettuce's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious relaxing medium-paced

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

5.0

Fictional memoir that reads like a Jane Austen novel combines the fantasy of dragons with scientific discovery. Cannot recommend this one enough, a delightful read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Misogyny and Death

Minor: Miscarriage and Fire/Fire injury