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nytephoenyx's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This book was so exciting and I loved it. I loved a lot of different things about it, and there were only two very limited things I did not like. There was so much action and so much research (and I would expect nothing less from Xiran Jay Zhou) and such interesting characters and !!! I am so glad I stumbled across this one. Thank you, Xiran Jay Zhou, for writing a thread about historical inaccuracies in Mulan which blew up on Twitter and led to me finding your book announcement. You are very good at social media and I like your writing.
Rather than let this review go paragraphs long, I’m going to take this bullet-point style. So! Things I liked:
- Content warnings were at the beginning of the book.
- A non-historical disclosure was at the beginning of the book (Zetian is inspired by Empress Wu).
- Our protagonists are not heroes in any sense of the word.
- Love triangle that actually works (polyamorous rep!)
- Tian’s anger through the book never subsides.
- There is an actual, in-story reason why Tian and Shimin reconcile so quickly and it makes sense.
- When Xiran Jay Zhou writes about unpleasant things, they do not hold back.
- The characters never feel the need to explain themselves and I kind of loved that.
- The physically intimate scenes were tasteful and non-intrusive. Way too much YA lets romance overthrow the plot, but not this book!
- The writing balances description, dialogue, and action really well. It’s a debut, but doesn’t feel like your traditional “they’re still learning” debut. This book is polished and ready to go.
- The chapters are short so it’s easier to find a place to take a break, assuming you’re not so sucked in that you binge read the whole thing, which would be very possible.
- I appreciated the world and setting – it’s an Asian-inspired fantasy/sci-fi/action book and it feels both extremely original and yet somewhat familiar. Anime fans should love it. And for the rest of us, it’s a refreshingly different read.
- There were multiple twists at the end I definitely didn’t see coming.
Those are a few of the reasons Iron Widow is such a compelling novel and why I enjoyed it utterly. I really liked Tian, Shimin, and Yishi. Even Sima Yi, who had his own growth arc, was interesting to watch. I’m struggling to pull together eloquent, comprehensive thoughts about Iron Widow because I genuinely liked it so much. I liked how there was dark revenge and murders early in the book – an author not afraid to make things messy is my favorite kind of author. While I didn’t like the interactions between Tian and so many of the other male characters, I can appreciate their necessity in painting a picture of exactly how misogynistic this society is (answer: very, very, very).
And I genuinely, genuinely liked the romantic relationship in Iron Widow. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with polyamorous rep before, and I am not polyamorous myself so I can’t speak to its accuracy, but I felt it was respectfully executed. To get a real feel for the success of both the polyamorous and Asian rep, please seek out reviews from those communities!
I do have a couple small criticisms, but they are quite small. Every once in a while I’d come across a paragraph while reading that seemed so out of place, almost like it was written by a different person. The voice was slightly different, or modern-sounding dialogue would pop up, and it would briefly shatter the illusion. It really didn’t happen often – twice specifically I recall shaking my head like “wait, what happened to the voice?” – but I did happen.
My second criticism would be the speed at which things changed regarding Shimin. Not his relationship with Tian – that made since as they were in one another’s heads and that breeds empathy. Rather, most of his struggle to overcome his addiction as well as the love story between Shimin and Yishi felt rushed. The pace at the end of the book in general picked up quite a lot, and I’ll credit this to be part of the problem. As a reader, I’d have liked to see more gradual development for Li Shimin, but it was not so fast that it made his character unenjoyable.
My friends, I highly recommend picking up a copy of Iron Widow and giving it a try. Xiran Jay Zhou will transport you to another world, then they will ruthless batter your heart. It’s delightful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Colonisation and Medical content
fauna_n_fiction's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
PLEASE CHECK THE TRIGGER WARNINGS BEFORE READING THIS BOOK. I personally would not have marketed this book as a YA as it deals with very dark subject matter within the first 12 chapters.
... ...
