Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Iron Widow

Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

mars_loves_books's review

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adventurous dark emotional 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

4.75

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chanlo1994's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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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ebp's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring 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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ziracrow's review

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious 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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ionarachel's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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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emglange's review

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adventurous 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

4.0

While some of the thematic elements were a little heavy-handed at times, I felt like overall it was an appropriate amount of screaming "Down with the Patriarchy" until throats bled. And if that description was too visceral...you might not want to read this one. I had some spoilers from reviews when it came to the main love interest plots, but even still I found that part of the book enjoyable.

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fkshg8465's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional 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

3.5

This book was a lot of fun and validating for me. Is like The Iron Widow was able to say how I feel about the patriarchy in the ways I wish I could. She’s the best hero! Looking forward to reading the sequel when it comes out.

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tifftastic87's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

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? Yes

4.5

Wu Zetian is born low in the caste system, she is "just a frontier girl," and thus has two options in life: get sold as a bride or sold as a concubine to a mech pilot. Ignoring her family's pressure for years, she finally agrees to become a concubine, but only to avenge her fallen sister. Killing the first pilot she's paired with, and avenging her sister gets her paired with the most violent pilot in the military. Li Shimmin is known for having no surviving female pilots, and as her punishment she will be condemned to serve with him. Zetian will not be sacrificed and attempts to use Shimmin to topple the violent and patriarchal system that has wronged her and every other woman in Huaxia.

Iron Widow is a truly YA book that focuses on the themes of gender, race, and power. I feel a bit uncomfortable with the reviews that refer to this as a feminist story and the reviews that are harsh because of how they view the feminism in the book as not portrayed correctly. I don't think this is feminism, this is a woman fighting back against the powers that have been suppressing her and everyone like her. In a way that could be feminism, but it isn't modern feminism - at least from a white American perspective. Currently, we (white American women) are not being violently oppressed, we are not literally sacrificed in war for the success of men, we are not forcibly maimed for the male gaze. If we were, violent feminism would be the answer. Radical, systemic change does not happen through peace. It never has. Wu Zetian is not a feminist hero, she's an antihero.

That being said, I do feel like she is going through similar stages of feminism that many of my age range went through. Rage when she realizes her culture is being used to oppress and silence her, that male violence is used as control to make women passive wives and daughters, that she will never be anything that her husband does not want her to be. She starts off as the “how dare you open my door” type of woman, but as she meets more men she learns that what she was told is not always true. Just as women are multilayered, men are and not all of them are out to control her and use her body for their pleasure. She has a moment where she asks herself after a severe injury:

Can I really call myself a strong girl if I’m relying on two boys?

Which is something everyone of us who has gone through that phase of “I’m a strong woman” has asked. Can we still be strong while relying on others? Can we truly be for empowering women if we let men do things for us? Is this bringing down the movement? All you have to do to see that this is a stage of young women coming up to realize what the world is like is to look at the comments of any woman creator on TikTok or YouTube. If a woman is talking positively about a man the comments will be full of things like this.

As Zetian comes into her own, her anger starts to be placed in the correct directions. We go from just hate radiating through her pores to be aimed at targets within the systems of oppression. She goes from just a rage machine to very Arya Stark, with a kill list to avenge those important to her. The male characters are there to prop her up and are not the stars of the story, but they too go through some growth, especially Shimmin.

I like to think of this story as told through Zetian’s perspective, especially because it is told in first person limited. That makes her a bit of an unreliable narrator as everything will include her bias. That could explain some of the ways the other characters talk and their perceived reactions to things. I think it is really important to always consider the point of view the author takes when telling a story, and Xiran really uses Zetian’s voice very strongly. There was so much of the story that my inner damaged teenage girl ached with reading. Talk of shame and manipulation and what it means to be strong.

People who refuse to break under any number of harsh strikes and any amount of loud words, but crumple as soon as someone touches us gently or speaks to us softly.

Was a line that got me particularly, in the feels as my elder millennial self would say. I could feel that person I used to be, who felt shame at being a woman, who didn’t trust any other women and thought they all disliked me. That girl who didn’t trust men because I was told for all of my life that they wanted nothing more from me than sex. Some parts of this may have felt immature to many reviewers, but I genuinely believe that is done on purpose and serves a purpose.

That being said, some of the writing style was a little off putting to me. It did feel very millennial in the language used, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but there would be some really pretty prose followed up by something harsh and it felt a little jarring.

Ex:

Each tap feels more scandalous than being alone with him on a frontier mountain, shrouded by greenery and spring heat, breathing the same thick eddies of earthy, intoxicating air. My village elders say girls shouldn’t touch these heavenly devices, because we would desecrate them with, I don’t know, our wicked femaleness or something.

But not enough to take me out of the story. The descriptions were clear and I could understand what was happening. The pacing was really good as well. It was just some of the dialogue could have been better.

I will certainly be reading the next book and am looking forward to reading more of Xiran’s work. They are an author I think I will continue to enjoy.

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