Reviews tagging 'Suicidal thoughts'

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

635 reviews

dark funny tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The author wanted to do an unapologetic girl boss seeking revenge who forgives no abuse and a love triangle that’s an actual love triangle (throuple) and 100% succeeds. I love the lengths the author goes to in order for the memes. I had. A lot of fun and can’t wait for the sequel. 

Favorites quotes below:
“Perks of refusing to play by the rules: you don’t have to choose between the boy who’d torture a man to death with you and the boy who welcomes you back with pastries.”

“Shame and humiliation are self-imposed emotions, and from here on out, I choose not to feel them.”

“What I have learned through this madness is that you can absolutely solve your problems by throwing money at them. If you can't, you probably don't have enough money for that particular problem”


Good for her. 




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hell fking yea

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adventurous reflective fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous dark emotional 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

 Iron Widow lived up to the hype, and is my favorite read of the year so far by a wide margin!

I'm not usually interested in giant mech battles, but the battle scenes were clear and compelling, and the book deals with so much more: Zetian takes on a deeply misogynistic culture and fights for vengeance, justice, and the freedom to live the life of her choosing. While she pushes on with brute force where she can, she also must learn to navigate the necessary evils of military and media politics. She's also stuck with a couple young men as her closest allies: Yizhi, the son of a rich media magnate, and Li Shimin, a powerful pilot and dangerous criminal.

The feel of the book is very minimally YA, so there's a lot of appeal still for adult readers. And though there's a love triangle, it plays out in what I feel is the best possible way. I don't want to spoil it here (though I feel it is pretty obvious where it may go early on).

I had a great time with this and loved Zetian so much. Looking forward to the second book! 

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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

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adventurous challenging mysterious 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: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

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

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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
adventurous dark tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Iron Widow made me laugh just as much as it made me shudder. Some parts of it are haunting. It genuinely is a wonderful book, each scene keeping you on your toes.

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