I really didn't like the main character of this book. While I appreciated her motivations and reasoning for doing certain things, I personally couldn't relate to the brutal and extremist ways she achieved her goals. While I realise that she is a product of her society and her abusive situation, I am a thorough believer in "having been abused does not give you a free pass to be an abuser." I despised the way she treated Li Shimin, ESPECIALLY in his darkest moment and I felt like she only ever brought out the worst in him and encouraged the darkest sides of him instead of accepting his true nature. I enjoyed Li Shimin and Gao Yizhi's characters, however I found them both to be pretty flat. For a "feminist" book, this book has only four named female characters, one of whom is our MC, another who is dead and two who are both "against" her in different ways.
NONE of the characters had any development. Everyone either started out has horrid and stayed horrid or started out as good and stayed good. An argument could be made for Li Shimin, however, it's only that we view him as bad and learn that he is good.
As for the romance in this book, I LOVED the idea of a polyamorous relationship and I LOVED the tiny bit we got of Yizhi's and Shimin's relationship however, I felt like all the romances were rushed and baseless. I would have very much loved to get more of Shimin and Yizhi's development other than "they held hands."
I loved the atmosphere of this book, however, I think the worldbuilding is pretty shallow. We know this is a patriarchal society, there are beasts that we are fighting with a piloting system that is rigged against women. That's it.
I was not a fan of the writing style in this book. While I think there is an audience for this style of writing, I prefer a more formal, slightly lyrical form of writing. Considering the setting I feel like there was way too much slang and colloquialisms used unnecessarily where changing a single word would have elevated the language to a more mature level.
I think the plot and pacing we good but not great. I picked up this book and read through it very quickly because it moved along nicely and I was eager to see what happens.
... ...
I really didn't like the main character of this book. While I appreciated her motivations and reasoning for doing certain things, I personally couldn't relate to the brutal and extremist ways she achieved her goals. While I realise that she is a product of her society and her abusive situation, I am a thorough believer in "having been abused does not give you a free pass to be an abuser." I despised the way she treated Li Shimin, ESPECIALLY in his darkest moment and I felt like she only ever brought out the worst in him and encouraged the darkest sides of him instead of accepting his true nature. I enjoyed Li Shimin and Gao Yizhi's characters, however I found them both to be pretty flat. For a "feminist" book, this book has only four named female characters, one of whom is our MC, another who is dead and two who are both "against" her in different ways.
NONE of the characters had any development. Everyone either started out has horrid and stayed horrid or started out as good and stayed good. An argument could be made for Li Shimin, however, it's only that we view him as bad and learn that he is good.
As for the romance in this book, I LOVED the idea of a polyamorous relationship and I LOVED the tiny bit we got of Yizhi's and Shimin's relationship however, I felt like all the romances were rushed and baseless. I would have very much loved to get more of Shimin and Yizhi's development other than "they held hands."
I loved the atmosphere of this book, however, I think the worldbuilding is pretty shallow. We know this is a patriarchal society, there are beasts that we are fighting with a piloting system that is rigged against women. That's it.
I was not a fan of the writing style in this book. While I think there is an audience for this style of writing, I prefer a more formal, slightly lyrical form of writing. Considering the setting I feel like there was way too much slang and colloquialisms used unnecessarily where changing a single word would have elevated the language to a more mature level.
I think the plot and pacing we good but not great. I picked up this book and read through it very quickly because it moved along nicely and I was eager to see what happens.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Murder, Physical abuse, and Child death
sapphic_reader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Gaslighting, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Misogyny, and Violence
Moderate: Torture, Body shaming, Child death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, and Genocide
Minor: Animal death, Biphobia, Rape, and Colonisation
Rep: Polyamorous relationship POC characters Bisexual main charactersk_anipines's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
this was not very good and i really thought i would love it.
to start out, the characters are half-baked. our second love interest and deuteragonist shimin never felt like more than a tragic backstory. at first i quite liked yizhi, the primary love interest, but he was never developed past his surface, with hints of a dark past and depths substituting any real discussion on what happened to him and why. zetian was a bit too self-important, and the reasoning behind her liberal views was murky. why didn't she turn out as conservative as everyone around? there was no exploration for why this is, despite it being a main plot point. it felt as though the author was trying a little too hard to make her a badass girlboss who's always correct and justified.
to start out, the characters are half-baked. our second love interest and deuteragonist shimin never felt like more than a tragic backstory. at first i quite liked yizhi, the primary love interest, but he was never developed past his surface, with hints of a dark past and depths substituting any real discussion on what happened to him and why. zetian was a bit too self-important, and the reasoning behind her liberal views was murky. why didn't she turn out as conservative as everyone around? there was no exploration for why this is, despite it being a main plot point. it felt as though the author was trying a little too hard to make her a badass girlboss who's always correct and justified.
