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A review by fauna_n_fiction
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
PLEASE CHECK THE TRIGGER WARNINGS BEFORE READING THIS BOOK. I personally would not have marketed this book as a YA as it deals with very dark subject matter within the first 12 chapters.
... ...
I really didn't like the main character of this book. While I appreciated her motivations and reasoning for doing certain things, I personally couldn't relate to the brutal and extremist ways she achieved her goals. While I realise that she is a product of her society and her abusive situation, I am a thorough believer in "having been abused does not give you a free pass to be an abuser." I despised the way she treated Li Shimin, ESPECIALLY in his darkest moment and I felt like she only ever brought out the worst in him and encouraged the darkest sides of him instead of accepting his true nature. I enjoyed Li Shimin and Gao Yizhi's characters, however I found them both to be pretty flat. For a "feminist" book, this book has only four named female characters, one of whom is our MC, another who is dead and two who are both "against" her in different ways.
NONE of the characters had any development. Everyone either started out has horrid and stayed horrid or started out as good and stayed good. An argument could be made for Li Shimin, however, it's only that we view him as bad and learn that he is good.
As for the romance in this book, I LOVED the idea of a polyamorous relationship and I LOVED the tiny bit we got of Yizhi's and Shimin's relationship however, I felt like all the romances were rushed and baseless. I would have very much loved to get more of Shimin and Yizhi's development other than "they held hands."
I loved the atmosphere of this book, however, I think the worldbuilding is pretty shallow. We know this is a patriarchal society, there are beasts that we are fighting with a piloting system that is rigged against women. That's it.
I was not a fan of the writing style in this book. While I think there is an audience for this style of writing, I prefer a more formal, slightly lyrical form of writing. Considering the setting I feel like there was way too much slang and colloquialisms used unnecessarily where changing a single word would have elevated the language to a more mature level.
I think the plot and pacing we good but not great. I picked up this book and read through it very quickly because it moved along nicely and I was eager to see what happens.
... ...
I really didn't like the main character of this book. While I appreciated her motivations and reasoning for doing certain things, I personally couldn't relate to the brutal and extremist ways she achieved her goals. While I realise that she is a product of her society and her abusive situation, I am a thorough believer in "having been abused does not give you a free pass to be an abuser." I despised the way she treated Li Shimin, ESPECIALLY in his darkest moment and I felt like she only ever brought out the worst in him and encouraged the darkest sides of him instead of accepting his true nature. I enjoyed Li Shimin and Gao Yizhi's characters, however I found them both to be pretty flat. For a "feminist" book, this book has only four named female characters, one of whom is our MC, another who is dead and two who are both "against" her in different ways.
NONE of the characters had any development. Everyone either started out has horrid and stayed horrid or started out as good and stayed good. An argument could be made for Li Shimin, however, it's only that we view him as bad and learn that he is good.
As for the romance in this book, I LOVED the idea of a polyamorous relationship and I LOVED the tiny bit we got of Yizhi's and Shimin's relationship however, I felt like all the romances were rushed and baseless. I would have very much loved to get more of Shimin and Yizhi's development other than "they held hands."
I loved the atmosphere of this book, however, I think the worldbuilding is pretty shallow. We know this is a patriarchal society, there are beasts that we are fighting with a piloting system that is rigged against women. That's it.
I was not a fan of the writing style in this book. While I think there is an audience for this style of writing, I prefer a more formal, slightly lyrical form of writing. Considering the setting I feel like there was way too much slang and colloquialisms used unnecessarily where changing a single word would have elevated the language to a more mature level.
I think the plot and pacing we good but not great. I picked up this book and read through it very quickly because it moved along nicely and I was eager to see what happens.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture, Murder, Physical abuse, and Child death