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2busyreading's review
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Cancer, Death of parent, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury and Abandonment
Minor: Sexual harassment
lynxpardinus's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Abandonment, Cancer, Grief, Misogyny, Death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Death of parent, and Sexism
Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Physical abuse, War, Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Xenophobia, and Dysphoria
Further warning for descriptions of menstruation.enchantressreads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
sad
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
4.25
When Women Were Dragons takes place in the 1950s, where women's things were not talked about. They were forbidden. When hundreds of thousands of women turn into dragons, everyone tries to sweep it under the rug. It is a tragedy that they refer to as The Day of Missing Mothers, but they refuse to acknowledge what happened to cause this Mass Dragoning. Anyone who dares to discuss, or even study, dragons and dragoning, are quickly silenced, or even shunned from the community. It is just not what we talk about.
We soon learn that the Mass Dragoning of 1956 was not the first time any woman transformed into a dragon. There are stories dotting history, if you look in the right places, dating all the way back to ancient times. These transformations were passed down through history as folklore, but as soon as it became a common occurrence, those stories were no longer appropriate. Even drawing a dragon could get you sent to the principal's office for possible expulsion.
This book is a lot more than simply women turning into dragons, but I prefer to leave that up to the reader to discover. It was beautifully written, and contained so much more between the lines. I really recommend this to any woman, any femme, any marginalized person.
To those worried about possible TERF terminology, I assure you it is not a TERF piece. Trans women and non-binary folks are mentioned with care.
We soon learn that the Mass Dragoning of 1956 was not the first time any woman transformed into a dragon. There are stories dotting history, if you look in the right places, dating all the way back to ancient times. These transformations were passed down through history as folklore, but as soon as it became a common occurrence, those stories were no longer appropriate. Even drawing a dragon could get you sent to the principal's office for possible expulsion.
This book is a lot more than simply women turning into dragons, but I prefer to leave that up to the reader to discover. It was beautifully written, and contained so much more between the lines. I really recommend this to any woman, any femme, any marginalized person.
To those worried about possible TERF terminology, I assure you it is not a TERF piece. Trans women and non-binary folks are mentioned with care.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Sexism
Moderate: Death of parent, Homophobia, and Cancer
Minor: Animal death and Sexual harassment
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