Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

151 reviews

jjjreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

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

biancahartley's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

1.0

Lots to say about this one but I'll keep it brief. This could have been, at the very least, interesting, but between the prose and the execution, it was just a muddled mess. Particularly the writing; it was a struggle to get through.

The misogyny displayed in this book is somehow both brutal and cartoonish, and Zetian never feels like a product of her environment. Her more unhinged moments, and moments clearly meant to be seen as powerful, are rendered toothless, since the narrative ties itself in knots trying to makes every concession for her. The book lacked rhythm, it lacked character development, it lacked good worldbuilding, it lacked a cohesive message, and the action will frequently be broken by long explanations of things that did not serve the story. The fights scenes were poorly constructed and dull. Blessedly, things moved along at a breakneck speed, both to its advantage and to its detriment.

The inclusion of a polycule is appreciated but underwhelming. I would have rather Zetian straight up just have a harem instead of pretending that the two boys have any semblance of a personality outside of her. Also, all three of them are bi, and in all three cases it feels like an afterthought.

The racism was off-putting. Shinin only seemed to be half Rongdi to make him seem more threatening, which doesn't even last because he is defanged so quickly. Both he and the one other Rongdi woman are so heavily stereotyped as "savage" indigenous characters (and it is so clumsily "subverted" on both accounts) that it felt like a joke.

She, naturally, has no women friends and few positive interactions with women at all, which is common for this type of book. Zetian spends so much time with/on these two boys (and their poorly realised traumas), while every other woman and girl is blamed for their own subjugation and portrayed as evil, mean or stupid, for being indoctrinated. None of the same grace afforded to the main three is afforded to any other character in this novel, not even the dead sister, who feels like a noncharacter. 

It intends to be raw and unapologetic, but I promise you there are books out there that do it better.

Based on what we know of the real Wu Zetian, I'm not sure what about this book character warrants having her name. It just makes Book Zetian that much less compelling.

Also, while I don't mind obvious twists as long as the story is good, this story is not good, and by that point in the book, the final Hundun reveal annoyed me. Do I feel confident that in the next book Zetian's contributions to genocide or her new role as a dictator will be explored to my satisfaction based on this outing? No. I think I'll check back in with the author in a few years.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Murder, Violence, War, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Colonisation

writer_a_fox's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Torture, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Minor: Death of parent

samantha_joy's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

2.75

This book has a super interesting premise and some really cool elements, but unfortunately everything in it moves entirely too fast to process anything that happens.  The book moves so fast that something else is already happening by the time you process a plot point from before.  The characters aren’t developed enough to learn anything compelling about them and it’s hard to really feel attached because we don’t get a chance to really learn much about them and why they do the things that they do.  The book could have and maybe should have been a trilogy so that readers have the chance to really understand this world and what’s happening in it.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Classism, Death of parent, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Addiction, and Alcohol

trips's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring tense fast-paced

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

4.0

 I'm going to pitching this book to my friends as "What Darling in the Franxx was like...good?"

I really enjoyed this book, but I can understand how readers will either LOVE it or HATE it. Its got a lot going on, and the way it was marketed doesn't really give you a good idea of what to expect. I personally had a great time with it. The book was some awkward wording and confusing pacing, but I didn't find myself wanting to get off the wild ride at any point. Personally, I thought it was a great story, just told in a slightly unpolished way. I look forward to watching Xiran Jay Zhao progress as writer, she has a lot of potential.

I found the plot is fascinating and not really like anything that out there in the YA market right now. The characters are flawed but loveable, and I kind of love how insane Wu Zetian is. I loved how the mechs worked in relation to the 5 elements. I loved how ruthless so many of the characters were, but I understand not everyone will. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Addiction, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual content

kshertz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

I really love that the YA genre has embraced very different narratives than it has in the past. This is such an interesting dystopian future that still has some of the same strong holds of misogyny and tradition. I love that the iron widow is such a strong character and I love her character development. I do love the romance involved but I think it was not fully explored or developed in the way that I typically love. The ending was also meant to inspire me to read the rest but I feel like I’m satisfied with just reading the one book. I definitely think it’s an amazing book to read and I couldn’t put it down once I started reading it which is always going to get a four at least for me!!

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Content Warnings

Minor: Animal death, Gaslighting, Child death, Death of parent, Death, War, Misogyny, and Violence

griffinthief's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Murder, Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and War

solarel's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

I absolutely loved it. So rarely do I see that primal justice we crave when wrong has been done to us. So rarely do we see a woman allowed to be wrathful. 

Is it healthy? Probably not. Was it so so satisfying? Hell yes. 

I feel like this is what men must feel like after watching those war movies or something. God it feels powerful to read of Zeitan’s rise. 

That being said: I wish this was an adult book, not YA. It had potential to be more and go deeper. The romance line could have carried more weight if they had the ability to flesh it out more, beyond the YA label. Also the “girl” and “boy” phrasing felt juvenile. You’re 18 now, time to stop calling yourself a girl exclusively. And a man in his early 20s is not a boy. It was the only part I disliked. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Gore, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Death, Torture, Xenophobia, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Addiction, Alcohol, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and War

Minor: Rape, Sexual harassment, Self harm, Sexual assault, Biphobia, and Trafficking

gairebaire's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-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

5.0

:)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Death, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcohol

Minor: Vomit and War

anniereads221's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Sexual assault, Death, Bullying, Violence, Torture, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Blood, Abandonment, Emotional abuse, Rape, Body shaming, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Murder, Grief, Gore, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, and Addiction