Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - When Women Were Dragons

The premise of the book is interesting, women suddenly turning into dragons and societies denial of the existence of dragons. This book took me forever to finish, I kept picking it up and putting it down. I found myself skipping pages at a time, I was only interested in Alex and Beatrice's story. I found myself angry at the misogyny Alex faced, "no point getting an education when you'll just become a wife and mother", it was infuriating and testament to how women deal with adversity.
I loved the female rage aspect of the book,

when the dragons attack the abusive men in their lives, I wish Alex got her revenge on her teacher, he was insufferable.

It just failed to hold my interest and I struggled through this book, determined not to dnf

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grubrednuf's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

This book utterly destroyed me. When I saw the book dedication to Christine Blassey Ford I anticipated a hard read. The first page was intriguing and hooked me but the story was slow to 'get to the point' already, once it did I could not put it down- I had to know how it ended.

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tostita's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

4.75

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machenn's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

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cryfest's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

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ciwanski's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

I enjoyed this book, but I didn’t love it. It was a very interesting concept but it kind of fell flat for me. The story follows the path of the main character’s refusal to acknowledge the truths about the world in front of her, and I felt like it took a bit too long to get to her turning point. I also felt like the timing was just a little off throughout the whole book.

I also thought that knots being magical would come more to the forefront with there being such a big importance of them through her mom’s eye. That was dropped pretty suddenly and only vaguely referred to in the second half of the book.

Vague is how I’d describe a lot of the concepts in this book. We were introduced to the idea of women turning into dragons in the way of this novel being a sort of field notes where we’d get the answer in the end, but all the answers were vague. When the main character explained that she finally understood, I, as the reader, only vaguely did. Maybe that’s on me for not being more intuitive, but it all just felt a little too abstract when I needed just a piece of something concrete. Maybe that’s the point, though, and it’s a big ol point about science and exploration and discoveries and the fact of never truly being sure of anything in this world. Hm.

Overall though, this was an excellent depiction of girlhood and womanhood (in my opinion). I thought the language was stunning, and I would definitely read more of Barnhill’s work!

Here are some quotes I enjoyed:
“You make yourselves fools when you try to classify the quest for understanding as obscene. The only thing more patently obscene than ignorance is willful ignorance.”
“We looked out for one another. Even when we weren’t particularly good friends. We all learned that this was the sort of thing that superseded friendship—it was deeper, and older, and more important.”
“Who benefits, my dear, when you force yourself to not feel angry? Clearly not you.”
“I contend that it was not the loss that hurt the culture, but the pressure to ignore that loss. The pressure to forget.”

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lqvekanej's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

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ka_ke's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

Calling all feminists, this book is a must read. A carefully balance mix of fantasy and memories, When Women Were Dragons shares the stories and the struggles of those who fought for the rights we have (for now at least) so that we may preserve their memories and work towards a better future.

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