Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

29 reviews

_bibookbitch_'s review

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

• 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Child abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, and Suicide

rhiannonafternoon's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, War, and Misogyny

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

alexisgarcia's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-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 was a good and somewhat educational read. however, i struggled with the worldbuilding and the "magic" system. i found myself lost at some points. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Violence, Death, Colonisation, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Classism, Cursing, Infidelity, Blood, Alcohol, Gore, Infertility, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Torture, War, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

louiseriddles's review

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• 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? No

5.0

Could not stop reading. This book moves very fast and really grips you. I was feeling like this was more a 3.5-4 star book in the middle, but the ending really surprised me.

The best stuff: Strong women characters, intricate plot based on deceptions, strong voice of the main character, bisexual representation, strong social commentary on gender roles, abusive family dynamics, and celebrity culture

My only problems with the book were world-building issues around the role of women in their society. I don't know anything about Chinese culture so I'm not sure which parts were inspired by that. It was hard to tell when Zeitan's actions were outrageous to her society, or allowed due to her fame. HOWEVER it mirrored the real world's misogyny and double standards for women, so it felt very real. 
Few other characters in this book were women. Most were either part of Zeitan's abusive family or very catty and hostile. While this book has great feminist themes, unfortunately it lacks multiple well developed women characters.
Finally, and this is simply personal preference, it did the thing of the main character falling in love with a violent person because they're misunderstood. The relationship makes sense, and aforementioned love interest has many underlying issues. But I don't like the trope of guy beating up other people as a romantic gesture. It's more complicated than that, but it was a tad annoying.

Finally this book is very dark, and discusses a lot of misogynistic issues(virginity tests, footbinding,  rape), as well as death, murder, and torture. 

Overall, great book, loved the main character.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Alcoholism, Torture, War, Misogyny, Child death, Child abuse, Murder, and Suicide

Moderate: Domestic abuse

Minor: Rape and Suicidal thoughts

ellstar's review

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

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

3.0

I ripped through this book in a weekend and while I don't regret any minute of it, I do feel like it's a lot of tell, not show. There are quite a few examples of expository characters in this novel and while I really enjoyed the description in the battle scenes it felt like certain key twists & secret information were just dropped out of nowhere to keep the plot progressing.

<Spoiler> Don't get me wrong, the World building is great and the characters are interesting and each offer a unique perspective on this world, but the motivation at the start of Zetian's journey is for revenge for a sister we literally learn nothing about. I was wondering if there was going to be some sort of twist in the third act or some sort of reveal at the end which would explain why we literally know NOTHING about this big sister that Zetian is so desperate to sacrifice her life for, but as we learn about the family trauma she suffered from, her sister never is part of these stories. We don't see her sister either soothing her after her feet are crushed, or distracting her while her mother or grandmother are being beaten, or even offering any real advice or anecdotes to explain why she is so important to Zetian. It feels like a really big miss for me, and this also happens with Shimin's story as well, with both his friend whom he killed for (I can't even remember if she had a name) & Wende. For a book that is about trying to detach women from the shackles of a patriarchal society that devalues them, I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to flesh out these characters a little bit more considering the impact they had on our leads. It felt a bit shallow and even her interactions with the other female pilots seemed shallow and I can't imagine that we're supposed to believe that this entire world has no good female characters? </Spoiler>

I'm hoping that this was just pieces that were removed during the editing process because I know this book could've been a lot longer, & fortunately this is something that can be improved on, so I look forward to the follow-up novels in this series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Murder, Torture, Addiction, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Pregnancy

sundayfever's review

challenging dark tense medium-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

5.0

Very engaging read. The force of the main characters' anger is very powerful. Beautiful fantasy universe based on Chinese history. Strong challenge to a society built on gender assumptions. One of my favorite books of the year! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Suicidal thoughts, Alcoholism, Violence, War, Suicide, Murder, Torture, and Death

Moderate: Grief and Domestic abuse

macknificent's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense fast-paced

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

3.75

"In fact, I am what the worst kind of hope looks like. The kind that has driven group after group of girls here to be prettied into concubines. Families will point at me— this tamed, airbrushed image of me— to calm down their daughters about being sold to the army."


"One last thing,” I say over my shoulder, too quiet for my family to hear over the hovercraft churning. “Don’t think I’ve overlooked that you came to my house and almost foiled my plan, despite knowing how important it is to me. If you tip off the army in even the slightest way, I will kill myself when they lock me up, and then I will haunt you.”

What I Liked: The opening of the book was stellar! I felt like I was in the midst of a Gundam battle and somehow it had been turned into a novel! The world felt very full and the characters were complex, Wu Zetian's fury and follow through was glorious in the first portion of the book. I appreciated the constant call out of the patriarchy and how it was shown to affect every level of their world. 

What I Didn't Like: Once Wu Zetian achieved her initial objective it felt like the book lost its momentum and cohesiveness. In the second half of the book we jumped from gritty & dark to sappy & thoroughly YA with no warning, rhythm or purpose. As happens with many debuts, the ending felt rushed as we tried to wrap up a lot of loose ends and set up for the next book.

We never found out the story behind Gao Yizhi's tattoos!

I enjoyed this book immensely but there are issues with consistency and character cohesiveness that I hope are improved in the next book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Classism, Confinement, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Forced institutionalization, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Medical trauma, Suicide, Addiction, Alcohol, Bullying, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Medical content, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Sexism

Moderate: Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Violence, War, Rape, Self harm, and Xenophobia

ramiel's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Mental illness, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Gore, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, and War

Moderate: Sexual assault, Classism, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Confinement, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, Bullying, Death of parent, Racism, Body shaming, Classism, Sexual content, and Racial slurs

sorcha_rosa's review

adventurous dark funny tense medium-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

This book is exactly what people are saying. It's wonderful, it's great, please read it.
The themes it deals with: incred. The character work: stunning. The balance of dark and humorous: perfect.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, and Torture

Moderate: War, Xenophobia, Violence, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Slavery, Sexual violence, Rape, and Racism

smoothgoat's review

adventurous dark 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Violence, Torture, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Rape, Misogyny, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism, Alcohol, Addiction, Cursing, Death of parent, Racism, and Pregnancy

Minor: Domestic abuse