Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - Iron Widow

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

1123 reviews

quotingmachine's review against another edition

3.5

dark tense fast-paced

Content Warnings

a1mello's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

tinysierra's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

“For eighteen years, my unibrow has saved me from being sold into a painful, terrifying death.
Today is the day I'm releasing it from its gracious service.”

Two words: Female Rage

Fast paced, short chapters, captivating.

I need more love triangles that are actual love triangles in media!!! Pleassssse! The loved they shared was beautiful.

"Where does jealousy come from, if not an insecurity that I'll lose you because of him? But that's not how it works, no matter how many people believe it so. You're not something to be kept or taken, and love isn't some scarce resource to battle over. Love can be infinite, as much as your heart can open. I mean, when you think about it, love is fueled mostly by compatibility. Whether two people make each other happy by being close. So it'd be pointless of me to resent Shimin. However compatible you are with him, it doesn't have anything to do with how compatible you are with me."

The epilogue had me shook!

Content Warnings

jb4nay's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I think Zetian was an awesome protagonist. Her justified rage at these systems limiting her and women in their world were so captivating to sit with throughout the story. I also really liked the development with Shimin and Yizhi throughout the book. The qi system was really neat. As someone with messy family dynamics, I really appreciated seeing

a character actively not choose them after they treated her terribly over and over again

.

It was also really nice to get a vengeful lead and actually see them get the revenge, instead of having some change of heart because anger is an unreasonable emotion (which I disagree with).

The ending left me wanting to spend more time in this world. Can't wait to see what happens next!

Content Warnings

kfergy's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional funny 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

Very fun and interesting, a quick read. Can't wait for the next one!

Content Warnings

rinku's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Iron Widow seems to be a controversial book when looking at reviews. I stand in the middle of them; this is not the best book ever written but it’s not as terrible as people make it out to be. For me, it was a good 3.5-stars read and I’m really curious about the sequel.

Zetian lives in a militarized society where fighting some kind of mecha aliens is the top priority, and women and girls get sacrificed for this goal. She should get sacrificed in a mecha robot as well but is able to survive and kill the male pilot instead. This whole premise definitely has some <i>Evangelion</i> vibes to it which I enjoyed. The world this books takes place in is really terrifying, and the whole atmosphere is dark and grim. I wished though that we got some more army critique since the society in this book is so heavily militarised. Of course, the feminism is very direct and on the nose, but this book is YA, so that’s okay. The media critique was also a bit too direct and a bit random. I liked the twist at the end that

the humans are the invasive species and not the other way around

; it’s of course nothing new but a nice twist nevertheless. It was a bit too much at the end though

how many characters die

Zetian is quite edgy but she’s still a fun character. I love how unhinged she is, but her irrational behaviour is understandable because she’s so scared of Shimin. She also has many cliché main character moments with her holding random speeches. The angst between Shimin and her is so great. Shinmin himself as such a dark and sad backstory, I feel so sorry for him. Other reviews already pointed it out but there’s also a lot of internalized misogyny in Zetian’s character since she’s a lot not like other girls. It’s also unfortunate that there’s not really a likable female character besides her, and that she doesn’t work together with any of them. I think this would’ve been a nicer message.

All in all, I’m happy that I’ve discovered Zhaos YouTube channel years ago and am now able to read Iron Widow. It has great characters and feminist vibes, even though these are not very subtle.

Content Warnings