Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

61 reviews

norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, War, Genocide, Gore, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Violence, Ableism, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Classism, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, and Gaslighting

blissofalife's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Fantastic original plot and characters, presented with great descriptions for visualization!

 Would be 5 stars if the writing wasn’t juvenile with some of the dialogue, it pulled me out of the setting abruptly.

Can’t wait for the next book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism and Sexism

Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Body shaming, Death, Gaslighting, Misogyny, and War

Minor: Domestic abuse, Gore, Cursing, Sexual content, Physical abuse, Rape, Murder, and Sexual assault

sailorplutoid's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Physical abuse, Alcoholism, War, Murder, and Misogyny

Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Rape, and Torture

Minor: Child abuse, Colonisation, Ableism, Bullying, Child death, and Sexual violence

In chapter two you learn

Xeitan's family have been binding her feet the whole time, and she has had difficulty moving outside of the mech

. The concubine system

is vague enough to not be slavery, but it's selling their daughters off for war. so pretty bad

lolajh's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

Women going lowkey mad and killing men > zetian I love you fr

Honestly the best development I’ve seen of a heroine becoming an anti heroine. Zetian, a morally grey Chinese disabled woman rebels against her patriarchal society, having to prove her power throughly due to being a woman and doing it FLAWLESSLY whilst criticising the patriarchal and misogynistic society that also exists in the real world. Zetian proves to be so much more powerful than any man, as

is every woman in this universe. Women in this story are so much stronger than men that they have to be used as a “battery” of chi to fuel men and make them stronger due to them being so much weaker naturally, which ends up killing the women, something that further fuels Zetian’s revenge of killing men due to her sister being one of the targets of this and being killed.

Zetian’s power is soon recognised as a major threat, so is paired up with the strongest pilot to fight together in the war that is going on. Whilst Zetian is on her rampage,

she ends up falling for the pilot she is paired with whilst still having feelings for her childhood friend back home. This love triangle is sorted out in best way by making them all polyamory

The book also describes Zetian’s challenging of the roles and expectations of women, through how she wants to present herself and also her body not being the perfect, skinny figure that is idealised. All this challenges Zetian’s connection to her own womanhood. Just about everything good is in this book. Will definitely have to reread while waiting for the next in the series to come out.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, Addiction, Body horror, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Domestic abuse, Hate crime, Slavery, Rape, Sexual harassment, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, War, Sexual content, Child death, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Xenophobia

pastelkerstin's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense

• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

(Definitely look at content warnings for this book. It is dark. So dark that I'm questioning whether it should have been marketed as adult instead of YA.)

Here are two facts about my experience reading this book:
1) I fundamentally disagree with the moral framework for justice that the main characters use (revenge as the response to injustice).
2) I found this book gripping despite that.

Some people hold the view that to like a book with flawed characters means that you agree with everything they do, but I think that's a ridiculous way to view fiction.

Yes, I think Zetian's methods are unethical. But no, that doesn't mean that this book ruins the perception of real-world feminism. Zetian is flawed, hypocritical at times, and cruel. But it's also very clear that she became this way because of the deeply oppressive misogynist society she lives in. She's the monster the world forced her to be if she wants to survive. She's not your perfect feminist icon, who is a good example for children, because she is a fictional character in a very specific world with very specific circumstances, some of them based on actual historical (and on-going) women's rights issues, and some of them entirely fictional. Let female characters be fucked up sometimes!

That's all I have to say on that. Additional thoughts: I wish this book slowed down more often to give you a bit more breathing room between so many tough scenes. I also think those "breaks" could have been used to flesh out the relationships more. I was definitely rooting for these three, but a lot of their falling for each other seems to happen in the in-betweens that we don't get to see. Nevertheless, I think having more canon polyamorous relationships in traditionally published books is really important. The polya rep is one of the main reasons I read this book. I think polya triads where everyone is dating each other allow for very interesting character dynamics.

Another thing I struggled a bit with was not letting the combination of traditional and at times conservative elements and futuristic sci-fi tech break my suspension of disbelief. Some parts of this world seem so very old and then others are so futuristic. I know this is deliberate. It's what makes this world-building pretty unique. But it can feel a bit disorienting at times.

All right, that's all. I'm very interested to see where the sequel will go.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Domestic abuse, Vomit, Xenophobia, Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Addiction, Bullying, Misogyny, Torture, Grief, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, War, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Medical content and Child death

Minor: Drug abuse, Homophobia, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Biphobia

allonormativity/implied asexual erasure, implied intersex erasure, implied transphobia

colonisation, genocide

house_of_hannah's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

 This was 100% a solid 4 star read until the last few chapters. I just cannot with that ending. It feels like it throws away everything the main characters had been saying and standing for throughout the entire book.

The beginning is brilliant. You will come to hate this world as much as Zetian does. This story revolves aroung rage, revenge, and injustice in a brutal way that makes me very surprised that this is YA. However, since the start is so strong it does feel like it drags in the middle, and becomes a bit repetitive.

I do wish there had been a bit more world building. I feel like I don't understand the politics of this world well enough, or who's running it. (Besides men) I think that may have been done on purpose due to the ending, but I definitely wanted a few more things explained than what we got.

The whole time I was reading this I was getting major Hunger Games vibes. (Movies, I have not read the books) The layers of betrayel upon betrayel upon betrayel got to be too much though. It left me with no one to root for in the end.

