Reviews tagging 'Death'

Rache im Herzen by Xiran Jay Zhao

708 reviews

mitta_girl452's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

This book is a wild, crazy ride.
Personally, I LOVED it, and was hooked from the start.
It explores so many amazing themes of sexism, family, love, guilt, war and grief, and its all done so beautifully. I really enjoyed the anger that Zetian has towards men, and her platonic adoration for women and their strength.
I LOVE her quote:
"He does not get to make me a statistic." 
As I survivor of sexual assault, that really hit home with me. When I read for the first time I stopped, put down the book and immediately wrote it out and put it up on my wall. It's just so powerful. 
It is a very dark book, and if you are someone with poor mental health or easily triggered by anything you see in the content warnings below, I possibly wouldn't recommend this to you. 
I love how this book speaks about the stereotype that being strong means to hide emotions, be distrustful and not love, especially for women. Women who publicly show fear, love, sadness or really any strong emotion are labelled as 'weak', when really they are the strong ones, for having the courage to show that much openness publicly.
This book is definitely a must-read, and I'm really looking forward to the sequel. 
The characters are loveable, the premise is exciting and interesting and the plot is so full of twists and turns that you are always on the edge of your seat. 
It's a really wonderful mashup of science fiction, dystopian future, Chinese mythology and action. 
Please read this

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Confinement, War, and Classism

t_higgsreviews's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0

5
CAWPILE = 9.07

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Genocide, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Murder, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Vomit, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pregnancy

adalinemccormick's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring tense fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Torture, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

amanda_reads13's review against another edition

emotional inspiring sad 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

18 year old Zetain offers herself up as a concubine in order to assassinate her sister's killer. But what she never expects to do it's to kill him through their psychic link and survive. Now she carries the label of the Black Widow, a feared woman who has too much power. She is then paired up with Li Shimin, the most powerful pilot (also deathrow inmate) in hopes of suppressing her power. Again she pulls off the unexpected when their pairing is a match. 

I really love this book. It has fantastic world building, dynamic characters, and a plot that sucks you in. I love how she brings in historical figures and facts while manipulating them to be relevant to this story and world. Feminism/patriarchy is obviously the main theme tackled here, but she also tackles addiction, abuse, government corruption and oppression, and gender and sexuality. 

Throughout the story we learn about how Huaxia is a country fighting against alien invaders called Hunduns, these giant round metallic creatures. For centuries they have been battling them using Chrysalises (giant magical robots crafted out of the spirit metal of Hundun corpses) which uses a two-pilot system in which one girl and one boy pilot a single vehicle. 

Huaxia is rules over by the Heavenly Council, a group of "Gods" who orbit the planet. The people of Huaxia must offer up Hunduns corpses in return for the gift of technological schematics. We discover that

the the people of Huaxia are actually the invaders and that their colony only exists to kill and harvest Hunduns for the precious spirit metal.  This leaves so many unanswered questions. Where are these people originally from? Are there other colonies? What do they need this metal for?

This world is a patriarchal hell-hole for women. Women have two choices in life: become a wife or sacrifice yourself as a pilot's concubine. Women rarely survive as a concubine as they are scaeificed to ensure the man survives. 

Throughout the story we meet Zetian (the iron widow), Li Shimin (the iron demon) and Yizhi (the cinnamon roll rich boy).  Zetian comes into the story roaring. There is no build up to her rage, she just wakes up and chooses violence. I love it. She is a very compelling and fascinating character. Through her we learn about the misogyny blanketing this world, suppressing women to sexual play things and property. She is determined to make the world a better place and stands up when all others cower. As she learns about the truth behind the army, she seeks to destroy it from the inside out, willing to sacrifice herself for a better future.

The yin seat is designed to limit the power of women and turns them into a battery that is easily consumed by the male pilot in the yang seat. This ensures the pilots survival.

I really appreciate the approach she took with the love triangle that could have been. Zetian is in love with Yizhi, yet develops feelings for Shimin as well.

Does she have to choose? Nope! And not only does she get to be with both guys, but they both develop feeling for each other. So we get bisexual representation and a polyamorous relationship. Perfect!

I love this because I generally dislike the YA angst of a love triangle. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ax_sebas's review against another edition

adventurous funny inspiring mysterious sad tense fast-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

an absolute thrill! i loved every word of this book. truly jaw dropping.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Torture, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicidal thoughts

c_dmckinney's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• 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? No

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

dragonwearingredshoes's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Sexism, Murder, and War

Moderate: Sexual violence and Sexual harassment

raebelanger's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

snapeygan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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

4.75

I absolutely loved this book!! I mean, feminism, asian culture, handiccaped protagonist, difficult relationships with family, polyamor, and just badass writing? Sign me in!!
My only complaints would be that I had a bit of difficulties to understand all the terms relatives to the universe of the books, and that the main character was a bit the stereotypical girlboss that saves the universe (not saying I don’t like it, but it could’ve been less stereotypical and the other women could have been portrayed in a better light).
I loved how inclusive this book was, and how the characters were nuanced and gray (all were bad and good at the same time). The worldbuilding was really good, as was the way it was written.
I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel!!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Murder, Colonisation, and War

jessicalauren22's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Torture, Violence, and War

Minor: Sexual assault and Sexual violence