(minor point, but- i also can't help but roll my eyes at how the only thing she needed all along to be traditionally beautiful was an eyebrow pluck. ya authors really are so afraid of making their protagonists ugly, or even just unconventionally pretty.)
my favorite was quielo, personally, because I found her unapologetic nature and legitimate wit much more charming than whatever zetian had going on.
due to my opinions on the characters, the romance was similarly underwhelming, even though I was looking forward to this subversion of the ya love triangle. all three romances getting together in the span of one book was certainly... a choice. yizhi x zetian had too little buildup and not enough yearning for me to feel any strong feelings about them. zetian x shimin was just an endless trauma dump, and the author seemed quite determined to skip all the scenes of them actually bonding. yizhi x shimin was so underdeveloped it was a little sad, with each respective boy getting one scene to openly admire the other until they were kissing. all couples lacked a lot of chemistry, leaving me majorly bored by their interactions.
it wasn’t all bad though; the plot and world-building were my favorite parts. the chinese-inspired sci-fi pacific-rim style concept was great, and i appreciate the research on history that went into this book. i found myself really intrigued by what was happening with the chrysalises and the hunduns and the complexities of piloting. the final plot twists, while predictable, set up a lot of interesting ideas to explore for the sequel. events did feel a bit all over the place at times and the book had trouble deciding what it wanted to focus on, but it didn't bother me too much.
the writing style was nothing special, a bit worse than the average ya. pacing was a bit too fast at parts, but nothing unbearable.
but let's dive into what i found truly bad about this book: the messaging. don't get me wrong, i love girl bosses who don't mind getting their hands dirty as much as the next person. but this book really missed the mark on what it was trying to accomplish.
the inciting incident in this book was the death of zetian's big sister, but she was nothing more than a plot device with no depth or personality, not even a single memorable scene of her doing anything. thus, her being being so important to zetian’s descions felt almost underserved and definitely underwhelming. zetian's other female relationships were with her toxic mother (who she kills for being a product of her surroundings), and her friend, xiuying (who she kills for wanting to protect her children), and quielo (who she dislikes for being rude). the only girls she shows sympathy towards are herself and faceless ones she doesn't know, leaving her 'feminism' very shallow.
the fact that zetian is almost always painted as correct is a problem, because I'd rather her feel emotions and regret and her being wrong as much as any other character, instead of elevating her to this person who can do no wrong in the eyes of the narrative and her love interests. she's a morally grey person. that's the point, and I don't have a problem with that. fiction doesn't owe anyone morality as far as I'm concerned. but I found her ruthlessness and overall ideals very tiring and hypocritical by the end. the key to doing a morally grey character like this is to make them relatable and likable despite their flaws, and I really lost my patience with zetian as the novel continued.
tldr: it was a really interesting concept with great ideas on world-building and some genuinely intriguing plot developments, but ultimately it missed the mark with it's characters and themes.
my favorite was quielo, personally, because I found her unapologetic nature and legitimate wit much more charming than whatever zetian had going on.
due to my opinions on the characters, the romance was similarly underwhelming, even though I was looking forward to this subversion of the ya love triangle. all three romances getting together in the span of one book was certainly... a choice. yizhi x zetian had too little buildup and not enough yearning for me to feel any strong feelings about them. zetian x shimin was just an endless trauma dump, and the author seemed quite determined to skip all the scenes of them actually bonding. yizhi x shimin was so underdeveloped it was a little sad, with each respective boy getting one scene to openly admire the other until they were kissing. all couples lacked a lot of chemistry, leaving me majorly bored by their interactions.
