Reviews with content warning for Murder - Iron Widow

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

cnaccarato's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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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hln's review against another edition

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challenging dark fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

This was definitely an interesting one.

I liked the relationship, I feel like it was well portrayed.
I don’t think this should be classified as YA, I think it’s too violent for that.
The setting was interesting, I liked how it was inspired by Chinese history.
The fantasy part was cool, but it was not explained how exactly it worked, how it came to be that humans started fighting in robots etc. Also, it was not well explained what exactly the “hunduns” were.
It was definitely a bold choice to make the main character achieve her goals with violence. While it is refreshing to have a badass female protagonist that is cruel and who does everything to get what she wants, I don’t think it was the right choice for a YA book.
The end, which was supposed to be the epic finale, was kind of boring to me. Everything happened very quickly, it felt of unnatural. And it was just very confusing, which is why I did not really feel for the characters.
The ending was interesting though, and made me want to read the second part.

All in all, this was an interesting read.

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gussurireads'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? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Uma mistura brilhante de cultura e história chinesa com sci-fi mecha, female rage e uma crítica dura ao autoritarismo e patriarcado. Aguardo ansiosamente pela sequela, cujo lançamento estava previsto para este ano e que pode potencialmente ser adiado pela editora, que considera o ativismo de autore Xiran Jay Zhao uma afronta, aparantemente.

Esta edição só peca por uma tradução pobre para o Português de Portugal.

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sterlingsnail's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

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valjeanval's review

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adventurous dark 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

Well, it was better than I thought it would be. As my book club has started talking more about the four doorways of reading (Character, Plot, Setting, Writing), I'm coming to realize more and more that without that Writing doorway, I just have a hard time getting into a book.

This book is extremely cinematic in a way that if it was an anime or graphic novel where I could actually see the Chrysalises and watch the battle scenes, I'd probably be pretty into it. The ruthless female anti-hero is a trope that I'm glad is gaining more traction. In the romance aspects of the book,

the pro-poly anti-love triangle take is a great way to turn YA fiction on its head even if the Shimin/Yizhi romance didn't really get enough attention to feel at all believable.

So plot and character-wise, it's pretty good. The world-building is all right too. I think it's just the language including occasional modern phrases that feel so anachronistic to the setting that grated on me. The ending also was pretty abrupt and included so much new information that felt rushed to me. So I don't know. I think it's a good book that just wasn't really for me. It is a shame that it was disqualified in the Hugo debacle this year because as literature aimed at a young adult audience, I think it is making some very important moves and deserved that recognition.

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