Take a photo of a barcode or cover
Also, there once was a review I saw that said "any love triangle can be solved with polyamory" and I am pleased to say that this book chose that method.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, War
Moderate: Colonisation, Classism
This book has characters that are mostly grey at best, and down right evil at worst. Our protagonist is a ball of rage and is someone who would be seen as the villain in many works of fiction. I love it. Even her romantic partners are on the verge of being villains in other works of fiction.
My favourite part besides the plot and our protagonist and her romantic partners, and the world as a whole?
The fact that there's no explicit sex scenes which have impregnated the publishing industry these days. Meaning you have a book that treats its readers like the older teens and adults that we are without having to worry about sex scenes because it's aimed towards an older teen, recent high school graduate age range, which apparently means sex most be included un the eyes of modern publishers.
I'm so hoping that the lack of explicit sex scenes continues onto the next book/s in the series (though even if they were present I'd still buy/read them anyway).
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Gaslighting
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Genocide, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Medical content, Pandemic/Epidemic
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Classism
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, War
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Sexual harassment
Minor: Rape
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Grief, Murder, War
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Colonisation
In Huaxia, women hope for one of two fates - marriage or to be a concubine-pilot for one of the male Chrysalis (think Pacific Rim style mech suit) pilots. After losing her Big Sister to the hands of one such pilot, Zetian has concocted a plan to avenge her sister's death by infiltrating the pilot system and killing the man responsible. Generally, women are expected to die from the mental strain of the co-piloting, but Zetian refuses to give up quite easily. Instead, she winds up utilizing their co-pilot neural link to murder him, becoming the Iron Widow.
Rather than freeing her, this feat results in her being paired with Shimin, the strongest Chrysalis pilot in Huaxia - who also murdered his father and brothers. As they begrudgingly work together, they uncover each other's past and develop a partnership. Alongside their friendship, though, they find more corruption than Zetian could have ever imagined.
I won't lie, the first chapter really didn't grab me. I didn't understand a lot of the world-specific language, but oh my god, it's so worth it to work past that. Iron Widow is a masterclass in continuous world building, slowly unfurling the history of Huaxia and Zetian like the first blossoms of spring. I've had other 5 star reads this month, and reading this makes me want to retroactively downgrade them, or petition Amazon for a higher option.
Zetian is DELIGHTFUL, so full of righteous fury and grief, and she's stunningly clever. She's brash and unrefined, and I'm obsessed with her. Her desperation to fix the misogyny and mistreatment of young girls in her society is so admirable. Honestly, even though she's ending the book kind of unhinged, I would probably trust her anyway.
The romance element is refreshing, avoiding the traditional YA love triangle in favor of a thoughtful portrayal of polyamory.
The writing is captivating, straddling the line between Chinese history and its futuristic setting. Zhao is incredibly effective at touching all of the reader's senses, so I really felt like I could see the entire book come to life around me.
TL; DR - YES, it really is that good.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Classism
Minor: Vomit
Graphic: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War
Moderate: Rape
El tono parece muy de fanfic adolescente. Y se lee casi de una sentada (a pesar de la cantidad de veces que he puesto los ojos en blanco).
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
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.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Murder, War
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent