A review by queenqueso
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

adventurous challenging dark reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

I'm really torn on how I feel about the book, so I'm giving it 3 out of 5 stars despite adding it to "favorite reads of 2021" list.

On one hand, the premise is really interesting and
the ending threw me for a huge loop
, the whole "Chinese history meets Revolutionary Girl Utena meets Pacific Rim" angle is VERY cool and I always love an unapologetically messy and powerful female protag.

On the other hand, the book itself stumbles into things that are not entirely unexpected for an author's first book. Exposition that is way more tell than show, emotions or plots switching from one to another so fast I had to backread to understand what was happening, and so on. I at times felt like the story or characters were held back a bit by being in a YA book and that perhaps a full Adult rating would've allowed for better flushing out of some things the author clearly wanted to explore but often pulled back from. But maybe I'm just reading too much into it at the same time? And perhaps strongest of all I sometimes wasn't sure exactly what Wu Zetian's motives or feelings were.
Does she hate Shimin or does she not? Does she want to overthrow the system or exceed within it? Sometimes rather than being sure it was complicated feelings on her part, I was left feeling that it was swinging from one to the other with no clear middle ground.


All in all, I was left with a feeling of being intensely interested in the characters, dynamics, and setting but not as fully satisfied with the writing itself. As such, I'm still going to be looking forward to the sequel 
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