Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Iron Widow

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

632 reviews

tifftastic87's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Wu Zetian is born low in the caste system, she is "just a frontier girl," and thus has two options in life: get sold as a bride or sold as a concubine to a mech pilot. Ignoring her family's pressure for years, she finally agrees to become a concubine, but only to avenge her fallen sister. Killing the first pilot she's paired with, and avenging her sister gets her paired with the most violent pilot in the military. Li Shimmin is known for having no surviving female pilots, and as her punishment she will be condemned to serve with him. Zetian will not be sacrificed and attempts to use Shimmin to topple the violent and patriarchal system that has wronged her and every other woman in Huaxia.

Iron Widow is a truly YA book that focuses on the themes of gender, race, and power. I feel a bit uncomfortable with the reviews that refer to this as a feminist story and the reviews that are harsh because of how they view the feminism in the book as not portrayed correctly. I don't think this is feminism, this is a woman fighting back against the powers that have been suppressing her and everyone like her. In a way that could be feminism, but it isn't modern feminism - at least from a white American perspective. Currently, we (white American women) are not being violently oppressed, we are not literally sacrificed in war for the success of men, we are not forcibly maimed for the male gaze. If we were, violent feminism would be the answer. Radical, systemic change does not happen through peace. It never has. Wu Zetian is not a feminist hero, she's an antihero.

That being said, I do feel like she is going through similar stages of feminism that many of my age range went through. Rage when she realizes her culture is being used to oppress and silence her, that male violence is used as control to make women passive wives and daughters, that she will never be anything that her husband does not want her to be. She starts off as the “how dare you open my door” type of woman, but as she meets more men she learns that what she was told is not always true. Just as women are multilayered, men are and not all of them are out to control her and use her body for their pleasure. She has a moment where she asks herself after a severe injury:

Can I really call myself a strong girl if I’m relying on two boys?

Which is something everyone of us who has gone through that phase of “I’m a strong woman” has asked. Can we still be strong while relying on others? Can we truly be for empowering women if we let men do things for us? Is this bringing down the movement? All you have to do to see that this is a stage of young women coming up to realize what the world is like is to look at the comments of any woman creator on TikTok or YouTube. If a woman is talking positively about a man the comments will be full of things like this.

As Zetian comes into her own, her anger starts to be placed in the correct directions. We go from just hate radiating through her pores to be aimed at targets within the systems of oppression. She goes from just a rage machine to very Arya Stark, with a kill list to avenge those important to her. The male characters are there to prop her up and are not the stars of the story, but they too go through some growth, especially Shimmin.

I like to think of this story as told through Zetian’s perspective, especially because it is told in first person limited. That makes her a bit of an unreliable narrator as everything will include her bias. That could explain some of the ways the other characters talk and their perceived reactions to things. I think it is really important to always consider the point of view the author takes when telling a story, and Xiran really uses Zetian’s voice very strongly. There was so much of the story that my inner damaged teenage girl ached with reading. Talk of shame and manipulation and what it means to be strong.

People who refuse to break under any number of harsh strikes and any amount of loud words, but crumple as soon as someone touches us gently or speaks to us softly.

Was a line that got me particularly, in the feels as my elder millennial self would say. I could feel that person I used to be, who felt shame at being a woman, who didn’t trust any other women and thought they all disliked me. That girl who didn’t trust men because I was told for all of my life that they wanted nothing more from me than sex. Some parts of this may have felt immature to many reviewers, but I genuinely believe that is done on purpose and serves a purpose.

That being said, some of the writing style was a little off putting to me. It did feel very millennial in the language used, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but there would be some really pretty prose followed up by something harsh and it felt a little jarring.

Ex:

Each tap feels more scandalous than being alone with him on a frontier mountain, shrouded by greenery and spring heat, breathing the same thick eddies of earthy, intoxicating air. My village elders say girls shouldn’t touch these heavenly devices, because we would desecrate them with, I don’t know, our wicked femaleness or something.

But not enough to take me out of the story. The descriptions were clear and I could understand what was happening. The pacing was really good as well. It was just some of the dialogue could have been better.

I will certainly be reading the next book and am looking forward to reading more of Xiran’s work. They are an author I think I will continue to enjoy.

Content Warnings

mothlord's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

squinnittowinit's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark funny tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

A delightful book in every way. Full of drama and emotion, action and intrigue, with powerful characters who will fight tooth and nail to get what they want.

