Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

Viuda de hierro by Xiran Jay Zhao

50 reviews

tinyjude's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional relaxing fast-paced

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

4.5

I support women's rights but I also support women's wrongs, which means I am a tiny bit obsessed with female powerful angry women. Zetian my queen, destroy everything! She kind of becomes a morally terrible person and I am living for it. I needed more characters doing horrible stuff.

She is definitely a character partly defined by her anger and defiance to the system. Patriarchy is lenthly tackled and criticized in this world. Even though she has her "I am not like the other girls" slightly annoying moments, she is an incredible character. I hope she is able to find and befriend many other women like her, which is what this book lacked (a lot, I dare say for a feminist book, but nothing that a sequel cannot fix). Kind of wishing she befriends now the other bitchy female pilote, I want some enemies to friends. I think they both could be fcking neat. Also, I think it would have also been good to add a few scenes with her sister in order to get a better idea of how she was, so that we care deeply about her.

I loved the worldbuilding but, most of all, A POLY RELATIONSHIP FULL OF CHAOTIC BISEXUAL PEOPLE. LETS GOOOOOO. Yizhi being the lawfully good boyfriend who makes a snack for his murderous girlfriend and boyfriend... oh, I love them. I hope we get a lot more cute and domestic scenes between them and, ehem, Zetian said she can also be attracted to women so... GIVE HER A GIRLFRIEND IN THE NEXT BOOK I BEG

Anyway, morally grey characters, a lot of murder and torture, chinese history mixed with modern technology, criticism about patriarchy and a poly relationship, very good food :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Misogyny, War, Sexism, Torture, and Trafficking

Moderate: Body shaming, Suicide attempt, Addiction, Fatphobia, Violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

solarel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I absolutely loved it. So rarely do I see that primal justice we crave when wrong has been done to us. So rarely do we see a woman allowed to be wrathful. 

Is it healthy? Probably not. Was it so so satisfying? Hell yes. 

I feel like this is what men must feel like after watching those war movies or something. God it feels powerful to read of Zeitan’s rise. 

That being said: I wish this was an adult book, not YA. It had potential to be more and go deeper. The romance line could have carried more weight if they had the ability to flesh it out more, beyond the YA label. Also the “girl” and “boy” phrasing felt juvenile. You’re 18 now, time to stop calling yourself a girl exclusively. And a man in his early 20s is not a boy. It was the only part I disliked. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Death, Torture, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Addiction, Alcohol, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War

Minor: Rape, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Sexual assault, Biphobia, and Trafficking

jessicax941's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, War, Cursing, Violence, and Bullying

Moderate: Death, Alcoholism, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Genocide

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

its_van_vulpen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Colonisation, Sexism, Alcohol, Body shaming, Murder, Rape, War, Gore, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, Death, and Addiction

antonique_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Violence, Death of parent, War, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Gun violence

Minor: Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, and Sexual assault

amccarthy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Suicide attempt, Death, Religious bigotry, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Murder, Child abuse, Body shaming, Misogyny, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Chronic illness, Alcohol, Ableism, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual assault, Sexism, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Confinement, and Alcoholism

lolajh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Women going lowkey mad and killing men > zetian I love you fr

Honestly the best development I’ve seen of a heroine becoming an anti heroine. Zetian, a morally grey Chinese disabled woman rebels against her patriarchal society, having to prove her power throughly due to being a woman and doing it FLAWLESSLY whilst criticising the patriarchal and misogynistic society that also exists in the real world. Zetian proves to be so much more powerful than any man, as

is every woman in this universe. Women in this story are so much stronger than men that they have to be used as a “battery” of chi to fuel men and make them stronger due to them being so much weaker naturally, which ends up killing the women, something that further fuels Zetian’s revenge of killing men due to her sister being one of the targets of this and being killed.

Zetian’s power is soon recognised as a major threat, so is paired up with the strongest pilot to fight together in the war that is going on. Whilst Zetian is on her rampage,

she ends up falling for the pilot she is paired with whilst still having feelings for her childhood friend back home. This love triangle is sorted out in best way by making them all polyamory

The book also describes Zetian’s challenging of the roles and expectations of women, through how she wants to present herself and also her body not being the perfect, skinny figure that is idealised. All this challenges Zetian’s connection to her own womanhood. Just about everything good is in this book. Will definitely have to reread while waiting for the next in the series to come out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Slavery, Rape, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, War, Sexual content, Child death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Xenophobia

ramiel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, and War

Moderate: Sexual assault, Classism, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Confinement, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Bullying, Death of parent, Racism, Body shaming, Classism, Sexual content, and Racial slurs

kazli's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

4.75

I've never felt so powerful reading a book before. I love the representation and the triangle is indeed the strongest shape ;)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Misogyny, Torture, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Rape and Sexual harassment

hadeell's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, and Torture

Moderate: Blood, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Medical content