chloemakesbooks 's review for:

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

3.75

emotional medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

---

Although I do think the end of the book could have stood to get a haircut of about 50 pages or so (typical youth fiction author feels the need to play out the entire lives of her characters) the book was an interesting foray into magical realism, with some really difficult hit-too-close-to-home moments and some beautiful passages toward the end. I wish the author had spent more time with the dragons (and clearly, she wanted to, hence the drag toward the end) but what time we did get was lots of fun. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Homophobia, Sexism, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment

Moderate: Alcoholism, Infidelity, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual harassment