Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

1090 reviews

justasillygirl04's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

allegra_j's review against another edition

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, and War

ghoul_girl's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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

5.0

I'm obsessed and need the sequel now. 
I was in a reading slump, to distracted and stressed to enjoy anything. Then I picked this up at the library. If you want an angry, feminist, queer read, look no further. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Grief, Alcohol, and War

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, and Colonisation

r3allybadusername's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Trafficking, Murder, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Body shaming and Fatphobia

ezriamongthestars's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism and Homophobia

grace_reads49's review against another edition

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

2.0

This one wasn't for me. I liked how fast paced it was, but it felt like the fast pace was at the expense of the secondary characters. Our main character is good, and I feel like I understand her and her choices pretty well. I can't say the same about either of the men. I didn't quite understand what the loved about her, and I really didn't understand why they chose to love each other.

There were also parts of the plot that felt a little hodge-podge -- which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just wasn't my favorite. It felt like how I would play with really cool toys, throwing them at each other, giving the characters singular traits and vague backstories: everybody is mean and evil, even the main characters, isn't this edgy and cool? And there were some parts that were interesting and skimming an idea of depth, like the main character's feelings about her family or her disability. But, again, a lot of that fell to the wayside so we could have mech-battles.

Honestly, it was just alright. If you enjoy really good action scenes with paper-thin motives, this will legitimately be a good read. I'd still consider reading more from Xiran Jay Zhao, but probably not more of this particular series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism and Sexual violence

There is lots of mech-battling, a good amount of injury, and some on page death. One of the characters is alcoholic. Battles using the mech-suits are performed by a man and woman, sometimes with the man sexually assaulting the woman. There's no on-page occurrence (unless I'm mistaken), but the main character thinks about it happening to her. There's also a point where she is asked to remove her clothes and be videoed for blackmail purposes. Again, not on page, and the main character decides it isn't truly a threat to her sense of self but be warned.

clarksamanthab's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

This book was awful. The main character isn‘t just unlikeable- she‘s practically evil. Am i supposed to root for her as she enjoys torturing someone or destroying entire cities?? Additionally the older sister is main character’s whole motivation- but she is only given a name once in the beginning. the whole rest of the book she is just called „Big Sister“ as if the author forgot to go back and fill the name in in editing. Also, the romance was choppy and annoying- each time shed begin to get close to one guy, shed suddenly make a move on another. there was no clear development of her love for either man. Definitely there wasn’t enough time spent with the one who dies before he did. The whole  time the main character rambles on and on this repetitive „man bad woman good“ crap. i get it’s supposed to be a feminist book but feminism isnt violence and rage without nuance. Overall the book was surface level and lazy. The only redeeming factor was the interesting worldbuilding. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Trafficking, and War

mxkelsifer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction and Alcoholism

Minor: Child death

lemonbugs's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

Where can I find this second book I need it NOW!!!!! This was so incredibly fun (and heartwrenching. Like seriously. The rollercoaster of emotions is crazy)!!! The characters are SO LOVELY I adore Zeitan and Yizhi and Shimin so much. They are so complex and they do some shady stuff but god how I love morally grey characters!!! Feed them to me!!!
Also adore how interactive the author is with the fandom!! The website with the memes and playlists is everything. I appreciate it endlessly!! Such a great read!!! Thank you for giving us the characters that we need <3

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, and Grief

amycat's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Misogyny, Torture, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Vomit