Reviews

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

jordanlamagna's review against another edition

3.0

In a world with an invading alien race and giant mech chrisalises that are run by the power of a boy and girl pairing, where the girl usually dies, Zetian finds herself on a revenge quest to kill the boy that is responsible for her sister's death. However, when she succeeds at this and finds uot she is increidbly strong, she becomes known as the Iron Widow. She gets paired with a boy who murdered his entire family, but is stronger than anyone has been in generations. When that still doesn't kill her, she does her best to start a revolution to free girls from their captivity. What follows is a fast paced, emotional debut novel.

I really liked our main character, Zetian. I felt like her anger resonated with me throughout much of the book. Her quest for vengeance against the people that have held women down using fear and physical violence felt warranted and real. However, this books prose was definitely a little in your face and felt like it lacked nuance. All the information that the reader gets is just given. There's no subtlety. Also, some of the dialogue felt childish. The relationships, while very insta-lovey, had enough chemistry and interest within them that I didn't mind all that much. Towards the end of the book, I felt like everything kind of went off the rails. I didn't really understand how the mechs worked as much, so a lot of the battle scenes I felt lost in. There were certain scenes I loved, then there were other scenes that I found myself either bored or bewildered. The ending was intense and suspenseful, so I will be picking up the second. Hopefully the second is a little more carefully crafted so that the interesting story matches up to the prose.

I would recommend this book to people looking for a badass heroine fighting the patriarchy. Also, there's a polyamorous relationship. Need I say more?

TW: misogyny, femicide, rape mentioned, physical and emotional abuse, suicidal ideation, alcoholism, blood & gore depiction, murder, torture

tashanne's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• 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

gkaltam's review against another edition

dark inspiring reflective 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Blood, and Torture

clarksamanthab's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

1.0

This book was awful. The main character isn‘t just unlikeable- she‘s practically evil. Am i supposed to root for her as she enjoys torturing someone or destroying entire cities?? Additionally the older sister is main character’s whole motivation- but she is only given a name once in the beginning. the whole rest of the book she is just called „Big Sister“ as if the author forgot to go back and fill the name in in editing. Also, the romance was choppy and annoying- each time shed begin to get close to one guy, shed suddenly make a move on another. there was no clear development of her love for either man. Definitely there wasn’t enough time spent with the one who dies before he did. The whole  time the main character rambles on and on this repetitive „man bad woman good“ crap. i get it’s supposed to be a feminist book but feminism isnt violence and rage without nuance. Overall the book was surface level and lazy. The only redeeming factor was the interesting worldbuilding. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Misogyny, Alcoholism, Torture, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking, and War

fennec_fox8's review against another edition

adventurous medium-paced

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

4.5

angelaarlene's review

I’ll have to come back for a review because the last third was… weird.

lesbiantoad's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

jasper_is_atypical's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

4.0

darcie2903's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

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

4.0

pipskweak311's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

2.5

I think this book would have benefited from alternating POVs so we could see the development of the relationships and some of the other aspects of the world in more complex and nuanced ways.