Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Viuda de hierro

Reviews tagging 'Sexual harassment'

Viuda de hierro by Xiran Jay Zhao

270 reviews

crasscass's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

2.25

Greatly disappointed but I finished the book which means it wasn't so bad.
It was very well pace and the action was usually very clear.
I was really looking forward to a cool Pacific Rim story about feminism and rage. In the end, the MC over explained every single decisions, leaving nothing to be inferred. The love triangle, though good polyamory represetation, was rushed and pointless. At no point did I think that she was in love with either men. The world is filled with plot holes and doesn't always make sense. The dialogue was childish at times, the main character, inconsistent, and the plot, thought well paced, felt very predictable, up to the plot twist at the end.

The female rage aspect wasn't bad per se, but the main character was so busy being an activist and saving all women that the reason why she craves blood, her dead sister, isn't even named.
I did enjoy the decent into madness and becoming the villain though I wish more could have been done with it. I also enjoyed the culture and history woven into the story, particularly the myths.

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ayoung720's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-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

4.25

A really cool story, the main characters are fascinating, the world is well-developed and there are twists and turns throughout to keep you on the edge of your seat. There are a few things which happen which don't get developed enough for them to fully make sense + some Skyrim-level fast travelling, but overall a very solid read!

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xx_salem's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

The book was good but the main character upset me in a lot of her choices, I recognized she was tied but I wanted to see her put more on the line and take more and honestly be more evil. It got better in the end, I really liked the twist, but at the same time it took all of the sting out of the book, as if her actions didn’t really have consequences. I didn’t really feel sadness or attachments to any of the characters and really wished the Iron Widow didn’t feel as if she was made out to be the one truly strong girl, I wanted to see more scary powerful women if only in little actions behind the scenes. And all the love felt rushed and awkward and the lack of chemistry I felt was excused by this idea of accepting her sexuality, it’s a nice concept but felt really weirdly executed and off in this romance.

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nhollie's review against another edition

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emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.5

The plot is interesting and the world building is vibrant, but the way that gender/sexism/women taking back their power is described in the book reminds me so deeply of being on Tumblr in 2014. And I think in the way that talking back against the gender stereotypes of Wu Zeitan’s world and our own, her character becomes flattened and loses complexity. The world building also gets sort of flat and the Chrysalis tech/training gets zoomed through. The best way I can put it is I would have liked to see more nuance — but I’m interested enough in the world and characters to check out the sequel when it comes out and Zhao’s future novels.

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