I thought this book did a very good job of immersing the reader in the very real misogyny that Wu Zetian experiences at every turn, but also not wallowing in those feelings. Instead, Zetian fights against the system at every turn and the reader can celebrate with her when she succeeds. Gao Yizhi and Li Shimin are great supporting characters as well, full of their own depth, but without taking away from Zetian's character in any way.

I especially loved how unapologetically bloodthirsty Wu Zetian was, so often the "dangerous woman" main character ends up just being misunderstood, or becomes tamed by love or something, which is just weak character development. Wu Zetian is a dangerous woman, and that never changes.

4.75 stars because some of the most dramatic dialogue moments were just a little too silly for my liking.

Content Warnings

alyssadorn's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Oh my fucking god this book might be the best I’ve read all year. The characters are so well-written, and I love a protagonist who is passionate, strategic, unapologetically ruthless, and more than a little unhinged. A morally grey antiheroine through and through whose character development is unmatched. (I support women’s rights and, more importantly, I support women’s wrongs.)

Everything from Zetian’s backstory to her goals and relationships, her values and realizations, all growing and changing along with her (and our) knowledge of the world as a whole— So. Well. Done. I’m obsessed with her, as well as Lizhi and Shimin. I love that they’re all together and not just each with her separately or any bs like that.

And that ending! And the epilogue!! Every minute of this book was a thrill, and the writing style was so refreshing with its use of juxtaposition to bring Zetian’s sardonic humor to life in a way that made me laugh quite a bit, and I found myself using tabs what felt like every other page to mark intense imagery or pithy statements that drill straight into the heart of poignant truths (usually about gender roles and subjugation stated in a way I still can’t get out of my mind).

For example, the author will pair a list of seemingly smaller domestic moments with a bigger, life-or-death situation in a way that shows the realities of daily life in this world and its cyclical injustices— and how the daily life is not seeing those injustices.

“My mother’s mist-frail voice emerges, trying to calm him down. My brother is laughing. My grandfather has turned the livestream to peak volume. A girl is dying in a Chrysalis in the name of mankind.”

Some moments of that pithy, sardonic wit I loved:
“How am I supposed to sign up for my death if my eyebrows are uneven?”
“I don’t pity you, you dork. I cherish you.”
Or even just the chapter titles, like “the supposed pinnacle of female existence” or “a butterfly that better not be my dead sister”

I will say, the description of the foot binding in the beginning is one of the few moments in any book that have actually made me sick to my stomach, so go gently. Also the way addiction is handled in this book is somewhat problematic.

The pacing and writing style are both phenomenal!

Content Warnings

caitonline's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

If you’re looking for a truly unhinged main character, this is the book for you. Every single person in this book is insane actually (affectionately).

I loved the polyamorous relationship and big robots of course! The story moves fast and kept me really engaged. Can’t wait to read the next one!

Content Warnings

bellebookcorner's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

“I cherished who you’ve manage to be, despite the world telling you over and over that you’re wrong. You may have some undeniably monstrous parts inside you, but that’s okay. I have them too.”

Read this if you like;

• Sci-fi Dystopian

• A Retelling based on historical event

• Disability Rep

• Morally Grey Characters

• Vengeful FMC

• Polyamorous Relationship

The plot is interesting to follow, it reminds me so much to the Pacific Rim movie.

They needed to power those giant machines - Chrysalis with their life force. WOW. That’s taking it to a whole new level!

Wu Zetian (FMC) is not a woman you want to mess with. She’s a vengeful, ruthless and badass women. She's determined to bring justice for all women piloting the Chrysalis. I can feel her rage to the government who apparently has been keeping secrets about the system and the enemy. I admire her for trying to survive in a world of men.

As for the romance I found it to be quite interesting, at first I thought it was gonna be a love triangle but it's not.

However, I wish the pacing is a bit slower so there’s more room for them to get to know each other deeper and have more interaction throughout the story.

The world building is unique and I hope it’ll be more explored in the next book especially with that unexpected twist at the ending!

The last few chapters are intense, I was holding my breath and well I’m very surprised to see how this book ends.

Overall, this is a really good debut novel about the reimagining of the rise of Chinese Empress Wu Zetian combined it with futuristic setting and sci-fi elements such as giant robots.

I’m excited to read the next book because there’s so many questions left answered, so many mystery that needs to be uncovered and I hope we’ll get it on the next book!

Content Warnings