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miggyfool's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Colonisation, Dysphoria, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
cristina_margarita'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
4.75
The relationship development was so amusing to me because as a reader it was fairly obvious where it was heading but the characters are so oblivious.
I couldn’t answer a single question you asked me about the chrysalises or the war; but the vibes were excellent!! I look forward to the sequel & the author’s inevitable book about the French Revolution.
This book majorly gave the hunger games for me despite them being so different
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War
audiem's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism
Moderate: Xenophobia and Colonisation
Minor: Homophobia
nekoshka'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
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, and War
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and War
Minor: Body shaming and Rape
loveat1stwrite's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Misogyny, Murder, and Colonisation
magicalghoul's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.0
First I'll start with what I liked:
- A disabled MC and another MC going through addiction and withdrawal.
- The fact that it didn't pull its punches when it came about portraying the levels of misogyny women were subjected to— but at the same time this retelling not feeling like mere trauma porn.
- A female character that's unapologetically angry, who isn't a good person and whose anger isn't invalidated.
- Male love interests that I liked Immediately, surprising myself.
- Canon poly relationship.
- Villain arcs ♥
But sadly there were some issues that kept me from fully enjoying Iron Widow.
The worldbuilding feels... flat at times. To the point that when the climax happens, I didn't get a sense of urgency about what was in stake. And the reveal/plot twist at the end... While kinda predictable, it wasn't foreshadowed enough to be justified. The prose doesn't help much in this matter either, but as I understand this is the first book of the author and the first of a series overall so maybe these details will be more polished later on.
But the biggest issue to me is that for a book where the MC's motivation is avenging and protecting women there isn't much bonding between women or much pondering from the protagonist about sorority or the small ways in which women connect and help each other while brutally oppressed. Zetian is fighting for women, but we don't see much of her advocacy on a one-on-one level.
We understand it's a heavily male dominated society where women have a lot of internalized misogyny but surely Zetian can't be the only feminist in the entire universe, and surely she didn't go her entire life without bonding with other women outside the ones in her family and thus giving her more reason to want to avenge the concubines and consorts.
Concubines and consorts that, to make matters worse, remain as an anonymous, gullible mass— Except for the ones on Zetian's power level, and even then they remain mostly antagonistic towards her.
The male pilots and the pilot system overall doesn't care for the girls they sacrifice so it makes sense that they don't care for their names or faces, but the book (written from Zetian's perspective) not providing anything beyond the usual "There's a mecha battle going on and more girls are dying and that makes me mad" line for them and not caring to show some individual stories for these girls feels even more dehumanizing, even condescending.
All these pitfalls make Zetian's rebellion feel like a one-woman fight instead of a communal one. At first I put it down as a flaw of Zetian's character but as the book went on I started to believe it's more up to poor development. Just, overall her feminism felt very.... entry level.
I REALLY hope I'm wrong for future books though, because it really threw me off a book I'd otherwise liked a lot.
Graphic: Misogyny, Torture, Grief, and War
Moderate: Rape
Minor: Colonisation
merlionne's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I loved the mythological aspects of the world, even though I don't know a lot about the actual people and their stories they're referencing. The only thing that bothered me a bit is that all the secrets that get unveiled are kind of ....eh? It's not a bad thing, maybe from a modern perspective they're a lot less shocking or it's a lot easier for me to expect something like that to be the case, but ultimately it works within the story and I'll read the next book because I want to see how Zetian blows up some more bastards.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Racism, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, Colonisation, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Biphobia, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Excrement, and Vomit
Even though it gets talked about etc, there are no detailed descriptions of sexual assault or other sexual violence. The book also includes a list of the biggest trigger warnings in the beginning, a lot of what I added here is in there somehow but for the most cases not overly detailed, extensive or dwelled upon.alexisgarcia's review against another edition
- 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
3.5
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gore, Infertility, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
readingwithkaitlyn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
just_someone'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
Zetian is the perfect morally-grey-badass protagonist. I am in absolute awe of her.
Also the romance in this book, even with it being a sub-plot, was so intricate and refreshing that I was 100% obsessed.
If you like Pacific Rim, read this book.
If you like Attack on Titans, read this book.
If you are a woman, read this book.
If you like masterpieces, read this book.
I will forever recommend this book to everyone I like.
5/5 stars ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence, War, and Classism
Moderate: Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, and Colonisation
Minor: Rape