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Graphic: Body shaming, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship
I really liked the critiques of gender in this series and how most of the main characters all fall somewhere in the middle of the gender spectrum and how that plays into their lives and their personalities as well as the culture and society around them. I liked how that brought the characters together simply because of their uniqueness.
I also loved getting to watch Zhu achieve everything she was reaching for. She literally wanted to change the world and she succeeded and it was glorious to watch.
I think I said this for the previous book, but it was also amazing to see what she would do in order to achieve her goal. She was not going to let anything get in her way no matter how immoral it might have been and I admired that.
I do think this book kept my attention a little bit more than the first one, but it was still fairly difficult to get through and I think that is mostly due to not being able to differentiate the character's names as well as the many sudden POV switches. The distant nature of the writing probably also contributed to that, but I think most of it was the character names for me. I'm sure it would have been much easier to differentiate them if I was reading a physical copy of the book rather than listening though.
Overall this was a good series. I loved the themes and the critiques, I just wish I felt closer to the characters in general.
Graphic: Ableism, Bullying, Death, Incest, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, War, Injury/Injury detail
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, War
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship
Minor: Mental illness, Miscarriage, Abortion, Gaslighting, Abandonment
This one felt a lot darker and less hopeful. Mostly sad and a lot of realizing that getting what you want is sometimes bad. The betrayals hit super deep.
Best parts are obviously Zhu and her relationships. I love Ma and all her gentleness, and Ouyang, and his everything.
A lot of things in this books could be summed up as "wow, turns out patriarchy really fucks people up!"
I really loved this series but I'm glad it's over 😅
Honestly loved it enough I'd read it again.
Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Transphobia, War
Moderate: Ableism, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Sexual harassment, War
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Death, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Blood, Grief, Murder, War
Graphic: Misogyny, Rape, Violence, War
Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Rape, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War
Moderate: Sexual content, Pregnancy
Minor: Abortion
Graphic: Rape, Self harm, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexual content
Minor: Homophobia, Abortion, Pregnancy