A review by kaitisbooknook
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Alex is a young girl growing up in the 1960s in a world much like our own, except for one key difference: in 1955 thousands of women simultaneously became dragons and flew from society to never be seen again. Her aunt was one of these women, but her family refuses to acknowledge her existence, much in the same way the government and the rest of the world refuse to discuss the event at all, or that women are still dragoning, and no one seems to know why.
This was one of my personally most anticipated releases of the summer, but I’m ultimately disappointed in the result. For me, one of the biggest failings of the novel was choosing to market this as adult fantasy, when the narrator is under the age of 18 for the vast majority of the story. Her age and limited world view gives the reader and incredibly narrow scope of the events of the time period, and a childlike outlook on all topics broached in the tale, including things like menstruation, spousal  abuse, workers’ rights, sexual assault, gender identity and segregation — the final of these being the biggest failing of all.
 Barnhill sets up the fight for “dragons’ rights” seemingly as a metaphor for the feminist movement (dragoning itself as a product of both feminine joy and female rage,) but events in this protest mimic exact occurrence of the civil rights movement, specifically segregation in the workplace and in school. This is hardly fleshed out at all, and race is only briefly mentioned, which would suggest that Barnhill is saying all women have faced an equal amount of oppression throughout history. This isn’t even a matter of opinion, it’s just factually incorrect. This is set in a fantastical world, but the mythology behind dragons is also never fully realized, so we have no choice but to treat this as if we are looking at American history, and ultimately it just does not work. I do believe Barnhill had good intentions, but it reads like someone who was only recently introduced to intersectional feminism and is not in a position to be educating others. 
If you are looking for a sapphic fantasy romance as this novel seemed to be marketed across the internet, this is not the book for you. However, if you have little experience reading about female rage and feminist concepts as a whole, I do believe this is a good introduction to the topic, especially in a young adult framing. 
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