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adventurous
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
„Iron Widow“ ist ein lauter, wütender Aufschrei gegen Unterdrückung und missbräuchliche Systeme, die Teile der Bevölkerung als bequeme Ressource verheizen, ohne sie als Menschen zu sehen. Gewürzt wird das ganze mit queeren Charakteren und bombastischen Kämpfen zwischen Mechas und Aliens in einer kreativen Reimagination Chinas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny
Moderate: Death, Violence, Blood, Murder
Minor: Torture
adventurous
dark
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:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Violence
adventurous
challenging
dark
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
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence
adventurous
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, War
Moderate: Sexual assault
Minor: Sexual content
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
First off, let me say that I enjoy Xiran Jay Zhao's videos and I was excited that they were writing a fantasy book and so I put it on my tbr... and didn't get around to it for a few years until my friend read the first 5 chapters, dnf'd it, then told me to read it and see what I think. To be fair, I was the one who decided to keep going because she only told me to read the first 5 chapters, but anyway.
Wow, this book was.... This book was actually so, incredibly boring. The main character, Zetian, is the girlbossiest girlboss you'll ever meet. She's a feminist queen and anyone who disagrees with her ideals and mindset deserves to die in a hole. Not even joking, the first 2 chapters had like 3 monologues about how unfair and misogynist the world was and life was unfair and girls were unjustly punished for no reason and men are trash, etc etc. She's supposed to come off as like strong minded and independent but she comes across as incredibly arrogant and she looks down on other girls all the time. She also developed this super outraged mindset out of nowhere, despite being raised to believe that girls are weak and submit to men and all her female role models have only ever been like that, so we never learn where she realized exactly how messed up her society is? Like, growing up with your confidence constantly being torn down and having misogynist concepts shoved down your throat is going to take some time to deal with and get over, but I'm pretty sure she just woke up one day and decided that she got over her trauma and was going to take down the patriarchy. She immediately rails against the unjustness of the world from the beginning and it feels very unearned. She's also supposed to be a super feminist but every single interaction with another female character is pretty bad. Like, she gets to be a pilot's concubine so that she can enact revenge or whatever, and immediately she gets into a fight with the other girls who are okay with being concubines and want to make the best of their situation. Like, this is all they've known and they believe it's the best they can do with their lives, but Zetian basically just yelled at them about how pathetic they are. We love seeing women support other women like this. She also like highkey shames another woman for having children in her mind. Like this lady shows her some kindness and Zetian is thinking that this woman is selfish for having kids and she shouldn't have done that because how ridiculous is it that a woman actually wants children, everyone knows women only want children when that desire is shoved down their throat and they're given no other option. She also tells the woman that abused girls shouldn't hide and should show their abusers their scars. First off, I think this woman is like 23 and I feel like Zetian is 16/17? Not entirely sure since I wasn't paying too much attention, but honestly the mental/maturity difference between a 23 year old and a 16/17 year old is massive and it feels weird that Zetian is lecturing her. Second, realistically how well would her plan go, if everyone who was abused decided to not hide their scars. Does she really think the abusers will just suddenly feel guilty and pinky promise to stop? There's absolutely no chance that these women would get shamed, hurt even more, and/or killed for doing something like that. There were so many other instances and I just really hated this girl and could not stand her. Her 'confidence' comes off as extreme arrogance and narcissism and she is so incapable of empathizing with other girls unless they're dead. The worst part is that for all her preaching about girl power, she's always getting saved by guys (except when she's in a giant chrysalis thing and then she just kills as many people as she can, but she's in them for such a small part of the book that it feels like she's only ever getting saved by guys). Speaking of Zetian killing people, I have no idea where her moral compass is. People praise this book for having a morally gray main character but I genuinely could not tell if she was actually morally gray or doing morally gray things while thinking she's completely justified and in the right. There are so many times when she could have been humbled and realized that other girls are just trying to make the best of their lives in the best and only way they know how to. For a book claiming to be super feminist, there is an astounding lack of support for and between women.
