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leitbrite 's review for:
When Women Were Dragons
by Kelly Barnhill
adventurous
challenging
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Alex Green is a teenager growing up in Wisconsin in the 1950s. When her beloved aunt Marla disappears during the Mass Dragoning of 1955 (an event in which 60,000+ women turned into dragons and flew away) Alex’s parents pretend as if Marla never existed. In fact, most of society wishes to believe that none of the women existed and consider dragons an embarrassing "women's issue." When Alex's mother gets sick, her father leaves Alex alone to care for her adopted cousin—now considered her sister—Beatrice. Bea develops a dangerous curiosity about dragons, which grows stronger as dragonings start happening more frequently. Alex grapples with whether she prefers to know the truth, or to stay blissfully ignorant, like the government and her family want her to.
I loved this book, in premise. And that’s saying a lot for me, as a skeptical, infrequent fantasy reader. I found it a brilliant allegory of women, the LGBTQIA+ community in general, and Trans folx in particular being fed up with abuse and forging a new world for themselves while the government tries to cover it up and shame people for asking questions. But the execution wasn’t great. It was SO repetitive at times. The plot took forever to advance. The flashback scenes with dragon researcher Dr. Henry Gantz were helpful for context, but I could have used 75% less. There were several plot holes and worldbuilding contradictions. I hate that the dragons still carried purses and wore lipstick, and after escaping their earthly bounds, still had to come back and solve everyone’s problems. Should have been a short story and badly needed an editor.
I loved this book, in premise. And that’s saying a lot for me, as a skeptical, infrequent fantasy reader. I found it a brilliant allegory of women, the LGBTQIA+ community in general, and Trans folx in particular being fed up with abuse and forging a new world for themselves while the government tries to cover it up and shame people for asking questions. But the execution wasn’t great. It was SO repetitive at times. The plot took forever to advance. The flashback scenes with dragon researcher Dr. Henry Gantz were helpful for context, but I could have used 75% less. There were several plot holes and worldbuilding contradictions. I hate that the dragons still carried purses and wore lipstick, and after escaping their earthly bounds, still had to come back and solve everyone’s problems. Should have been a short story and badly needed an editor.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Sexism, Terminal illness, Death of parent, Gaslighting
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Transphobia, Abandonment