Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

1122 reviews

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

This feminist retelling of the rise of Wu Zetian was everything. It makes you really think about misogyny, gender-based violence, and binary gender roles in such an interesting and action-packed way.
You’ll find yourself furious throughout the book with how many times women’s pain, suffering and lives are seen as necessary sacrifice zones for the “good” of society. I especially loved Wu Zeitan’s badasss spirit, thirst for justice & the poly romance 🔥
 

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adventurous emotional tense medium-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: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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dark tense fast-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

Fuck. Literally insane. 

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adventurous dark inspiring 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

This was an incredible book! So gripping, the pacing was on point. The centering of female rage really resonated with me.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional 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: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated

This was definitely an interesting one. 

  • I liked the relationship, I feel like it was well portrayed.
  • I don’t think this should be classified as YA, I think it’s too violent for that.
  • The setting was interesting, I liked how it was inspired by Chinese history.
  • The fantasy part was cool, but it was not explained how exactly it worked, how it came to be that humans started fighting in robots etc. Also, it was not well explained what exactly the “hunduns” were.
  • It was definitely a bold choice to make the main character achieve her goals with violence. While it is refreshing to have a badass female protagonist that is cruel and who does everything to get what she wants, I don’t think it was the right choice for a YA book.
  • The end, which was supposed to be the epic finale, was kind of boring to me. Everything happened very quickly, it felt of unnatural. And it was just very confusing, which is why I did not really feel for the characters.
  • The ending was interesting though, and made me want to read the second part.

All in all, this was an interesting read.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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: Yes

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