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challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“Don’t you get it? You are to me what the gods were to you. I can’t breathe freely as long as you live!” - Zetian, Heavenly Tyrants
This book.
This book, y’all.
I laughed, I cried, I screamed, and I’m pretty sure the ending made me loose my mind.
I don’t even know how to write a review of this book without spoiling it, so this review will probably be somewhat different than most of my others.
We were warned that this book is very different from Iron Widow, and that is correct. Iron Widow is very much a girl power fantasy, and it is glorious in its fire. This book takes time to look at the details of what liberation, equality, and strength looks like, both on a small scale, personal level and on a broader, societal level.
Zetian continues to be everything I love in a heroine. She is broken, confused, and struggles, but bold enough to face her own established ideas and with a strength and fire to propel her forward. I loved watching her struggle with her ethics throughout the story as she wrestles with what it means to have equality as a woman and how to maintain her own autonomy within a relationship and a society that is constantly trying to take it from her.
Qin Zheng. I hate him. He’s very well written, but I still hate him. He’s the perfect example of a leftist man who doesn’t understand how those politics apply to his relationship with his wife (or women in general). He’s smart and charismatic and yet has gaping blind spots, primarily in his careless treatment of Zetian’s autonomy. If I see him, it’s on sight.
Yizhi is the most complex character in this book, and that made me like him even more, although I spent solidly 90% of the book wanting to strangle him. His politican side comes out in this book, both for good and evil, and it leads to a lot of horrid decisions but also some very smart ones.
Shimin, my poor baby. I refuse to believe that you’re gone.
My favorite part of this book is that the relationships focus so much on Zetian making good friends. So many heroines don’t have women around them, and this book changes that for Zetian, bringing some of my favorite side characters- Wan’er and Taiping particularly.
This book.
This book, y’all.
I laughed, I cried, I screamed, and I’m pretty sure the ending made me loose my mind.
I don’t even know how to write a review of this book without spoiling it, so this review will probably be somewhat different than most of my others.
We were warned that this book is very different from Iron Widow, and that is correct. Iron Widow is very much a girl power fantasy, and it is glorious in its fire. This book takes time to look at the details of what liberation, equality, and strength looks like, both on a small scale, personal level and on a broader, societal level.
Zetian continues to be everything I love in a heroine. She is broken, confused, and struggles, but bold enough to face her own established ideas and with a strength and fire to propel her forward. I loved watching her struggle with her ethics throughout the story as she wrestles with what it means to have equality as a woman and how to maintain her own autonomy within a relationship and a society that is constantly trying to take it from her.
Qin Zheng. I hate him. He’s very well written, but I still hate him. He’s the perfect example of a leftist man who doesn’t understand how those politics apply to his relationship with his wife (or women in general). He’s smart and charismatic and yet has gaping blind spots, primarily in his careless treatment of Zetian’s autonomy. If I see him, it’s on sight.
Yizhi is the most complex character in this book, and that made me like him even more, although I spent solidly 90% of the book wanting to strangle him. His politican side comes out in this book, both for good and evil, and it leads to a lot of horrid decisions but also some very smart ones.
Shimin, my poor baby. I refuse to believe that you’re gone.
My favorite part of this book is that the relationships focus so much on Zetian making good friends. So many heroines don’t have women around them, and this book changes that for Zetian, bringing some of my favorite side characters- Wan’er and Taiping particularly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, War
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual content, Medical trauma
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I have never read a book all in one sitting like this.
Content Warnings
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
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, War
Moderate: Pregnancy
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual content, Gaslighting
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
This book follows Zetian's revolutionary governance after awakening the dragon emperor at the end of Iron Widow and her mission to rescue Shimin from his imprisonment by the gods. I hurried to reread Iron Widow before reading this (which is why my review is coming out after the book, sorry :/ ), but I'm not sure that's strictly necessary, since Heavenly Tyrant follows an almost completely different set of characters, setting, and conflict than the first book. That said, you would be very lost coming in without having read the first book at all, as knowledge of the worldbuilding and Zetian's character are definitely necessary. You just don't need to be intimately familiar with every detail of the first book.
It's hard to give a good review of the book without spoilers, since the book is extremely eventful. Essentially, the situation is that, having overthrown the government of Huaxia with the help of the ancient emperor Qin Zheng in the first book, the two of them must now begin to rule the country, despite Zetian not having any political education and Qin Zheng being a brutal warlord. Also Shimin was taken hostage by the beings calling themselves "gods" who live in a spaceship orbiting the planet so Zetian wants to get him back and take down the gods. There is a great deal of revolutionary socialist politics, feminist coalition-building, bloodthirsty scheming, and mech piloting to learn and execute in very little time.
I would be deeply surprised if this book did not end up on some banned books, if not for its communist revolution and propaganda, then for its violence, sexuality (several very steamy scenes, but all the explicit stuff is fade-to-black), or toxic relationships. To me, all these aspects are to the good and handled in a very self-aware manner, but this book won't be for everyone. As with the first book, I loved the characters, world-building, and fast-pace of the book (especially considering its length). The central themes of the book surround the questions of when violence and coercion are justified and what their consequences are, which is a great topic for the YA and New Adult age range to grapple with. I cannot wait for the third (and final?) book of the series!