Other characters: Shimin and Yizhi and I forget everyone else. Shimin is like, classic bad boy with a tragic backstory, etc etc, he's also a total pushover when it comes to Zetian and will go along with whatever she says or wants because nothing he says or wants could ever be nearly as important as her. Yizhi gives off massive uwu simp energy and it felt like his entire character was to gush about how great Zetian was. There's a polygamous relationship between the three of them, except not really. People love this book for that because it's set up as a love triangle but also everyone is together but I feel like that just didn't happen. Everyone was definitely hyping that up way too much and focusing way too much on that when it was like the tiniest, tiniest part of the story. MinorZetian and Yizhi are together at first and she gives a dramatic speech about how she has to pursue revenge instead of enjoy life with him in like chapter 3 and then he chases after her and appears again in her life and they like sort of hook up a few times I think. Later, she hooks up with Shimin and says that Yizhi doesn't care and then like 80% of the way in Shimin calls Yizhi handsome and smiles at him. And if you take all the times where Zetian is with one of them in a romantic situation, I think it would total up to around 2 pages. Maybe 2.5 pages if you include the part leading up to Shimin smiling at Yizhi . Also, when I say I forget everyone else, I mean they were all really pointless and repetitive since all of them had the same 2D personality (they're misogynist and disagree with Zetian so of course they're terrible people).
I feel like Zetian actually gets away with a lot despite constantly complaining that girls can't do anything. Especially towards the beginning, she keeps talking back to like old men and they... let her keep talking. It's only when she's done that they glare at her or dismiss her questions. Would they not tell her to shut up or slap her or put a muzzle on her since they're clearly okay with muzzling people? Guess not.
This book was also praised a lot for its world building and magic system. Honestly, I think it's just because while it was written for like, American/Canadian audiences?, it's inspired by Chinese lore and written by an Asian author and so everyone is like 'oh my god it's not based on medieval Europe this is one of the greatest fantasy worlds I have ever seen'. Like, look. I'm Chinese American and I don't think the magic system or world building was that great. I still don't really know what the enemy aliens are other than enemy aliens (I listened to the audiobook so I don't know how to spell the aliens' name and I didn't go to Chinese school I don't know how to spell out Chinese words okay). I don't even know what they look like. That may have been due to me not paying attention, but I just could not picture the enemies and I wasn't really sure how to imagine the chrysalises. Was there a map of the world in the book? Is it only these people vs the aliens? Are there any other societies or whatever in the world? I think the world was interesting and had potential, but Xiran did not draw out that potential nearly enough. And I don't think the magic system was that incredible or different. It's really not that unique, the name is just in Chinese so people think it is. It wasn't bad or anything, I thought it was fine, just not revolutionary.
Wow, this book was.... This book was actually so, incredibly boring. The main character, Zetian, is the girlbossiest girlboss you'll ever meet. She's a feminist queen and anyone who disagrees with her ideals and mindset deserves to die in a hole. Not even joking, the first 2 chapters had like 3 monologues about how unfair and misogynist the world was and life was unfair and girls were unjustly punished for no reason and men are trash, etc etc. She's supposed to come off as like strong minded and independent but she comes across as incredibly arrogant and she looks down on other girls all the time. She also developed this super outraged mindset out of nowhere, despite being raised to believe that girls are weak and submit to men and all her female role models have only ever been like that, so we never learn where she realized exactly how messed up her society is? Like, growing up with your confidence constantly being torn down and having misogynist concepts shoved down your throat is going to take some time to deal with and get over, but I'm pretty sure she just woke up one day and decided that she got over her trauma and was going to take down the patriarchy. She immediately rails against the unjustness of the world from the beginning and it feels very unearned. She's also supposed to be a super feminist but every single interaction with another female character is pretty bad. Like, she gets to be a pilot's concubine so that she can enact revenge or whatever, and immediately she gets into a fight with the other girls who are okay with being concubines and want to make the best of their situation. Like, this is all they've known and they believe it's the best they can do with their lives, but Zetian basically just yelled at them about how pathetic they are. We love seeing women support other women like this. She also like highkey shames another woman for having children in her mind. Like this lady shows her some kindness and Zetian is thinking that this woman is selfish for having kids and she shouldn't have done that because how ridiculous is it that a woman actually wants children, everyone knows women only want children when that desire is shoved down their throat and they're given no other option. She also tells the woman that abused girls shouldn't hide and should show their abusers their scars. First off, I think this woman is like 23 and I feel like Zetian is 16/17? Not entirely sure since I wasn't paying too much attention, but honestly the mental/maturity difference between a 23 year old and a 16/17 year old is massive and it feels weird that Zetian is lecturing her. Second, realistically how well would her plan go, if everyone who was abused decided to not hide their scars. Does she really think the abusers will just suddenly feel guilty and pinky promise to stop? There's absolutely no chance that these women would get shamed, hurt even more, and/or killed for doing something like that. There were so many other instances and I just really hated this girl and could not stand her. Her 'confidence' comes off as extreme arrogance and narcissism and she is so incapable of empathizing with other girls unless they're dead. The worst part is that for all her preaching about girl power, she's always getting saved by guys (except when she's in a giant chrysalis thing and then she just kills as many people as she can, but she's in them for such a small part of the book that it feels like she's only ever getting saved by guys). Speaking of Zetian killing people, I have no idea where her moral compass is. People praise this book for having a morally gray main character but I genuinely could not tell if she was actually morally gray or doing morally gray things while thinking she's completely justified and in the right. There are so many times when she could have been humbled and realized that other girls are just trying to make the best of their lives in the best and only way they know how to. For a book claiming to be super feminist, there is an astounding lack of support for and between women.
