Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

86 reviews

aardwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

Lived up to the hype. And that's a lot of hype. Excellent worldbuilding, tension, and character work, tight pacing, evocative prose throughout, all the while invoking a half dozen genres and histories and inverting them all. And it even remained a YA book proper throughout, which does mean, yes, the plot beats themselves were fairly predictable and the characters sketched for their audience, but a great deal of skill goes into understanding the assignment to that degree.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Sexism, Sexual assault, War, Bullying, Physical abuse, Confinement, Death, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Gore, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Ableism, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Domestic abuse

readingelli's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? It's complicated

4.5

A fantastic debut. Well written, imaginative, had me hooked from the first page. I loved the overturn of classic tropes, such as

making a love triangle a polyamorous triad

. 
I am really interested to see where the author will take the next book, especially as Zetian is extremely femmephobic and rejects female companionship. Is this a product of the setting? Is it a product of their complicated feelings about their own gender? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Gore, Murder, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Dysphoria, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Minor: Medical content and Xenophobia

v_neptune's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

holy fucking shit

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, War, Body horror, Body shaming, and Gun violence

Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Confinement, and Fatphobia

Minor: Xenophobia, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

this book is good but intense. even though i'm someone who usually avoids a lot of the topics i've listed here, i loved this book and i think these topics were represented in a way that wasn't very triggering for me

sapphic_reader's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Gaslighting, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Torture, Body shaming, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Genocide

Minor: Animal death, Biphobia, Rape, and Colonisation

Rep: Polyamorous relationship POC characters Bisexual main characters

a_tiny_crow's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War

Minor: Fatphobia, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, and Death of parent

If you liked Nausicca of the Wind, A Handmaid's Tale, The Giver, Gundam Wing, or Neon Genesis Evangelion, or just love awesome new voices in science fiction, read this book!

rini's review

adventurous challenging 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Torture, War, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, and Xenophobia

Minor: Homophobia

scriptrix's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

5.0

I LOVED THIS BOOK. There was a lot of hype before I read it - lots of people screaming about it on Twitter - and I was a little afraid that it might not live up to the hype. But HOLY CRAP was I wrong. This book came out swinging and didn't let up until the bitter end. Some of the lines hit me so hard I had to pause and think about them for a second. Like when Zetian yells at a man for telling her she needs to sleep with her partner, saying that she's been told her whole life that sex is dirty and the worst thing she could do, and now he expects her to flip a switch and be fine with it? Damn. I FELT that. 

The addition of a character who has bound feet and is nevertheless an absolute badass warrior queen was inspired. It's rare to see bound feet depicted in Western media, and when they are, the characters are often shown as meek or subservient. In this book, it's shown as both an abuse tactic and as a disability, causing mobility issues and chronic pain, but Zetian's personality is so huge and gloriously angry that you can't help but see her as a force of nature.

And THE ROMANCE. Without getting too spoilery, can I just say I LOVED the direction in which the author ran with the characters' relationship(s)? It was refreshingly wholesome and non-toxic, which was especially poignant set in the backdrop of a dark, bloody book about anti-patriarchy rage, battle, and revenge.

In conclusion, this is the saltiest, tooth-baring feminist manifesto of a SFF book I've read in quite some time. It hit all the right notes for me. Will be recommending to everyone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, Misogyny, War, Torture, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Cursing

Moderate: Sexual assault, Violence, and Bullying

inferiorwit's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.0

like reading a novel made of twitter threads--really interesting thoughts and ideas that never quite come together into a cohesive whole. could've used more time in the oven. or an editor who cared. also every female character besides the protagonist is either an abuser, an enabler of abuse, a catty mean-girl stereotype, or a beloved corpse, so the whole "smash the patriarchy feminist sci-fi" marketing angle rings kinda hollow.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, War, Vomit, Violence, Torture, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Pregnancy, Homophobia, and Eating disorder

lucywae's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Trafficking, and War

lucystolethesky's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Confinement, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, War, Xenophobia, Violence, Torture, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence

Moderate: Colonisation, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Cursing, Chronic illness, Bullying, and Body shaming

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Medical content, and Homophobia