Reviews with content warning for Gun violence - Iron Widow

tuesday, august 8, 2023
there is something about this genre and subgenres that demands homage or reference to trope. iron widow seems to deny you any satisfaction in this regard. anytime you think you know where the story is going Zhao takes you somewhere else. its refreshing but also disruptive to the part of my brain that demands structure from my genre fiction

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sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

This is like a Pacific Rim fanfic, but it's really good! 20 minutes after I finished it, I'm still thinking about the ending and I'm really excited for the sequel.

So in this book there are these monsters that attack the cities that the main character Zetian lives in and around, and these male celebrities with their female concubine partners get in giant animal shaped robots and they fight these monsters. The woman often die after going into battle so there's always a need for female concubine pilots. The main character has a big sister who was sacrificed in battle as a concubine pilot and she wants revenge. Her plan is to get chosen to pilot along side the man responsible for her sister's death.

Okay, so I really love how the

love triangle was handled, and as a polyamorous person, I'm so happy to see polyam representation in this book. This is the first time I've read a book where the author decides to make a trio out of the "love triangle" and it works perfectly!

I liked how much action there was and I loved how the action scenes played out, it was like I could imagine the scenes in my head while I listened to the audiobook.

I really loved the twists and turns in the book and I'm so happy that I didn't get anything spoiled for me, because those surprises were worth the wait.

Does Zetian fall under the "evil cripple" trope that is apart of the "magical disabled persons" trope? I don't think so, I don't think Zetian is evil, though I think she's emotionally evolving. I think her character walks the line of the "evil cripple" trope though, so I could easily see how some people think she falls under that trope.

<blockquote>"Typically, the disabled characters are limited to four types: the “magical cripple,” the “evil cripple,” the “inspirational cripple” and the “redemptive cripple.” An Evil Cripple is a villain or generally morally perturbed character who also suffers a debilitating physical condition, often taking the form of paralysis requiring the use of a wheelchair. The Evil Cripple doubles as the Genius Cripple a lot, providing an intellectual threat to compensate for their physical frailty. Alternatively, the Evil Cripple can become a physical threat if they use futuristic enhancements to overcome their disability, such as replacing missing or defective limbs with super-strong Powered Armor or cybernetic parts."

- tvtropes.org</blockquote>

Overall, this was a really good book and I enjoyed it very much. I'm giving this
5 out of 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

libbyapp.com

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bee_wuud's review

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.5

Expected a lot of what unfolded in this book except the ending. I didn’t check how many are in the series before reading.

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matturay's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense 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

I don't usually read sci-fi, but this book grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go.

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squinnittowinit's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny 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

4.75

A delightful book in every way. Full of drama and emotion, action and intrigue, with powerful characters who will fight tooth and nail to get what they want.

I thought this book did a very good job of immersing the reader in the very real misogyny that Wu Zetian experiences at every turn, but also not wallowing in those feelings. Instead, Zetian fights against the system at every turn and the reader can celebrate with her when she succeeds. Gao Yizhi and Li Shimin are great supporting characters as well, full of their own depth, but without taking away from Zetian's character in any way.

I especially loved how unapologetically bloodthirsty Wu Zetian was, so often the "dangerous woman" main character ends up just being misunderstood, or becomes tamed by love or something, which is just weak character development. Wu Zetian is a dangerous woman, and that never changes.

4.75 stars because some of the most dramatic dialogue moments were just a little too silly for my liking.

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