Other characters: Shimin and Yizhi and I forget everyone else. Shimin is like, classic bad boy with a tragic backstory, etc etc, he's also a total pushover when it comes to Zetian and will go along with whatever she says or wants because nothing he says or wants could ever be nearly as important as her. Yizhi gives off massive uwu simp energy and it felt like his entire character was to gush about how great Zetian was. There's a polygamous relationship between the three of them, except not really. People love this book for that because it's set up as a love triangle but also everyone is together but I feel like that just didn't happen. Everyone was definitely hyping that up way too much and focusing way too much on that when it was like the tiniest, tiniest part of the story. Minor
I feel like Zetian actually gets away with a lot despite constantly complaining that girls can't do anything. Especially towards the beginning, she keeps talking back to like old men and they... let her keep talking. It's only when she's done that they glare at her or dismiss her questions. Would they not tell her to shut up or slap her or put a muzzle on her since they're clearly okay with muzzling people? Guess not.
This book was also praised a lot for its world building and magic system. Honestly, I think it's just because while it was written for like, American/Canadian audiences?, it's inspired by Chinese lore and written by an Asian author and so everyone is like 'oh my god it's not based on medieval Europe this is one of the greatest fantasy worlds I have ever seen'. Like, look. I'm Chinese American and I don't think the magic system or world building was that great. I still don't really know what the enemy aliens are other than enemy aliens (I listened to the audiobook so I don't know how to spell the aliens' name and I didn't go to Chinese school I don't know how to spell out Chinese words okay). I don't even know what they look like. That may have been due to me not paying attention, but I just could not picture the enemies and I wasn't really sure how to imagine the chrysalises. Was there a map of the world in the book? Is it only these people vs the aliens? Are there any other societies or whatever in the world? I think the world was interesting and had potential, but Xiran did not draw out that potential nearly enough. And I don't think the magic system was that incredible or different. It's really not that unique, the name is just in Chinese so people think it is. It wasn't bad or anything, I thought it was fine, just not revolutionary.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Torture
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Violence, Sexual harassment, War
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, War
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Blood, Colonisation
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This entire book reads like being juggled in a fighting game. It is absolutely unrelenting, both in its depiction of horrific events and its action sequences. It has the ludonarrative consonance that marks really great writing: our protaganist never gets a break, so we don't get one either. We're all dragged down the river, splitting our heads open on the rocks.
Good scifi is a mirror through which we can examine our society, and the symbolism here is so obvious it's basically just another text. The society depicted is, unequivocally, horrific. It's depicted in an unflinching style that almost dares you to look away. Nobody in the setting is obviously the "good guys," and everyone is utterly corrupted by the rotten society they've built.
There's some cute moments too, a spoonful of sugar to help the extremely bitter medicine go down. And some really incredible action scenes. But if you're looking for something <i>light</i>, this isn't it.
Good scifi is a mirror through which we can examine our society, and the symbolism here is so obvious it's basically just another text. The society depicted is, unequivocally, horrific. It's depicted in an unflinching style that almost dares you to look away. Nobody in the setting is obviously the "good guys," and everyone is utterly corrupted by the rotten society they've built.
There's some cute moments too, a spoonful of sugar to help the extremely bitter medicine go down. And some really incredible action scenes. But if you're looking for something <i>light</i>, this isn't it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Torture, Violence, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Trafficking
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
So this book was pretty hard for me to rate. Character wise I’d give it a 4-4.5, plot wise a 2.5, writing wise a 3.5.
