When Women Were Dragons

by Kelly Barnhill

Overall: Yes, there are dragons in this book. But if you’re looking for a fantasy world with swords and sorcery, you won’t find it here. Set in an alternate mid-20^th century, almost everything is familiar. Except sometimes women spontaneously turn into dragons. And in 1955, in a traumatic event suppressed by the government, thousands of women turned into dragons at the same time. Alex Green’s Aunt Marla, an iconoclastic pilot, mechanic, and mother of a small girl, was one of them. Alex finds herself increasingly hemmed in by the ironclad gender roles of her American society, in which there’s no place for a girl who excels at math. She tries to be a good big sister to Bea, who used to be her cousin, as her parents’ marriage disintegrates. And all the while, the booklet Aunt Marla gave her before “dragoning” – the book she’s been told to keep hidden – weighs on her mind.

Likes: I loved the style and tone of this book. It’s almost allegory, the way Lessons in Chemistry is almost a fairytale, but it’s so grounded in the details of its characters that it feels very real. Alex is a great, if at times frustrating, main character. Watching her try to do what’s expected of her while her heart and mind are pulling her in another direction is gut-wrenching.  There are a lot of complex girls and women in this book – no one is perfect, and it takes a while to untangle the motives behind their choices.  As a bonus, anyone who’s ever experienced rage and frustration about inequality and discrimination will find the actions of the dragons oh-so-satisfying! Although not the main subject, the book treats LGBTQIA+ themes with a deft hand, making clear that trans women also dragon and all people and relationships should be treated equally and with respect. The ending wrapped things up without being overly neat and tidy.

Dislikes: The middle of the book slowed down for a bit, but just a bit. A few of the characters are almost caricatures. But these very minor quibbles did not diminish my enjoyment of this fun and thought-provoking read!

FYI: misogyny, prejudice, abandonment of a child, a few brief references to violence, death of a parent.