Review: When Women Were Dragons, by Kelly Barnhill

 

Alex Green is a young girl in a world much like ours, except for its most seminal event: the Mass Dragoning of 1955, when hundreds of thousands of ordinary wives and mothers sprouted wings, scales, and talons; left a trail of fiery destruction in their path; and took to the skies. Was it their choice? What will become of those left behind? Why did Alex’s beloved aunt Marla transform but her mother did not? Alex doesn’t know. It’s taboo to speak of.
Forced into silence, Alex nevertheless must face the consequences of this astonishing event: a mother more protective than ever; an absentee father; the upsetting insistence that her aunt never even existed; and watching her beloved cousin Bea become dangerously obsessed with the forbidden.

“What is grief, but love that’s lost its object?”. Kelly Barnhill's When Women Were Dragons is a powerful exploration of sisterhood, grief, motherhood, and mysogyny, a timeless feminist tale. In this alternate world, all throughout history women have been becoming dragons, and each time their so-called "dragoning" was erased from history. Dragoning is seen as inherently female and wrong and almost impure, not a subject for polite company. The protagonist, Alex, struggles at first with this obligation to silence, uncomprehending of the reasons behind such a prohibition.

There is a long string of injustices in this novel that make one want to dragon oneself. As a young girl in the Fifties, Alex faces the discrimination of her gender and, too, of her orientation, when she's separated from her childhood friend who's obviously becoming so much more. She cultivates with her little cousin a relationship that becomes stronger as time passes and, too, almost obsessive, marred by fear of additional loss. Bea is a firecracker, a vivacious kid that dreams of the sky and doesn't seem to understand the dangers of showing it.

But there's not only injustice. Alex has allies, people in her life that see her struggle and try to help. There's the librarian, Mrs. Gyzinska, set on truth and liberation - and this book is also a powerful story about the importance of libraries; there's the ever elusive Dr. Gantz, popping up at first in pamphlets and in sparse chapters recounting the long history of dragoning in the world. There's dragons, so many dragons freeing themselves from the shackles of their lives. And there's joy, at the end, joy and understanding but also loss.

The relationships between mothers and sisters and daughters and nieces is so beautifully explored, it made me want to cry. We don't really know our parents, we think we know everything, but we don't know their inner lives. When Alex consumes herself with grief over what-ifs, she is all of us. When she rages at seemingly becoming her own mother, she is all of us. When she reflects over loss, over making your peace with things, she is all of us.

When Women Were Dragons is a stunning story about overcoming oppression.

✨ 5 stars

Review: Stone and Steel, by Eboni J. Dunbar

 

When General Aaliyah returns triumphant to the city of Titus, she expects to find the people prospering under the rule of her Queen, the stone mage Odessa. Instead, she finds a troubling imbalance in both the citizens’ well-being and Odessa’s rule. Aaliyah must rely on all of her allies, old and new, to do right by the city that made her.

“Gods forbid you should be your own sword”. Eboni J. Dunbar's Stone and Steel is a very short novella about the corruption of power. Aaliyah returns to the city whose King she helped usurpe to find that her adoptive sister (and lover) made Queen isn't taking care of the people. What follows is a fast journey as the author speeds through what could have made a really intruiguing novel. The bare bones are interesting enough, with a love triangle with another orphan who grew up beside Aaliyah as well, and a background that might feel generic but has some depth.

The novella excelled in showing the relationship between characters in a few strokes, building a believable camaraderie between Aaliyah and her retinue, and a toxic romance with her Queen; you can feel that Odessa is used to have her way by any means necessary. Her magical tantrums are mentioned as happening since early childhood. The political side of things could have used some more work, especially as the narration turned to another country. There's a few typos here and there, and a few lines of dialogue seem to be in the wrong paragraph so that it's not exactly clear who's speaking, but these problems could be easily waved away with a good editor.

Stone and Steel is a good stepping stone for readers interested in exploring afro-fantasy.

✨ 3.5 stars

Snippet: When the Angels left the Old Country, by Sacha Lamb

 

Uriel the angel and Little Ash (short for Ashmedai) are the only two supernatural creatures in their shtetl (which is so tiny, it doesn't have a name other than Shtetl). The angel and the demon have been studying together for centuries, but pogroms and the search for a new life have drawn all the young people from their village to America. When one of those young emigrants goes missing, Uriel and Little Ash set off to find her.
Along the way the angel and demon encounter humans in need of their help, including Rose Cohen, whose best friend (and the love of her life) has abandoned her to marry a man, and Malke Shulman, whose father died mysteriously on his way to America. But there are obstacles ahead of them as difficult as what they’ve left behind. Medical exams (and demons) at Ellis Island. Corrupt officials, cruel mob bosses, murderers, poverty. The streets are far from paved with gold.

This is a lovely immigrant tale. Sacha Lamb's When the Angels left the Old Country will seem very familiar to Good Omens fans, but Jewish culture permeates the narration and the story couldn't be more different, a tale of antisemitism, friendship, and justice. The relationship between the genderless angel and the small demon is the best part of the book, but all the small interations with all the people they met on the way are truly delightful, and Rose is a perfect co-protagonist.

✨ 4 stars

Review: The Final Strife, by Saara El-Arifi

 

Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the empire from the red-blooded ruling classes’ tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes. Anoor has been told she’s nothing, no one, a disappointment, by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the empire. But when Sylah and Anoor meet, a fire burns between them that could consume the kingdom—and their hearts. Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: it can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. And when she joins forces with Sylah and Anoor, together these grains of sand will become a storm.

"A world run by people who think they are better will never be better for everyone". Saara El-Arifi's The Final Strife is a stunning debut with roots in african and arabian mythology that will haunt you and break your heart, exploring issues of xenophobia, class struggle, child abuse and slavery with a deft hand. One of the main characters also has a drug addiction that she must learn to overcome, her need for it born from her past and her terrible living conditions as she's a member of a lower cast.

In this small world, nightly plagued by strong hurricanes, people are divided by the color of their blood, ensuring a reign of oppression that borders on inhumane, with quarterings and a systematic mutilation of an entire caste, rendering the clear-blooded caste mute and handless, relying on a silent language to communicate with each other. The occasional depictions of such brutal acts are vivid, and highlight the injustice and pain and terror the population is feeling. In the backrop of this brewed a revolution that was quelled soon, but it's not too late to change things for the better.

The blood magic system is incredibly well-developed and the snippets of worldbuilding, leading up to major revelations, introduce a world which is much larger that we anticipated, turning what seemed to be a typical "tournament fantasy" into something much more exciting. For the first half of the book the conflict is slow-developing, but things finally kick into high-gear with a couple well-timed revelations and strong moments of characterization. Unfortunately while two of the POV characters have much focus, the third one doesn't get much; I'm hoping she'll be more explored in later installments.

This book is marketed as a wlw friends-to-lovers and while that does happen eventually, and it's beautiful and tender and throughout the book we can see all these little moments as the two POV characters grow close to each other, this is more of a triangle situation where one of the characters is bisexual and first has a relationship with a childhood non-POV male friend, before finally turning to the other female character. Which is fine! Give me some conflict. But it's marketed in such a way that I don't expect the male character to be a love interest at all, and when it happend it threw me for a loop for a good chunk of the book.

The Final Strife is an incredile novel about oppression.

✨ 4 stars