Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Historia naturalna smoków by Marie Brennan

39 reviews

judassilver's review against another edition

This book did a couple things I didn't enjoy: the retrospective interjection of the narrator recalling past events (the "I may be old now..." or "though I didn't know it then" type) and the fantasy names for what is very clearly our modern world. Call an England an England, please, not "Scirland". Also please note that the memoir part of the title weighs much more heavily than the dragon part, this is very much the story of an upper class woman struggling to foster science minded interests in a world of Victorian sensibilities. Set your expectations accordingly. (Most of the dragons featured are dead, suffering captivity, or being hunted. The MC also has some very classist and colonialist beliefs). This book (and series) is well written and definitely has an audience, I just bounced hard off it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Miscarriage and Injury/Injury detail

lunep's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Mental illness, Miscarriage, and Classism

Minor: Body horror, Cursing, Death, Rape, Violence, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Colonisation

readandfindout's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

4.0

Style/writing: 4 stars
Themes: 4.5 stars
Characters: 4 stars
Plot: 4 stars
Worldbuilding: 4 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Miscarriage, and Classism

Minor: Pregnancy

mnstarr's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Sexism

crunchylettuce's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Fictional memoir that reads like a Jane Austen novel combines the fantasy of dragons with scientific discovery. Cannot recommend this one enough, a delightful read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence

Moderate: Death and Misogyny

Minor: Miscarriage and Fire/Fire injury

madzie's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.0

Brennan mashes the voices of early English women writers like Austen and the Brontes with scientific notes and realistic fantasy. She excels at worldbuilding and seamlessly fits dragons into Victorian Europe. Her world of dragons is sensical and easy to follow. The dragons feel very real, and you can imagine being a part of this world. However, while Brennan thrives in her exploration of dragons, she leaves me questioning other parts of her world and how it differs from our own historical one. Often, Brennan's exploration of sexism is intriguing, as it is central to the story, but falls short, not incorporating the entire picture, even illustrating that women can only be strong if they show masculine traits, which seems to go against the same theme she is attempting to portray. Other themes follow suit, often making a good attempt at deep ideas but leaving me with questions about the whole picture, especially from a historical perspective.

However, Brennan creates a nicely written plot with a good twist at the end. Throughout, I got bored with the lack of details. Although seemingly purposeful due to attempting to draw in scientific writing, it leaves me again wanting more and never really feeling like part of the story. Perhaps more of a success is her incorporation of Victorian writing, which echoes history while still being accessible to modern audiences, as well as less pretentious. Occasionally, I felt the sentence variety was lacking, especially in action scenes. Lady Trent herself is an intriguing character, who did leave me feeling for her by the end of the novel. Overall, I felt like the book stayed in the middle ground, perhaps rising above for other readers, especially those more interested in scientific explanations and writings over story flow and details.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, and Xenophobia

Moderate: Miscarriage, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Classism

ophycore's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Grief, and Classism

Minor: Miscarriage, Death of parent, and Pregnancy

kalira's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Racism and Religious bigotry

jackiepreston's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail

attackrat's review against another edition

This book is very whimsical and fun and it rekindled my love for dragons but I’m really put off by the aggressive and prominent nature of gender expectations and limitations in this book. It’s bringing me down at the moment so I think I’ll read it some other time. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death and Misogyny