First for the characters: I just loved them! I think some could definitely benefit from being more fleshed out because I didn’t know much about them beyond their relationships - especially Yizhi. However, there is another book coming out, so I don’t mind as much since I’m assuming we’ll learn more about him moving forward. I had a lot of fun with our main character. Zetian is funny, angry, at times cruel, and an all around amazing character to read. And the main triad in general? I just loved them all so much. The open communication was absolutely refreshing, as was the casual representation - we have bi and polyamorous characters in a world that doesn’t accept this, but it’s still so very casually accepted for them. Some people may want more there, but I was honestly relieved at the lack of angst for their queerness and relationship. Alongside that the other rep - addiction, all Asian characters, disabled characters - were done with care, which I very much appreciated.
Where this book lost me at times was plot/writing. The world building felt very messy and convoluted at times, and there were moments I’d get confused, reread, and then just give up because I wasn’t going to get it. I’m still not certain about what exactly happened at certain points or why characters did XYZ, even if I got the basic plot. The writing was at times absolutely phenomenal, and then other times overly simplistic. When it came to descriptions, it was amazing. The book didn’t shy away from violence, which I loved. It puts you straight into the action and doesn’t shy away from the horrors the characters see. When it comes to the themes, however, I think the book takes an overly simplistic take. Zetian fights against the patriarchal system that women are trapped in, but she’s surrounded by men and the female characters around her aren’t provided the same grace and complexity that Zetian does. It often felt like Zetian would have a conversation with another female character and then it would go poorly and she would go go “:( I thought because she was a woman she’d be on my side but she’s not.” Seemed like if they didn’t agree with Zetian, there was no nuance provided on WHY they might disagree, if this is something they say to save themselves, if they’re actually being rebellious in other ways. If this is an intentional flaw for Zetian that will be explored in the next book then great! However for this book, it just felt like something that oversimplified the topic.
I hope in the next book that we get more nuance - but that being said I’m still excited for the next book! I’m not even very into YA anymore but I got very invested here, even moreso with the final few chapters. Even with the writing aspects I didn’t love, I saw a lot of potential (and this is apparently the author’s debut novel) and I love the main three characters a lot, so I’m excited to see what’s next.
First for the characters: I just loved them! I think some could definitely benefit from being more fleshed out because I didn’t know much about them beyond their relationships - especially Yizhi. However, there is another book coming out, so I don’t mind as much since I’m assuming we’ll learn more about him moving forward. I had a lot of fun with our main character. Zetian is funny, angry, at times cruel, and an all around amazing character to read. And the main triad in general? I just loved them all so much. The open communication was absolutely refreshing, as was the casual representation - we have bi and polyamorous characters in a world that doesn’t accept this, but it’s still so very casually accepted for them. Some people may want more there, but I was honestly relieved at the lack of angst for their queerness and relationship. Alongside that the other rep - addiction, all Asian characters, disabled characters - were done with care, which I very much appreciated.
Where this book lost me at times was plot/writing. The world building felt very messy and convoluted at times, and there were moments I’d get confused, reread, and then just give up because I wasn’t going to get it. I’m still not certain about what exactly happened at certain points or why characters did XYZ, even if I got the basic plot. The writing was at times absolutely phenomenal, and then other times overly simplistic. When it came to descriptions, it was amazing. The book didn’t shy away from violence, which I loved. It puts you straight into the action and doesn’t shy away from the horrors the characters see. When it comes to the themes, however, I think the book takes an overly simplistic take. Zetian fights against the patriarchal system that women are trapped in, but she’s surrounded by men and the female characters around her aren’t provided the same grace and complexity that Zetian does. It often felt like Zetian would have a conversation with another female character and then it would go poorly and she would go go “:( I thought because she was a woman she’d be on my side but she’s not.” Seemed like if they didn’t agree with Zetian, there was no nuance provided on WHY they might disagree, if this is something they say to save themselves, if they’re actually being rebellious in other ways. If this is an intentional flaw for Zetian that will be explored in the next book then great! However for this book, it just felt like something that oversimplified the topic.
I hope in the next book that we get more nuance - but that being said I’m still excited for the next book! I’m not even very into YA anymore but I got very invested here, even moreso with the final few chapters. Even with the writing aspects I didn’t love, I saw a lot of potential (and this is apparently the author’s debut novel) and I love the main three characters a lot, so I’m excited to see what’s next.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Murder
Moderate: Misogyny
Minor: Rape
adventurous
dark
emotional
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:
Complicated
This book gripped me from start to finish and was just an incredible read. One of my favourite queer books I’ve read. I am so excited for the next one!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Torture, War
adventurous
emotional
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Torture