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ajhling's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book has characters that are mostly grey at best, and down right evil at worst. Our protagonist is a ball of rage and is someone who would be seen as the villain in many works of fiction. I love it. Even her romantic partners are on the verge of being villains in other works of fiction.
My favourite part besides the plot and our protagonist and her romantic partners, and the world as a whole?
The fact that there's no explicit sex scenes which have impregnated the publishing industry these days. Meaning you have a book that treats its readers like the older teens and adults that we are without having to worry about sex scenes because it's aimed towards an older teen, recent high school graduate age range, which apparently means sex most be included un the eyes of modern publishers.
I'm so hoping that the lack of explicit sex scenes continues onto the next book/s in the series (though even if they were present I'd still buy/read them anyway).
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Sexism, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, and Misogyny
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Torture, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Genocide, Child abuse, Child death, Sexual assault, Rape, Homophobia, Colonisation, Suicide attempt, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Violence, Body shaming, Racism, and Alcohol
smg's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Alcoholism
Moderate: War, Murder, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Rape, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Suicide attempt, Torture, and Toxic relationship
hannahjack05's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Misogyny, and Sexism
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Torture, and Emotional abuse
ali_k0's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Blood, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Police brutality, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Violence, and War
Moderate: Cursing, Racism, Vomit, Colonisation, and Body shaming
andrewbenesh1's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, War, Violence, and Torture
Moderate: Forced institutionalization
Minor: Genocide, Colonisation, Death of parent, Child death, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Torture, Racism, and Murder
fatherprozac's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Death, Classism, Cursing, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Addiction, Alcohol, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, Xenophobia, Ableism, Confinement, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, and Sexual content
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence
Minor: Colonisation, Homophobia, and Animal death
jjjreads's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Ableism, Blood, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Murder, Torture, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Forced institutionalization, Body horror, Body shaming, Misogyny, Racism, Kidnapping, Addiction, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Mental illness, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Trafficking, Confinement, Dysphoria, Gaslighting, Genocide, Grief, Medical content, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, War, Xenophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Homophobia, Biphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Bullying, Death of parent, Gun violence, Medical content, Sexual harassment, and Vomit
Minor: Cursing, Pedophilia, Rape, and Fatphobia
astressedmarshmallow's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, War, Murder, Domestic abuse, Alcohol, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Xenophobia, Vomit, Torture, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Misogyny, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Rape, and Injury/Injury detail
respheal's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
As a person in a healthy poly relationship, seeing that sort of relationship in media is lovely. Even when 1/3 is the delightful boyfriend who greets the other 2/3s with baked goods when they're done torturing a man to death. I was a little worried towards the end, before the Sequel Hook dropped. Disappointment turned immediately into deep concern. With the sequel hook came confirmation of many theories I had, which is always a good sign—a cohesive narrative rewards theorizing.
Overall, recommended. I'm still reeling.
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Torture, War, and Violence
Moderate: Child abuse, Classism, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Gaslighting
Minor: Bullying, Cannibalism, Confinement, Pregnancy, and Rape
rensreading's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
first of all, when people say this is feminist rage, they should also mention its not the modern-day feminism we’re used to and that the beginning is riddled with inner misogyny as well. it gets better and definitely resembles something more like modern-day feminism at the end but i still would have liked more elaborate reviews on that angle before reading.
wu zetian is bloodthirsty and i love it. she’s suicidal in the beginning, willing to risk everything to avenge her older sister and shed light on the unspoken horrors of the piloting system. i love that. what i didn’t really love was how much misogyny she had absorbed without even realizing it. she judged other women who were grasping at the only hope their society had shoved down their throats since birth and believed herself better because she rebelled against it all. “im not like other girls, i fight back” vibes. she ends up maturing and realizing women are not the ones solely to blame when it comes to their assimilation to the misogynistic society they’re forced to live in. yes their actions are their own, but zetian recognizes that the behavior and thought process are learned, just the same way she learned. the difference is she decided early on to fight back against it, no matter what it cost.
gao yizhi. oh, yizhi. the fifth child out of twenty-seven of one of the most powerful and disgusting men of chang’an. he definitely isn’t all sunshine and rainbows or the boy next door he projects himself to be. he’s bloodthirsty when needed, especially when it comes to his people. i think he’s the type who doesn’t like getting their hands dirty but absolutely will when push comes to shove. or when he’s lost one part of his soul and the other part is now being threatened by the man who (probably) forced himself on his mother then killed her later. i expected him to be the one to kill his father for sure. if it wasn’t zetian, it was going to be him. for a moment, i did think he would try and appease his father and leave zetian behind—they had just lost shimin after all—but yizhi surprised me. he surprised everyone. killed his father and forced everyone to recognize zetian as empress after they both lost a big part of their hearts. gods. he obviously has a mysterious past and definitely did questionable things for his dad, but im willing to wait and see about it. i doubt it would be enough to make me dislike him though. i think the only thing that caught me off-guard about yizhi was how kind he could be when his father was a piece of flaming shit.
last, but definitely not least, li shimin. the tortured, murderous man with an incredible amount of spiritual power. the man zetian is being forced to “marry” so to speak. a man addicted to alcohol who has lost a true match before and turned to the bottle to forget his grief for her and the other countless girls the army has forced him to kill. shimin, a young boy who used his strength and his body to pay for an expensive and prestigious school to further his education and ruined his eyesight in the process. a boy who studied under the dim lights of a fighting ring every night just so he wouldn’t fall academically behind. shimin, a man who killed rapists, his brothers, his father, and his family for the only person who ever bothered being kind to him. who let himself open his heart to a girl he was told was his match, not knowing those same people who put them together were dooming her. a man who was tortured into fighting again, forced to develop an addiction to alcohol and only fighting against it after meeting the one woman who could change everything. the one city boy who never found him lacking and fought him to get better. shimin who watched zetian and yizhi, knowing they loved each other and tried his best not to let it get to his head because the situation wasn’t any fault of theirs, nor his. the same shimin who laid himself on the wire so his loves could survive. i cried when he hit 0. i didnt want to believe it but i didn’t start hoping he was alive until that confirmation in the epilogue.
and gods, that epilogue. it makes so much sense that the hunduns were the indigenous people of the planet and not the humans. i had a feeling nothing was what it was cracked up to be and was proven right. the story was amazing either way though. plot twists were kind of obvious but i still liked watching them unfold. the cliffhanger though? that’s just a personal thing for me to be annoyed about it. realistically this is a 5 star rating but i have to bump it down to 4.75 for the cliffhanger alone.
Graphic: Cursing, Grief, Addiction, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, War, Alcohol, Child abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Body horror, Alcoholism, Death, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Murder, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Sexual violence
Minor: Rape
content warnings for this book include: violence, suicide ideation, alcoholism, torture, referenced sexual assault, child abuse, bound feet, mutilation, body horror, murder, death, domestic violence, gaslighting, sexism, and misogyny