Reviews tagging 'Death'

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

705 reviews

jenny_d's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Grief, and Alcohol

sheyri's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

I'll end up rereading this eventually, and if just for Shimin alone.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, and War

micah_mac's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Death of parent, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement

julbel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

3.25

Intense experience of one young woman's struggle in a system that views her as no more than fuel for an endless war. 
The quick pace of the book does leave me wishing for more moments of quiet, which are few and brief, to get a sense of the characters outside of turmoil. Zetian, Shimin and Yizhi are compelling characters, with much potential for further development of depth (and hopefully *some* down time to figure out who they are when they aren't trying to overthrow the government). 
Looking forward to the continuation of this story in the next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Bullying, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Police brutality

laurenthebibliofile's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? No

4.0

Stepped outside of my comfort zone with this one a little bit. What initially drew me to the book was the retelling of Chinese history. What initially made me wary was the science fiction aspect of the story. Well…i shouldn’t have been wary. Once you start reading this all of those aspects make sense. This was such an easy read. Zetian is a strong independent woman who is out for revenge. The government is sacrificing women in the name of war and Zetian has had enough, especially after her sister becomes one of the victims. She is a complete badass. This story was a roller coaster ride that i was only partially prepared to be on. Xiran did an amazing job twining history into a futuristic world. They are a fantastic storyteller and I am really looking forward to the second one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Sexism, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Sexual assault, and Murder

heyjudy's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

This is much more plot driven than I’d realized, and also I didn’t know it was mecha based, either. I enjoyed the feminine rage aspect of the mc, and was definitely frustrated with her about how women were raised and treated. I knew it was going to throw some kind of twist at the end, and I was still surprised by the actual reveal. 
I wanted more to the romantic relationship, though! I was very excited by a poly ya relationship, and I hope we see more of that in the sequel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, and War

Moderate: Domestic abuse and Sexual assault

missymoo93's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

DARK. It starts dark and barely ever gets better. Clearly cathartic for the author, and a solid rage piece against our unjust world.
 The action is fairly disorienting to the point of being truly hard to follow, and motivations for characters other than the main three often fall into an abyss of "I [the POV character] have barely any idea what's happening, so neither will the reader."
As someone who has also experienced similar suicidal thoughts and ideation to the main character, it was represented with upsetting accuracy and depicted honestly.
All in all, a good first book, but not my favorite, and I am hesitant to return due to the tone, despite the tantalizing out-of-nowhere bombshell cliffhanger dropped in the last literal two pages of the epilogue that offered a glimpse of the only lore questions that remained for me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Blood, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Child death

arsmagicalibrorum's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

franksreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious 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: Alcoholism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, and War

mimiisbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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? It's complicated

4.25

This book got me back into reading fantasy and science fiction novels. 
I usually avoid fantasy because of the over the top, boring world-building that makes the book boring and a tiresome read.
 It's actually feminist not like most depictions of strong women with a kickass female protagonist that literally destroys the patriarchy.
The only complaints I have this this book is that the ending didn't satisfy me and the magic system is a bit strange.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Violence

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Transphobia