Reviews with content warning for Xenophobia - Iron Widow

This book was so incredible!!! The writing style was so captivating every word felt carefully chosen to give the biggest impact, and was consistent throughout the book. We see our main character full of passions and goals, and while she faces set backs and challenges, we see how she has been able to learn from experiences and ultimately prioritise her morals and personal principles over all else. I saw the author post a video on the number of annoying tropes that are challenged in this book and it's so satisfying!!! The love triangle that ends in polyamoury, and not loving family simply because they are blood, but respecting them how they have respected you! I was on my toes at every moment just needing to know what happened next. Reading highlight of the month, for sure! Maybe even highlight of the year it was that good!

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yourbookishbff's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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sharrikloves's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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icy_queen's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

Do not expect any of the characters to be "nice" or "good people" and be prepared for many horrible things to happen (definitely check trigger warnings)! If you're ok with that or even enjoy reading it, I highly recommend this book.

The main character is absolutely, wonderfully unhinged and hellbent on revenge for her sister, herself, and all the other girls that were sacrificed, mutilated and/or killed by their society. She doesn't stop at killing her sister's murderer, but strives to destroy the whole system with the help of her soft "rich boy" bestfriend and her dangerous, bad boy, involuntary co-pilot (the three of them form an actual love triangle).

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uwubies's review against another edition

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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? Yes

4.25

i have manyyyyyyy feelings over this book; i went into it nervous bc i had seen a staggering amount of negative reviews right before reading, i devoured this book within one day which was very cathartic zetian encompasses everything i love about "female rage" im obsessed with her

my biggest cons with the book are that it tries to cram a huge amount of topics in under 400 words: alien fighting sci fi, feminist commentary on the history of & present day china, love triangle turned polyamoury, and like poltical drama - its a Lot and many aspects are not given the attention they really deserved (the polyamourous relationship was a big factor in why i read this and i wish we could have seen more)
also when i got to like the last 10 pages of the novel i was struck with a vague deja vu and then the shame hit me, this was playing out exactly like all of these dark!harry potter fanfictions i read when i was 12 ☹️ it does end on a cliffhanger though! so im hoping the sequal adds more nuance to zetians actions than just a blind rage to murder everyone that crosses her path

ummm this book is not for everyone it will definitely make some people feel Weird since zetian shimin & yizhi are horrible people who do horrible things for like, the entire book but i had fun

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walkie_check's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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eloise__'s review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark

4.5

THE PLOT TWIST AHHHHH

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minzzi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad tense 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? Yes

3.0

I liked this book, but not as much as I thought I would.
I liked the main cast, even thou they weren't the most well developed in the world. I love characters that are evil or assholes and following their journey into rage, cruelty and ruthlessness was so much fun. I hope with all my heart that Zetian goes full tyrant in the next book.
The polyamorous romance was also very intertaning and unique. A bold choice in a world of half baked love triangles. But, just like the characters, the relationship between then also deserved more development.
The discussion on institutionalized sexism was engaging and realistic, but not as in depth as i wanted for a book that has the topic of desmanteling the patriarchy as one of its core messages.
The biggest problem in this book by far was the world building and magic system. The premise was original and compelling, but the lack of action breaks to explain how everything worked stopped me from getting fully emersed In the scenes. The author almost always explains things imeditaly before they happen, stoping battle sequences to tell us how some kind of magical property works, rindering the smooth progress of the story.
Talking about smooth progress, the last 100 or so pages? Wow, amazing, could not put the book down! The first two thirds of the book? The passing is all over the place, it's crazy. There are many moments were we are only told that things happened when we should have seen then happening and some weird time jumps that made it difficult to grasp how much time passed between the begging and the end of the book.
In conclusion, it's a good and fun YA read with some good discussion on institutionalized sexism, but it lacks depth and development of characters and of the world.

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