Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Iron Widow

Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

635 reviews

jdeelee's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Content Warnings

reallyandromeda's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I have mixed feelings about this book- firstly i have to confess i devoured the entire thing in a single sitting! Positives: I was seriously invested in the main characters journey and development, i loved the retelling of the love triangle trope, and found the depiction of her anger at her misogynistic society so emotive! However, the writing wasn’t always amazing- but I know this is Xiran’s first book so i am willing to forgive a lot. Briefly summed: the opening chapters used jarringly flowery language which then completely vanished, and the plot felt majorly rushed: I felt the romances could have been explored way more E.g. Shimin died straight after consummating his partnership, but there wasn’t any moments to solidify or discuss the development in their relationships, which slightly undermined the death scene for me, i knew it wasn’t real because he clearly isn’t done yet
, and certain character “twists” felt wildly unearned- i know she probably wanted to establish the complete lack of honest support anyone can offer Zetian in this world, but when our main character is shown to be supremely suspicious these revelations feel a bit unrealistic.
Overall: I will definitely be reading the sequel, but I hope their writing style continues to improve by then!

Content Warnings

valereads's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

Content Warnings

mothman19's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

anil's review against another edition

5.0

this book was like do you ever just wanna go apeshit and i was like yes 5 stars!

honestly dont love the ending but im willing to bet on the sequel here

Content Warnings

piastri's review against another edition

5.0

challenging emotional mysterious 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

i think this might be one of my new favourite books ever. xiran jay zhao said bi rights (

what can i say a love a woman with her pretty boyfriend and her killer boyfriend and when the boyfriends also like eachother 🥰

)

Content Warnings

booksandcurlz's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional inspiring reflective sad 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

Content Warnings

mlllll's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark mysterious relaxing sad 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: No

I really enjoyed The Iron Widow. It was compelling enough to keep me entertained as a reader throughout the story and to entice me enough to read the sequel. I do think the latter half of the book is a bit rushed.

Someone else wrote how the writer didn't add any measurements of time so it's hard to fall in love with the relationships portrayed because you don't know how slow or fast they developed and I do agree with that criticism. If time measurements would have been given, it would have helped make the relationships more believable.

That said, Zhao manages to create really loveable characters who you want to root for even though they aren't the most morally just ones and as someone who usually sticks to the morally white ones, it was interesting to see how I loved the characters that weren't morally white.

Lastly, Zhao created an amazing love triangle, honestly. One that developed very naturally and, in my opinion, wasn't written in a fetishizing way, which is often the case when polyamory is involved, unfortunately. This was also the first YA novel or novel in general that I read that included a poly throuple because it's still really underrepresented, so a shout-out to the Zhao for including that as well.

So all in all, this wasn't a perfect book but I did really enjoy the romance aspect of it, which I never in a million years thought I'd say about a "love triangle" cuz I hate those. The latter part was a bit too rushed but overall I loved, loved, loved the enormous fury that the main protagonist has. Is it a healthy way to cope ... I'll leave that up to interpretation but as a woman, her fury is so recognizable. It's this all-consuming feeling sometimes that always has to be kept under lock and key but she lets it out instead. And I freaking loved it.

Content Warnings

twistykris's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

Content Warnings

toadlett's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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 was so much fun! Kinda chaotic and messy in places - the way you'd expect from a first novel really - but in a way that felt well suited to the story and characters and the high drama mode of storytelling. I'd love to see more in this world, it felt like there was so much more to explore.

Content Warnings

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