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1.36k reviews for:

The Women Could Fly

Megan Giddings

3.73 AVERAGE

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-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: Yes
challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The best take on witches I've ever read. Feminist, too honest, beautifully written. I loved the ending.
dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

I liked the book but it was too slow for me
challenging reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
emotional inspiring medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

While I enjoyed the process of reading this book when it was more focused on interpersonal relationships and Jo's emotions when dealing with a government that works against her, the actual system of witchcraft accusations felt far too heavy-handed to the point where I was rolling my eyes at some of the ways in which it expressed itself. I think there was a way it could have been done well, but as it is now it felt like it was flattening the systems that oppress women a bit too much. Jo's sense of humor was also a bit cringy at times, especially regarding her comedy videos with her friend. I found that the relationship between Jo and the person on the island developed too quickly and her relationship with her roommate was, at least initially, discarded too quickly. Overall, an interesting read, but I think if it wasn't so heavy-handed that the book would have improved greatly. 
dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

4.5 stars
Named characters: 17

Imagine it’s present day, but the US is still in the depths of the red scare. The government is still tasked with investigating if there are communists, writing laws that make it difficult for you to be accused of communism, and it’s not illegal to be persecuted for being a communist. That is this book but replace communism with witchcraft. Women are vilified, investigated, and controlled in order to prevent witchcraft. The world-building is so so good!! Examples: Witches must be registered by the government, you can major in witch studies at university, there are museums that display bewitched artifacts, any unmarried woman over 30 is deemed suspicious of witchcraft, there are religious groups that are trying to write stricter witchcraft laws, and children are taught in school what witchcraft looks like and how to report someone.

There is also a lot of interesting discussion on what witchcraft actually is. Typical signs of witchcraft include the usual “flying on a broom, burning from holy water, etc” but you can also be accused of witchcraft for things that no one can prove. For example, did your elderly neighbor die in their sleep? Did you win the lottery? Did you cheat on your wife because an “evil spirit came upon you”? Did a woman ask for a divorce? None of that has to do with personal responsibility or random occurrences! Just blame a woman and say she is a witch. If something is ambiguously witchy, men will always err on the side that it’s witchcraft, especially if they want to disempower an unruly woman. The insidiousness of it all is completely terrifying because I can actually imagine a world where women are oppressed like this.

Spoilers for the ending
I’m not going to lie, I really wanted to read how Jo brought the whole damn system down. But the reality is that the laws, and how people feel about witches are very entrenched, and there is no way she could have done so easily. The ending is like a spark of hope in a long tunnel of darkness.