Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Iron Widow - Seele in Ketten by Xiran Jay Zhao

74 reviews

redroisin's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous 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: Yes

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This was a ride. I was hooked in the beginning because I loved the first book, but this very quickly became a bit of a slog. Then, the last like, three??, chapters were a BIG twist and I was left frustrated and debating whether or not I will read the third novel. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence

miggyfool's review against another edition

4.5

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective sad 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: Yes

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Wow, this series cranks to 100 with every addition. An interesting remaining of a sci-fi flavored history. These characters are flawed and some i love and some I love to hate. Excited for the next addition 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

d13_chels's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging inspiring tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Police brutality, Death of parent, Pregnancy

sadhbh2525's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark 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: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Police brutality

Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Slavery, Trafficking, Abortion, Pregnancy

atomicbritt's review against another edition

2.5

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: N/A

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: N/A

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Blood, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail

lil_rumblebee's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous challenging dark 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: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Slavery, Torture, Grief, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Colonisation, Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Suicide, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic

ender24's review against another edition

4.5

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Police brutality, Abortion

Minor: Miscarriage, Pregnancy

madmantha's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book was much slower than Iron Widow, not to say that I didn’t enjoy it, it felt like a very natural sequence of events coming after the events ending the last book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Toxic relationship, Violence, War

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Misogyny, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Colonisation, Classism, Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Deportation, Pandemic/Epidemic

pjs99's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Love love love, "delightful to read" wouldn't be accurate, but I certainly enjoyed every dangerous turn.
After months of laughing at people describing this book as polical (bro did you even read the first one), I do actually see why this one gets called that (it's still silly).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, War

Moderate: Child abuse, Genocide, Sexual content, Medical content, Grief, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Classism

For those concerned about the sexual tags, I shall contextualise with very minor spoilers

there is a lot of zetian feeling coerced into sexual situations, but she is always consciously considering if it's better to go along (pretending she wants it), or pushing away. Personally I'd consider these sexual violence BC she is forced by her situation to consider things this way but I think rape would be a bit strong, as the pov of her describing still gives the impression of her consent, however limited it my be. Very different to the scene in the first books when Yizhi saves her from the pilots in he night.

calamitydane's review against another edition

5.0

adventurous emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

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It's not often that a sequel surpasses the original story, but Heavenly Tyrant does this with maniacal fury and whole-hearted compassion at the same time. This book broke me, built me anew, and broke me again. A beautiful story of revolution and the conflicts that come with it, this is much more than an enemies-to-lovers romance. This book has easy-to-understand explanations of communist theory and discusses feminist revolution as well. It discusses racism, feminism, classism, ableism, homophobia and even ageism. I don't know of the last time a book felt like it really changed me the way this did. Cannot recommend enough.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism

Moderate: Rape, Trafficking

Minor: Ableism, Child death, Homophobia, Alcohol