it wasn’t all bad though; the plot and world-building were my favorite parts. the chinese-inspired sci-fi pacific-rim style concept was great, and i appreciate the research on history that went into this book. i found myself really intrigued by what was happening with the chrysalises and the hunduns and the complexities of piloting. the final plot twists, while predictable, set up a lot of interesting ideas to explore for the sequel. events did feel a bit all over the place at times and the book had trouble deciding what it wanted to focus on, but it didn't bother me too much.
the writing style was nothing special, a bit worse than the average ya. pacing was a bit too fast at parts, but nothing unbearable.
but let's dive into what i found truly bad about this book: the messaging. don't get me wrong, i love girl bosses who don't mind getting their hands dirty as much as the next person. but this book really missed the mark on what it was trying to accomplish.
the inciting incident in this book was the death of zetian's big sister, but she was nothing more than a plot device with no depth or personality, not even a single memorable scene of her doing anything. thus, her being being so important to zetian’s descions felt almost underserved and definitely underwhelming. zetian's other female relationships were with her toxic mother (who she kills for being a product of her surroundings), and her friend, xiuying (who she kills for wanting to protect her children), and quielo (who she dislikes for being rude). the only girls she shows sympathy towards are herself and faceless ones she doesn't know, leaving her 'feminism' very shallow.
the fact that zetian is almost always painted as correct is a problem, because I'd rather her feel emotions and regret and her being wrong as much as any other character, instead of elevating her to this person who can do no wrong in the eyes of the narrative and her love interests. she's a morally grey person. that's the point, and I don't have a problem with that. fiction doesn't owe anyone morality as far as I'm concerned. but I found her ruthlessness and overall ideals very tiring and hypocritical by the end. the key to doing a morally grey character like this is to make them relatable and likable despite their flaws, and I really lost my patience with zetian as the novel continued.
tldr: it was a really interesting concept with great ideas on world-building and some genuinely intriguing plot developments, but ultimately it missed the mark with it's characters and themes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, and Torture
Moderate: War
Minor: Body horror, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
keenanmaree's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, and War
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Body horror, Murder, and Police brutality
shaipanda's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
fast-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
5.0
OMG BRO HOLY SHIT THAT ENDING WAS FUCKING WILDDDDDD WTF - I fucking knewwww something wasn’t adding up but holy shittt
Ok so this is by far one of the best books I’ve probably ever read??! Like it’s crazy intense and needs a shit ton of trigger warnings but so gooddd - this and this fic I read recently single handedly dragged me out of my reading slump (esp when it comes to fantasy specially) that’s been going on all semester
JUST SO GOODDD AHH
Ok so this is by far one of the best books I’ve probably ever read??! Like it’s crazy intense and needs a shit ton of trigger warnings but so gooddd - this and this fic I read recently single handedly dragged me out of my reading slump (esp when it comes to fantasy specially) that’s been going on all semester
JUST SO GOODDD AHH
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Xenophobia, War, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Sexism, Murder, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
shetland_pone's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, War, Violence, Torture, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Murder, and Misogyny
chamaeleontis's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book was honestly amazing. I physically stopped myself from reading it (I put it at the bottom of my backpack and piled stuff on top of it) so I could spread it out over multiple days and enjoy it for longer. It's a medium length book, but an incredibly fast read, with excellent pacing. I am blown away by the book and utterly loved it. I don't want to give away any plot here, because there are a ton of twists and turns that are fun to discover as the come, even if they wouldn't really be spoilers.
The characters were well-developed, and have a very real sense to them. The plot is engaging and doesn't falter. Bonus points for the gorgeous cover, it did not disappoint.
The characters were well-developed, and have a very real sense to them. The plot is engaging and doesn't falter. Bonus points for the gorgeous cover, it did not disappoint.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, War, Violence, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Sexism, Physical abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Grief, Gaslighting, Fire/Fire injury, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Cursing, Confinement, Chronic illness, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Xenophobia, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Genocide, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual assault, Rape, and Racism
Minor: Abandonment, Colonisation, Drug abuse, Drug use, Genocide, Infidelity, Racial slurs, and Slavery
karambit's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Violence
Moderate: Blood, Colonisation, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and War
Minor: Abandonment, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Rape, and Sexual content
joceraptor's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Genocide, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, and War
Moderate: Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, and Suicidal thoughts