Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

Iron Widow - Seele in Ketten by Xiran Jay Zhao

61 reviews

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

I have so many thoughts that I don’t even know where to start. There’s a lot of twists and betrayals, but also redemption arcs for several characters. The worldbuilding was really cool here, but there could have been more about the “heavenly court” and the lore there, but I assume there will be more in the next book. 

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adventurous dark medium-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

I was hoping this would carry the energy of the predecessor novel but it needed to do a lot more set up. I do appreciate how our leading lady is still just as complicated and playing 4d chess while basically hopelessly outmatched by all the men around her.
It is set up to be at least a trilogy by the ending. I hope that the third book can regain the drive of Iron Widow while carrying any loose strings from Heavenly Tyrant. This IS a political intrigue novel- with exactly zero characters being wholly innocent. This is something some readers will find tiring.
I wish we had been able to spend more time with The Iron Widows, because the men were so ugh, ya know? But in a realistic 'yeah this is how a man grabbing for power is' way. 
I read this a chapter at a time over a long span and I recommend that or perhaps an audiobook edition. 

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adventurous dark 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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adventurous tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I think this book is more up the alley of political science students than fans of big fighting robots. Kind of disappointing after how good Iron Widow was. I finished IW in like 2 days because it was great, full of action and fast paced. Heavenly Tyrant was much slower paced comparatively and the action was very spaced out between long bits about government and politics. I thought the relationships between the characters were interesting, but the pacing just threw me off too much; I guess I’m just not a fan of slow plots. The ending was quite exciting and hopefully a third book will find a good middle ground between the action and slower paced political strategies. Looking forward to the next one. 

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adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

If you didn't like this book, sorry, but you just don't get it like I do. /j 

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

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adventurous challenging inspiring tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: N/A
Diverse cast of characters: N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I really enjoyed this book! Great cast of characters who all suck in their unique ways. 
It's definitely a slower read than the first book, because it's much more concerned with politics, but I once I started to get antsy the plot always kicked in.

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Xiran Jay Zhao rapidly became one of my favorite authors.  I am also Chinese American and I have learned so much about my heritage and culture from them.  I'm a fan of their writing and social media presence.  They are vocally Pro-Palestine and speak out on other global issues.

We've waited so long for the sequel (the author talks about why that was on their social media) and it's finally here!  It's filled with action, mechas, complex power struggles, political action, revolution, destroying the patriarchy, and eating the rich.  

The exposition was great and engaging.  I was immediately sucked in.  Even in parts where it got heavily political, I was still into it because I agree with the author's stance on politics and our need for a revolution.  Qin Zheng was a great addition to the cast.  He's a formidable opponent/ally to Zetian and the power struggle between them is interesting.  In the times that it read as a manifesto, it took me out of the story a bit.  I wanted it to be more integrated in the story and I think readers who kind of get these concepts and ideas would have an easier time absorbing and thinking about them.  I think a lot of the scenes were necessary and interesting, like
going to Shimin's old home
.  However, I also felt like this book was too long.  While I don't read books longer than 350 pages often, I think the book could've been shorter without sacrificing the plot or message.

They kind of lost me in the last 75 pages.  I was honestly a little confused about the setting and the things they encounter.  While it is a sci-fi, I felt like it broke my mind a bit and challenged what I thought, but that was happening to Zetian so I experienced what she did.  I don't mind the ending, I wasn't sure how it was going to wrap up anyways.  BUT we got a lovely "To be continued" so Zetian story continues!!!

I like the first book more, but this was still a strong sequel!  I'm still waiting and hoping for a screen adaptation because seeing this story visually come to life would be incredible.

Make sure you check the author's social media and website to make the author's amendment to page 434.  Right after the line,
"It's YOUR turn," the author would like to change the next lines to, "We can sculpt anything out of spirit metal. I could even FEEL through it. We can make this work." The author wants to make it crystal clear that Qin Zheng is getting pegged.  We stan.
You can download and print the amendment from their website.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings