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Also, note: This book is much more adult than the first, I would not classify it as YA. Maybe NA.
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Pregnancy
Minor: Addiction, Child death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Classism
After waiting for YEARS for this book the plot was everything I hoped for.
Only criticisms would be that some of the writing about political ideas were just a little too on the nose, and that for most of the book it felt like the characters were overcoming obstacles too easy (although this did not hold up towards the end)
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Misogyny, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Colonisation, War
Moderate: Medical content, Trafficking, Colonisation, Classism
Minor: Miscarriage, Vomit
I see why this one kept getting delayed; even with the extra page count over Iron Widow it feels kind of compressed (especially with the tentative resolution of many plot points around the 75% mark as the book started laying the groundwork for the next one). I'm so glad that one of my major criticisms of the previous book has been addressed and Zetian now has female friends and allies, but the process of actually becoming friends feels squeezed for time over how much the book focuses on pros and cons of communism. Sexism is still a major theme of this book and I like the way it was handled, even if we have yet to have a true resolution here. It's not that the previous book wasn't political, but this one is extremely overt with its discussions of the class struggle and the mirroring of atrocities committed by real-world communist governments. I think that's why I'm struggling so much with reviewing it... there wasn't enough concrete resolution of a lot of the "revolution" plotline for me to know how I feel about this book, and I'm going to need the series to finish before I can form a solid opinion on it.
I have no idea how Zhao will wrap any of this up in one more book. Both the "smaller" plotline concerning Huaxia and the broader scope seem like they'll need way more space than just one book to resolve.
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Murder, Classism
Moderate: Gun violence, Sexual content, Medical content, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, War
Minor: Homophobia, Miscarriage, Sexual assault
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Classism
Graphic: Ableism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Homophobia, Suicide
Minor: Child abuse, Miscarriage, Blood
The story of Heavenly Tyrant follows immediately after the end of Iron Widow, as the characters deal with the consequences of their actions.
The book spends more time describing the characters' activities and their conversations than the first one. This was a good choice as so much happens in such a short time in Iron Widow that you are left reeling and rather overwhelmed, even after a second read-through. Spending more time with the characters in moments of less action also allowed for more nuance when expressing their ideals and different points of view.
Xiran Jay Zhao is able to explore complex themes in a nuanced and multifaceted way and I can't wait to read more of their work.
Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Miscarriage, Torture, Police brutality, Medical content, Kidnapping, Pregnancy
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, War, Classism
Moderate: Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Torture, Xenophobia, Vomit, Trafficking, Grief, Murder, Abandonment
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, Abortion, Pregnancy, Alcohol
I absolutely loved Iron Widow, and I think following a book like that with a second book for a trilogy is going to be a tall order no matter what. I will admit that I didn’t do a reread of IW before starting Heavenly Tyrant and probably did myself a disservice, since I spent a lot of time near the beginning being very confused about what was going on, and trying to figure out who everyone was.
Overarching thematic spoilers ahead.
I loved being back in the world of Huaxia, and getting back in Zetian’s head was as exciting as I could have expected. I was also surprised by how much growth she exhibited throughout the novel; IW is very much an “I support women’s rights and women’s wrongs” vibe, but HT showed Zetian developing not only as a person but also as a leader. I really loved watching her figure out what having a legacy meant to her, and wrestling with those complicated ethics that come along with violence, revolution, class warfare, and women’s equality.
I would say one of my favourite elements of this book was Zetian’s arc in realizing how small her vision was in terms of women piloting chrysalises; in actuality, the majority of women and girls in Huaxia would not benefit materially from these changes in military policy. Her recognizing that she needed to make moves to improve conditions for all women, even those who would make different choices from her, felt so rewarding and well-earned, especially through watching her struggle through her lessons with Wan’er and learn so much about history and politics.
I also loved Xiran Jay Zhao’s absolutely scathing take on the Enlightened Leftist Man. Qin Zheng was a total treat of a character; impeccably written and a fascinatingly sympathetic monster. There were moments where you feel yourself rooting for him— he’s a revolutionary! He’s a hero! He’s got great ideas about economics and social programs! He wants equality for women! He is allegedly very attractive! And yet… despite all of that, he is still a horrible fucking human.
I could see so many parallels between him and soooo many “radical” “activist” “feminist” men in our modern day that it was truly chilling at times. Because then when you look at him past the policies, past the power and the skills and bravado, he is literally just Some Guy who is actually a giant hypocrite. He thinks he’s a good person because he ~respects women~ and wouldn’t ever take advantage of Zetian or force himself on her sexually.
On the other hand… there was a lot of this book that I didn’t particularly enjoy or understand where it was taking us. The last 10-15% of the novel had me going ummm… how are we going to come back from this??? It felt like the scope of the story got way out of hand and I’m honestly perplexed at how things could possibly be wrapped up in only one more book! These stakes are absurd!
There were some good twists and there were a few moments where I actually gasped out loud, but other elements felt quite obvious (like, I saw this coming since the last book obvious), so those reveals felt like they took way too long. In general, the pacing of the story felt a bit off and so it felt both way too long but also left me wanting more at the end.
All in all, definitely worth reading if you liked Iron Widow, because it’s a wild ride and packs in excellent character work alongside political commentary (perhaps a little too on the nose for our current state of affairs😅), cool action scenes, and a whole lot of double (and triple??) crossing. I’m still very much looking forward to the next book despite having some issues with this one!
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, Toxic friendship, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Miscarriage, Medical content, Pregnancy
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Sexual assault, Alcohol
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Genocide, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Dysphoria, Classism
Minor: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Miscarriage, Rape, Medical content, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol
Graphic: Violence, War
Moderate: Death, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual content, Torture, Death of parent, Pregnancy