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niyou's review
emotional
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? Yes
2.0
This book would have been much better as a novella or short story. In such a format the glaring whiteness of the characters and feminism might have been less obvious. Barnhill includes one (1) brief anecdote about African Americans. Indigenous peoples do not exist in this book. Towards the end of the story, the author goes full white savior with dragons advocating for minorities, educating foreign war lords and, get this, winning the Nobel Peace Price for it lmao.
Someone publishing work in 2022 should know more and be better. Maybe Barnhill only writes what she knows, and if that is the case I urge her to step out of her bland little bubble and meet the rest of the world.
Someone publishing work in 2022 should know more and be better. Maybe Barnhill only writes what she knows, and if that is the case I urge her to step out of her bland little bubble and meet the rest of the world.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Homophobia, and Misogyny
aocean's review against another edition
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia
Moderate: Domestic abuse
bisexualwentworth's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.
If you know me at all, then you'll know that I am currently on a quest to find good books with both dragons and queer characters, so naturally I was very excited for this one. And it definitely delivered on the sapphics + dragons front, but I'm not totally sure it delivered as a book.
When Women Were Dragons is mostly the fictional memoir of a girl named Alex who grows us just after the Mass Dragoning of the 1950s, when thousands of women spontaneously turn into dragons, many of them burning down their homes and/or eating their husbands.
Dragoning is a vehicle for female rage and for these characters to find freedom, and I thought that the actual dragon parts of the book were fascinating and compelling. Alex's story is interspersed with various news articles and studies about the dragons, and I found all of them more compelling than her actual fake memoir stuff.
It wasn't that I disliked Alex as a character. I thought that her whole arc was a fascinating study in internalized misogyny and parental abuse and gaslighting. I loved her relationship with her sister. I liked that she was a sapphic woman in STEM. If this book had been straightforward historical fiction, I probably would have liked Alex's stuff more, but I cannot express how frustrating it was to read a book about dragons where the main character doesn't believe in dragons until about 3/4 of the way through. Alex was also very Not Like Other Girls, but that was definitely the point.
I very much think the author accomplished what she set out to with this book. I just also think that it could have done a lot more.
Misc things I liked:
If you know me at all, then you'll know that I am currently on a quest to find good books with both dragons and queer characters, so naturally I was very excited for this one. And it definitely delivered on the sapphics + dragons front, but I'm not totally sure it delivered as a book.
When Women Were Dragons is mostly the fictional memoir of a girl named Alex who grows us just after the Mass Dragoning of the 1950s, when thousands of women spontaneously turn into dragons, many of them burning down their homes and/or eating their husbands.
Dragoning is a vehicle for female rage and for these characters to find freedom, and I thought that the actual dragon parts of the book were fascinating and compelling. Alex's story is interspersed with various news articles and studies about the dragons, and I found all of them more compelling than her actual fake memoir stuff.
It wasn't that I disliked Alex as a character. I thought that her whole arc was a fascinating study in internalized misogyny and parental abuse and gaslighting. I loved her relationship with her sister. I liked that she was a sapphic woman in STEM. If this book had been straightforward historical fiction, I probably would have liked Alex's stuff more, but I cannot express how frustrating it was to read a book about dragons where the main character doesn't believe in dragons until about 3/4 of the way through. Alex was also very Not Like Other Girls, but that was definitely the point.
I very much think the author accomplished what she set out to with this book. I just also think that it could have done a lot more.
Misc things I liked:
- Sapphic polyamorous dragons!
- All of the later stuff with the dragons was generally really interesting
- Fuck the dad oh my god (compliments to the author)
Misc things I did not like:
- Dragoning is a metaphor for menstruation for a LOT of this book. That's fine, but it made the later attempts at including trans women feel kind of hollow
- Are all of the dragons white? People of color are mentioned in this book, but all the dragons we meet are former white women
Anyway, just don't expect this sapphic dragon book to actually be about the dragons and instead expect it to be about a teen girl who loves math and has massive amounts of internalized misogyny.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Misogyny, and Death of parent
Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, and Cancer
dreamweaver's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Minor: Homophobia
asa_s_16's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
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? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Moderate: Lesbophobia and Homophobia
Minor: Emotional abuse
amiegold's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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? Yes
4.0
I liked this book, it was reflective and emotional and really made you think in a way that was unique and refreshing. It is a book that has quite a bit of feminist rage. I wish that some of the other avenues for explored with that, such as having some positive male and female interactions. But all in all, I enjoyed it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Sexism
themirrorball's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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
3.75
great characters, interesting premise, beautiful writing style, but felt like it was underdeveloped and left me feeling like it missed the mark.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Sexism, Cancer, Death of parent, and Misogyny
Moderate: Lesbophobia and Homophobia
kylieqrada's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
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
4.5
I was surprised by how much I loved this. Heartfelt, righteously angry, gorgeously written, intersectional for the most part. I may have drawn some unintended parallels to transness and gender, but it just seemed so clear to me! Highly recommend this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Abandonment, and Sexism
Moderate: Cancer, Grief, and Homophobia
bkay1820's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Death of parent, Homophobia, Cancer, and Sexism
juliaureads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
mysterious
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? No
4.5
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
"Anger is a funny thing. And it does funny things to us if we keep it inside. I encourage you to consider a question: Who benefits, my dear, when you force yourself to not feel angry?" She tilted her head and looked at me so hard I thought she could see right into my bones. She raised her eyebrows. "Clearly not you.”
We all know I love a story about women getting mysterious powers, so of course, I had to grab this over the summer.
When Women Were Dragons is a historical fiction/magical realism/alternate history where the world reacts to a "mass dragoning" - one day a bunch of women leave their homes and families and turn into dragons, never to be seen again.
We see these events through the eyes of two sisters - one who was old enough to understand what happened, the other too young to remember. They both come of age in a world that doesn't speak of dragons, and certainly not of the ones who left.
The most resonant part of this story for me was not the dragoning itself, but society's reaction to it. Society chooses to sweep the dragoning under the rug. Speaking about family members who left becomes taboo - everyone simply moves on without explanation or finding out why.
The culture of silence and avoidance hit deeply, coming from a conservative Catholic family, I am familiar with these coping mechanisms - seeing them on a global scale in this world threw everything into sharp relief.
I highly recommend this to anyone looking for historical fiction that hits differently. Lightly sapphic (romance is certainly not the main plotline), this is a coming-of-age story that dives into how the questions of our past can shape our future.
"Anger is a funny thing. And it does funny things to us if we keep it inside. I encourage you to consider a question: Who benefits, my dear, when you force yourself to not feel angry?" She tilted her head and looked at me so hard I thought she could see right into my bones. She raised her eyebrows. "Clearly not you.”
We all know I love a story about women getting mysterious powers, so of course, I had to grab this over the summer.
When Women Were Dragons is a historical fiction/magical realism/alternate history where the world reacts to a "mass dragoning" - one day a bunch of women leave their homes and families and turn into dragons, never to be seen again.
We see these events through the eyes of two sisters - one who was old enough to understand what happened, the other too young to remember. They both come of age in a world that doesn't speak of dragons, and certainly not of the ones who left.
The most resonant part of this story for me was not the dragoning itself, but society's reaction to it. Society chooses to sweep the dragoning under the rug. Speaking about family members who left becomes taboo - everyone simply moves on without explanation or finding out why.
The culture of silence and avoidance hit deeply, coming from a conservative Catholic family, I am familiar with these coping mechanisms - seeing them on a global scale in this world threw everything into sharp relief.
I highly recommend this to anyone looking for historical fiction that hits differently. Lightly sapphic (romance is certainly not the main plotline), this is a coming-of-age story that dives into how the questions of our past can shape our future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Gaslighting, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Sexism