Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

70 reviews

starship_olympus's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

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

5.0

Honestly FUCK every other YA book, Xiran I fuck wit YOU

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, War, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Violence, Torture, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, and Genocide

Moderate: Blood, Body shaming, Colonisation, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Death of parent, Classism, Suicidal thoughts, Murder, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Drug use

Minor: Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, and Rape

sophiamoonlight's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

Okay one thing I had to look up because I didn't know this part of mythology, but otherwise an amazing piece of literature. I love it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Bullying, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Murder, and Alcohol

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

house_of_hannah's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense 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

3.0

 This was 100% a solid 4 star read until the last few chapters. I just cannot with that ending. It feels like it throws away everything the main characters had been saying and standing for throughout the entire book.

The beginning is brilliant. You will come to hate this world as much as Zetian does. This story revolves aroung rage, revenge, and injustice in a brutal way that makes me very surprised that this is YA. However, since the start is so strong it does feel like it drags in the middle, and becomes a bit repetitive.

I do wish there had been a bit more world building. I feel like I don't understand the politics of this world well enough, or who's running it. (Besides men) I think that may have been done on purpose due to the ending, but I definitely wanted a few more things explained than what we got.

The whole time I was reading this I was getting major Hunger Games vibes. (Movies, I have not read the books) The layers of betrayel upon betrayel upon betrayel got to be too much though. It left me with no one to root for in the end.

One of the major selling points of this book that is pushed a lot is the polyamory. It's there, and there's some good commentary about being able to love multiple people at once, but man, I wish there was a bit more of it !

Overall, prepare for a violent tale about standing up to the patriarchy that turns into a different book by the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Classism, Child death, Torture, Slavery, Sexism, Bullying, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, War, Violence, Murder, Misogyny, Death of parent, Death, and Body shaming

Moderate: Xenophobia, Gun violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Minor: Rape

recycled_personalities's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective 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? It's complicated

5.0

It’s genuinely become one of my favourite books and I cannot wait for the sequel. It takes us into a world of torturous misogyny and gives us the one girl who will fuck shit up with no regrets. And, even though it’s not the main focus of the book, the romance in it is quite literally the best I have ever read and I fear that I will never read something as good as it again. If I could give this more stars, I would. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Rape, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Transphobia, War, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Hate crime, Medical content, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Alcohol, Blood, Infidelity, Misogyny, and Physical abuse

theprocrastinatingbookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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: Emotional abuse, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Physical abuse, Torture, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, War, Addiction, Sexual violence, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, and Rape

Minor: Sexual assault

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

sofia_rivera30's review against another edition

funny medium-paced

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

1.0

I was so disappointed by this book. I was going to give it 3 stars just to be nice but after reading the other reviews, I can't. this book had so much potential but in the end... it was just bad. the main character was so annoying. the author took the "not like other girls" trope to a whole new level. i just don't even know how to describe it, but its bad. the writing was also very young looking and the author was trying to got for a feminist, life changing story about breaking the gender norms but it just wasn't it. I was literally so excited to read this. )))`:

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Fatphobia, Violence, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, War, Gaslighting, Genocide, Mental illness, and Misogyny

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

brianavmaddox's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-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? It's complicated

1.25

It has bland & 1 dimensional characters/plot. There’s too much info dumping and it’s heavy handed with the misogyny & dark themes without examining the nuances of either with complex characters or plot lines. The character motivations need to be fleshed out a bit more - who instilled Zetian’s strong-willed feminist mindset? A teacher, relative, or friend? Her big sister (which would’ve been an even greater motivator for her eventual revenge). If her sister did teach her such values, it would be helpful to have a dream or flashback sequence of them spending time together and Zetian learning from her sister & building a sibling bond with her. It could’ve had more specifics on why her sister when as a concubine pilot instead of getting married and some hints or specifics of her death (was it in battle? Did she get beaten to death at home/outside of battle?) How is this meant to be a feminist book when the main character seems to hate women? There’s a line between fighting for equality in a society that you’re forced to participate in, and you just being an edge lord who hates everyone & wants to kill them for whatever social justice movement fits the bill at the time. It needed to have a few more edits and revisions to get a more in depth and nuanced plot and character arcs.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual content, Violence, and War