Reviews tagging 'Colonisation'

Rache im Herzen by Xiran Jay Zhao

144 reviews

paracosim's review against another edition

dark 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

This book was good, but exhausting. The misery and hellish lives of the characters in this book were endless to the point of making me a little anxious, and I’m not someone who’s easily affected by dark or triggering stories. I actively seek out books like this. I kept reading because the writing is phenomenal and the plot itself is excellent, but there were times that I debated putting the book down and DNFing. What kept me reading were the characters. I really needed to know what was going to happen next, even as I dreaded it lol. Until the last few pages I had no plans to read the sequel…but geez, now I’m desperate for its release. Overall this is a fantastic book, but be aware of your emotional state when you get into it. It packs a real whopper.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Hate crime, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Colonisation

alyssadorn's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

Oh my fucking god this book might be the best I’ve read all year. The characters are so well-written, and I love a protagonist who is passionate, strategic, unapologetically ruthless, and more than a little unhinged. A morally grey antiheroine through and through whose character development is unmatched. (I support women’s rights and, more importantly, I support women’s wrongs.) 

Everything from Zetian’s backstory to her goals and relationships, her values and realizations, all growing and changing along with her (and our) knowledge of the world as a whole— So. Well. Done. I’m obsessed with her, as well as Lizhi and Shimin. I love that they’re all together and not just each with her separately or any bs like that. 

And that ending! And the epilogue!! Every minute of this book was a thrill, and the writing style was so refreshing with its use of juxtaposition to bring Zetian’s sardonic humor to life in a way that made me laugh quite a bit, and I found myself using tabs what felt like every other page to mark intense imagery or pithy statements that drill straight into the heart of poignant truths (usually about gender roles and subjugation stated in a way I still can’t get out of my mind). 

For example, the author will pair a list of seemingly smaller domestic moments with a bigger, life-or-death situation in a way that shows the realities of daily life in this world and its cyclical injustices— and how the daily life is not seeing those injustices. 

“My mother’s mist-frail voice emerges, trying to calm him down. My brother is laughing. My grandfather has turned the livestream to peak volume. A girl is dying in a Chrysalis in the name of mankind.” 

Some moments of that pithy, sardonic wit I loved: 
“How am I supposed to sign up for my death if my eyebrows are uneven?”
“I don’t pity you, you dork. I cherish you.” 
Or even just the chapter titles, like “the supposed pinnacle of female existence” or “a butterfly that better not be my dead sister” 

I will say, the description of the foot binding in the beginning is one of the few moments in any book that have actually made me sick to my stomach, so go gently. Also the way addiction is handled in this book is somewhat problematic. 

The pacing and writing style are both phenomenal!  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Violence, and War

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual violence and Colonisation

iane_reads's review

adventurous dark emotional sad 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and War

Moderate: Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Genocide, Mental illness, Xenophobia, Blood, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Minor: Biphobia, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Medical content, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Colonisation, and Deportation

oliviathebookwyrm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, Blood, Murder, and War

Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Grief, Alcohol, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

ufollowbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense 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

4.0

a bit of mary sue fanfic kind of vibe, but in a good way 

 

what a book! traditions from our world intertwined with technology you cannot fathom properly, sprinkled with female rage, political intrigues, surprisingly great romance, and, of course, brilliant writing. 

 

basically, it's "labour" by paris paloma, but in a book form. 

 

i already knew that there's a polyamory done right - it was the main reason i added this book to my tbr in all honesty - as well as disability rep, but damn! it was amazing and seeing a badass wheelchair user made my heart go "wheee" 🫶🏻 

 

it's definitely a very fast paced book, and an intense one, too. a lot of violence happening, but it never is just for the sake if violence, as it often happens with male-written fantasy. and yes, it felt much more like fantasy to me than as sci-fi, though there are element of it for sure. maybe because sci-fi to me is more about space and aliens, and there are little of that! 😅 

 

the ending felt a but rushed, and i can actually understand the motivation behind the way things end. discussing the ending in detail and with spoilers:

yes it's not very thought through and a lot of decisions are made here and now, but that's how the whole book is! Zetian is young, and emotional (in the best way possible!), and she has a lot of power for literally the first time in her life. she doesn't play the nuanced game, she never did - she comes in hot and does things the way she sees fit, without compromises. taking over control of the golden dragon and planning to overtake the country is very much in her character, so you're either ok with it or not. can't wait to read the second book to see how it all will be addressed!

 

the romance is... well. it's m/f/m triangle, but the proper one, where everyone is queer. gender identity is also mentioned, but the book did felt a bit too cis and straight to me, with only the main throuple being part of the lgbtq+ community. it didn't worsen the story, but looking back it was, indeed, a bit odd. on the other side, this also highlights once again that Zetian is different from people around her - and her partners are, too. overall, the romance is a pretty big part of the storyline.

 

❗️ beware, there will be a second book, and the story ends on a BIG cliffhanger! so if you're not ready to commit to thus - wait until 30th of april, 2024, when "Heavenly Tyrant" comes out. 

 

to summarise, a great book, which i can definitely recommend to those who like intense, fast-paced fantasy with elements of sci-fi and historical basis 

 

8/10 ⭐️

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Stalking, Gaslighting, and Classism

Minor: Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Colonisation

msradiosilence's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

kerrygetsliterary's review against another edition

adventurous dark inspiring reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

dragon_s_hoard's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

takarakei's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.0

The concept and world building is the best part of this book. The world is fascinating - the way qi is used, the Chinese culture is thoroughly infused (even though this is very sci-fi futuristic).  Unfortunately I didn't feel like this lived up to my expectations. Our main character Zetian is extremely morally gray and not in like a "I'm rooting for this person" kind of way. I really thought there would be a lot more critique or eschewing of gender roles (I actually thought the MC would be nonbinary or trans). Zetian does almost constantly talk about how women are poorly treated, how there are many contradictions between how women are expected to behave, how generally patriarchal cultures are crap. However, I didn't feel as though Zetian was 'in community' with her fellow women. Instead she actually just blatantly disregards them all. 
Apparently this was openly marketed as a

polycule

book I seem to have missed that marketing, so the romance just gave me whiplash until it finally clicked what was going on.

Because I really enjoyed the world, I will continue the series because I hope that there can be some actual character development in the next book(s).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Misogyny, and Violence

Moderate: Confinement, Death, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, and Alcohol

Minor: Biphobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Colonisation

michmoo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.5

The ending - what?!? 

Also the entire book - what?!? My brain does not have the capacity to fully comprehend all of the many insane things that were happening throughout this book. Amazing.

I am a fan of how this book handled the (actual) love triangle too - it is the strongest shape!

Also, I do love a main character that can just be unapologetically murderous. Yes, kill and enact revenge upon everyone who has wronged you baby, go!

Highly recommend.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Violence, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual violence and Grief

Minor: Sexual content and Colonisation