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A review by esknight89
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I agree with other reviews saying that it was hard to get into the story. I remembered hitting the 50% mark in my audiobook and still waiting for the story to pick up the pace. I had been led to believe that this novel was in the same genre as Max Brooks's "Devolution" and "World War Z", a fantasy genre that takes place in the 'real world' and features both solved and unsolvable mysteries about the fantastic elements featured in the book.
That was not what I found here. For the first few chapters I kept thinking the dragons were euphemisms for society's evils and that I had been misled. Eventually I accepted that they were actually real for the characters in the book.
The story never went in the direction I wanted it to, which was somewhat disappointing and somewhat entertaining despite it.
The allegories that the dragons represented in various parts of the story was fairly heavy-handed, in my opinion. Sometimes it seemed like the author was bludgeoning me with them.
Other reviews of this book have mentioned thinking that Alex, the main character, seemed rather slow to realize what was actually happening around her, however I didn't feel that way. Maybe it's because I'm autistic and/or trauma-informed but when someone is literally taught by their society to ignore & suppress thoughts on certain subjects, it's not much of a stretch to know that it can figuratively blind someone to the obvious.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. It didn't wow me but it was entertaining. It was a good palate cleanser for me after I finished reading N.K. Jemison's Broken Earth Trilogy.
That was not what I found here. For the first few chapters I kept thinking the dragons were euphemisms for society's evils and that I had been misled. Eventually I accepted that they were actually real for the characters in the book.
The story never went in the direction I wanted it to, which was somewhat disappointing and somewhat entertaining despite it.
The allegories that the dragons represented in various parts of the story was fairly heavy-handed, in my opinion. Sometimes it seemed like the author was bludgeoning me with them.
Other reviews of this book have mentioned thinking that Alex, the main character, seemed rather slow to realize what was actually happening around her, however I didn't feel that way. Maybe it's because I'm autistic and/or trauma-informed but when someone is literally taught by their society to ignore & suppress thoughts on certain subjects, it's not much of a stretch to know that it can figuratively blind someone to the obvious.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. It didn't wow me but it was entertaining. It was a good palate cleanser for me after I finished reading N.K. Jemison's Broken Earth Trilogy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Death of parent
Moderate: Death of parent and Death