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dameantoinette 's review for:
Heavenly Tyrant
by Xiran Jay Zhao
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So that was something. I will say this - if you enjoy reading long blocks of political pondering close to manifestos and were not too attached to the characters in the first book, you will have a grand old time. It has even more female rage than the first, long winded political discussions, less battles, less romance and little reflection of consequences of actions.
If you however enjoyed the action, characters, polygamy and the lead not letting her female rage always get in the way - well this book might not be for you. Everything about the first book from the political 4D chess to the multifaceted love to the battles is pretty much nowhere to be found. Li Shimin is in it for 5% at best. Wu Zeitian lets her female rage outwit every single lesson she has learned up until now. At times she read like the 00s and 10s feminism of which we see the aftermath to this day. Gao Yizhi - well if you expect a plot twist then about 80% of the time it is connected to him, somehow. The new character, the reawakened emperor of 200 years ago, is a good foil to Wu and yet. Honestly this book would have greatly benefitted from a dual perspective simply to escape Wu Zetians blind female rage. Listen, I get it, however at some point her stopping for three minutes and looking at how things actually are would have benefitted everyone, starting with herself. So many of her actions seemed nothing less than shortsighted. Even more so I did not really understand her burning rage for Qin Zheng - yeah he was not likeable, shocking considering everything, but her continuous dislike started to make me also not trust Wu Zeitians viewpoint as if she was a untrustworthy storyteller.
That was one thing that probably made it hard for me to really like or even enjoy the book, because Wu Zeitian seemed like a whole new person. It is understandable considering the trauma and her plans not going as she wished, but we never really sit with that. I longed for a moment where we simply had her, alone, having to face everything and parse through it like most of us have - honestly, even if she sought out mental help would have been good too. All that technology and no mental help? Come on. Instead we get pages and pages upon pages of political ramblings where it feels like the author needed a voice for her thoughts and used this book for it. Nothing wrong with that as countless authors before them have done so, yet somehow here I found it taking me out of the book and plot. For example R.F.Kuang and Susanne Collins manage to present political concepts and standpoints, but don't smack you over the head with them. Instead they are imbedded in the story for the reader to find, maybe not on the first read or second, but they are there. Trusting the reader would have benefitted this book, which was present in the first book in my eyes.
Genuinely it is up for everyone themselves to decide if they want to read this book or not. We each have our own relationship about how much we like certain aspects be underlined and heavily featured in a book. For me, personally just me, this book did nothing and the last few chapters entering Doctor Who territory was an odd disconnect.
If you however enjoyed the action, characters, polygamy and the lead not letting her female rage always get in the way - well this book might not be for you. Everything about the first book from the political 4D chess to the multifaceted love to the battles is pretty much nowhere to be found. Li Shimin is in it for 5% at best. Wu Zeitian lets her female rage outwit every single lesson she has learned up until now. At times she read like the 00s and 10s feminism of which we see the aftermath to this day. Gao Yizhi - well if you expect a plot twist then about 80% of the time it is connected to him, somehow. The new character, the reawakened emperor of 200 years ago, is a good foil to Wu and yet. Honestly this book would have greatly benefitted from a dual perspective simply to escape Wu Zetians blind female rage. Listen, I get it, however at some point her stopping for three minutes and looking at how things actually are would have benefitted everyone, starting with herself. So many of her actions seemed nothing less than shortsighted. Even more so I did not really understand her burning rage for Qin Zheng - yeah he was not likeable, shocking considering everything, but her continuous dislike started to make me also not trust Wu Zeitians viewpoint as if she was a untrustworthy storyteller.
That was one thing that probably made it hard for me to really like or even enjoy the book, because Wu Zeitian seemed like a whole new person. It is understandable considering the trauma and her plans not going as she wished, but we never really sit with that. I longed for a moment where we simply had her, alone, having to face everything and parse through it like most of us have - honestly, even if she sought out mental help would have been good too. All that technology and no mental help? Come on. Instead we get pages and pages upon pages of political ramblings where it feels like the author needed a voice for her thoughts and used this book for it. Nothing wrong with that as countless authors before them have done so, yet somehow here I found it taking me out of the book and plot. For example R.F.Kuang and Susanne Collins manage to present political concepts and standpoints, but don't smack you over the head with them. Instead they are imbedded in the story for the reader to find, maybe not on the first read or second, but they are there. Trusting the reader would have benefitted this book, which was present in the first book in my eyes.
Genuinely it is up for everyone themselves to decide if they want to read this book or not. We each have our own relationship about how much we like certain aspects be underlined and heavily featured in a book. For me, personally just me, this book did nothing and the last few chapters entering Doctor Who territory was an odd disconnect.