Thank you to Tundra and Netgalley for providing a free Advanced Readers Copy of this book for review.
It's hard to give a good review of the book without spoilers, since the book is extremely eventful. Essentially, the situation is that, having overthrown the government of Huaxia with the help of the ancient emperor Qin Zheng in the first book, the two of them must now begin to rule the country, despite Zetian not having any political education and Qin Zheng being a brutal warlord. Also Shimin was taken hostage by the beings calling themselves "gods" who live in a spaceship orbiting the planet so Zetian wants to get him back and take down the gods. There is a great deal of revolutionary socialist politics, feminist coalition-building, bloodthirsty scheming, and mech piloting to learn and execute in very little time.
I would be deeply surprised if this book did not end up on some banned books, if not for its communist revolution and propaganda, then for its violence, sexuality (several very steamy scenes, but all the explicit stuff is fade-to-black), or toxic relationships. To me, all these aspects are to the good and handled in a very self-aware manner, but this book won't be for everyone. As with the first book, I loved the characters, world-building, and fast-pace of the book (especially considering its length). The central themes of the book surround the questions of when violence and coercion are justified and what their consequences are, which is a great topic for the YA and New Adult age range to grapple with. I cannot wait for the third (and final?) book of the series!
Thank you to Tundra and Netgalley for providing a free Advanced Readers Copy of this book for review.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexism, Violence, Sexual harassment
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Genocide, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Medical trauma, Colonisation, War, Classism
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
yizhi high heels, i adore you
Content Warnings
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
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
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
What a follow up to Iron Widow! It definitely had a different vibe- it's wasn't full time female rage and mecha- smash-things, but there still were elements of that vibe in this book. It was interesting to see how Huaxia changed after the old regime was overthrown, and I felt like sometimes it was almost like a foreshadowing of what could happen if capitalism was overthrown semi-violently. I really liked to see what Zetian did to try to uplift women. Qin Zheng grew on me, to the point where I was pretty much rooting for him and Zetian to make it work... but I should have expected her to not fully bow down to him, so that crazy ending shouldn't have been a surprise! But man, I had whiplash with Yizhi and his various betrayals, and like Zetian, I lost my trust in him. But wow, what an ending! I had pretty much guessed that the gods were just more advanced beings/society but not really gods, but it was interesting to see how that interaction panned out! Also, does this mean there will be more books? I thought it was a planned duology, but now I'm not sure! Overall, I continued to enjoy Zhao's writing style and world building, and I liked the revolution vibes. Definitely a worthy follow up after the excellence that is Iron Widow!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Gore, Sexism, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit
I kind of missed the polyamory between Zetian, Yizhi, and Shimin. Zetian and Qin Zheng was just different, and I felt like she didn't always fully want to be with him, but did eventually decide it was more of a physical release than an actual bonding beyond the physical act.
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It pains me how much I did not enjoy this book. I wanted to like it so bad. Iron Widow is one of my favourite books. Yet, this book tested my patience. I did not have a lot of time to read but even then it took me way too long to get through it. While I was in the middle of reading it felt fine, yet I kept getting distracted anyway. This just got worse and worse as I went on. I started with good hopes, willing to give it a try after hearing about mixed reviews before. But my enjoyment slipped away the longer I read. In the end, it wasn’t enough to capture my interest.
I would love to give this book a higher rating, yet I had way too many issues with it to justify that. I really really hope that this is a case of second book syndrome and that the next book will be better.
I made some notes while reading so I will list them here, as they summarise my thoughts quite well:
- There are basically no interesting characters with interesting character moments. I do not care for most of them. The few character moments we are given did very little for me.
- The politics are explained over and over like it’s being explained to a young teenager. There is no elegance in approaching politics as the main theme. The uninspired political discussion were no fun and just kept on going.
- There would’ve been more interesting parts to write about. Yet it repeats the same boring stuff over and over.
- Iron widow should’ve been longer, heavenly tyrant should’ve been shorter.
- It makes no sense that it is young adult book. The brutality, and how explicitly it is described, comes close to adult. The sex scenes in my opinion already go further than what should be in a young adult novel. Perhaps the author would feel more free to explore the complexities of the political themes when it was an adult book instead of this superficial inelegant mess.
- Not a fan of Qin Zheng. He just annoyed me and I did not care about him or the whole toxic relationship between him and Zetian.
- I don’t think I like how their toxic relationship is portrayed. I do not think young readers will catch on to how toxic and unhealthy it really is. I see a lot of potential for them romanticising it (it has happened so many times before…)
What I enjoyed:
- Wan’er and taiping
So yes, it’s fair to say I’m very disappointed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence
Moderate: Sexual content, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I think this book could have used a few more rounds of edits. There were some points that dragged but the good parts were really good. The ending is wild in the best way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Pregnancy, War
Moderate: Sexual content