One of the major selling points of this book that is pushed a lot is the polyamory. It's there, and there's some good commentary about being able to love multiple people at once, but man, I wish there was a bit more of it !

Overall, prepare for a violent tale about standing up to the patriarchy that turns into a different book by the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Classism, Child death, Torture, Slavery, Sexism, Bullying, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Addiction, War, Violence, Murder, Misogyny, Death of parent, Death, and Body shaming

Moderate: Xenophobia, Gun violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Minor: Rape

greymalkin's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

If you enjoyed Pacific Rim, Evangelion, or Robotech, you'll probably enjoy this.  Though fair warning, the first few chapters may make you blindingly angry (it's on purpose to establish the mysogynistic premise of the world, but it's still really infuriating).  Happily, of course the book addresses this, but it's not pleasant to read.  The writing is a little awkward in bits, and most of the plot is very predictable.  But that doesn't make it unenjoyable because half of the delight is seeing the spin that is taken on the "human pilot and giant mecha" setup.  Some of the character moments felt a little too stiff and "tell not show", but the dialog is solid and I liked that the characters were complex and often morally grey.  I look forward to the next one!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, War, Emotional abuse, and Sexism

Moderate: Murder, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, and Death

Minor: Child death, Rape, and Sexual assault

annir's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Emotional abuse, Grief, Confinement, Death, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Fire/Fire injury, Infidelity, Child death, Slavery, Blood, Body horror, Colonisation, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, and Kidnapping

orangesoda733's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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? Yes

5.0

Zetian did nothing wrong!!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, War, Torture, Sexism, and Child death

bluejayreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I had some reservations about this book going in that had nothing to do with the book itself. The author is a YouTuber that my husband watches (he’s the one who told me about this book), but I haven’t seen any of their videos. I knew nothing about the book besides its back cover. What had me worried is that I put it on hold at my library, which told me that based on the number of people ahead of me it would be about a 17-week wait. Five weeks later, I got a notification that it was ready to borrow. As I told my husband, either it was so good that people were devouring it and finishing it fast or it was so bad that people were giving up quickly. 

Luckily, the former was the case. This book is fantastic. 

It was also very hard to read at many points. Misogyny is something I find it hard to read about, especially when it gets extreme, and everything in the world of Iron Widow is built on misogyny. There is foot-binding in this world. The only use of daughters is selling them off to be wives or die in battle. Chrysalises are the only defense against the invading aliens, and when a man and a woman get into one, only the man will survive. 

Zetian is angry and she has every right to be. Her family only cares about the money she can bring in through either a bride price or a war death payment for dying in a Chrysalis. They are only sad about her older sister’s death because she was murdered outside of a Chrysalis and therefore her family didn’t get the payment. Her father and grandfather are violent and abusive, her mother and grandmother are cowed, and she knows they do not love her. If they want to sell her to her death anyway, the death penalty for killing the male pilot who murdered her sister won’t be anything worse. 

This acceptance of death made her absolutely fearless, and I loved it. The perfect girl is beautiful and silent, moving slowly on her bound feet, obeying every order and taking insults and abuse without complaint. None of the men Zetian encounters have any idea what to do with a girl who has accepted she’s going to die and therefore sees no point in trying to avoid the wrath of men. She is an absolute delight of fury, and I love it when books let girls embrace their rage. 

I don’t know if Xiran intended this, but Zetian’s bound feet were relatable disability feels. I don’t have bound feet, but I do have a chronic pain condition that especially likes to screw up my hips, knees, and other joints required for walking, and I absolutely related to the frustration and anger and feeling of being limited that comes with every step hurting, needing a mobility aid like a cane to walk longer distances, and knowing that it will never be fixed. I have no idea how much of what’s in the book is accurate to actual footbinding practices, but it was definitely relatable to my experience of mobility- and pain-related disability. 

The themes in this book aren’t really subtle, especially the whole thing about a misogynistic society. I absolutely loved the progression of it, though. Zetian knows that there is misogyny in the world and that she and her sister have no worth outside of supporting, serving, and dying for men simply because they’re women. She starts the book blaming individual men, with the goal of murdering the individual man who murdered her sister. But the book takes her along a journey from “individual men are the problem” to “the system is the problem” as she learned more about the individual men and the system. 

And if you’re not here for themes – well, I think you’d be missing out on a lot of what makes this book great, but you do get epic mecha battles, magic with a thin veneer of science used to fight invading aliens, psychic fights in a mental realm, good old-fashioned fisticuffs, powerful prisoners with hearts of gold, underdogs teaming up to give the people in charge a gigantic middle finger, a love triangle that ends in the best way possible, and several amazing twists (only one of which I suspected). 

This review is already getting long, and I haven’t even mentioned the rich and complex world-building, the amazing twists, the rich atmosphere, the fantastic relationships between Zetian and the two love interests in the triangle, the minor themes about women who participate in their own oppression, and all the other wonderful things in this book. It’s fantastic. Everything about is dark and gorgeous and burning with fury and flame. I adore this book. 

I also recommend checking out the author’s website. There’s character profiles, fanart, and even memes (mild spoiler warning for how the love triangle shakes out, though). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Death, Alcoholism, Torture, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Child death, Alcohol, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content

Minor: Body horror and Sexual violence

Non-consentual being inside someone’s mind/having someone in your mind