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A review by eesh25
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
4.0
3.5 Stars
This is a slightly complicated review to write. Because while I had a lot of fun with the book, I don’t think I got from it what the author might have wanted me to.
It’s a simple plot in a world that treats women like shit. So it’s a story about revenge and about the empowerment of women. And like I said, I had a lot of fun with it. Zetian is a girl who’s completely fucking done with how women are treated. And how she, specifically, is treated. She’s also slightly unhinged and wants to wreck some shit. I can totally get behind that. She’s not a perfect person, but most of the time, her flaws are intentional, and they’re acknowledged by the story and the people in it. I also enjoyed how recklessly fearless she can be.
There are two important side characters, both guys and both love interests. But in a fantastic turn of events, there’s no love triangle. Instead, the author choses polyamory, and I could not be happier about it. I also quite like both the guys. Li Shimin is easily my favourite character, though I’ll let you see for yourself why. The relationship between the three is good, and I’m interested to see how it will develop in future books.
Now coming back to what I said at the beginning. Basically, feminism is a big part of the story. Zetian is supposed to be this feminist icon, and it’s not done very well. Zetian’s brand of feminism feels out of place. She’s somehow managed to figure out all the ways in which women are mistreated, and all the reasons why. She doesn’t feel like a girl who was born in her world who’s figuring out how fucked up her society is. She feels like someone who was plucked from the twenty-first century and put in that world after someone did a really shitty job of erasing her memory.
The world-building is also not great. We know almost nothing about the aliens, we get glimpses of the society as a whole, but no clear picture. And there are these gods mentions who we also know nothing about. And I know a lot of these things, maybe all of them, will likely be elaborated on in future books, but I’d have liked some of that elaboration here as well.
But overall, I liked this book. It has good characters, a decent start for a romance, the action is well-written, and all the unhinged/murder-y moments are so much fun. This book is a good time. It’s just not as deep as it wants to be. And if you can look past that, you’ll probably enjoy yourself.
This is a slightly complicated review to write. Because while I had a lot of fun with the book, I don’t think I got from it what the author might have wanted me to.
It’s a simple plot in a world that treats women like shit. So it’s a story about revenge and about the empowerment of women. And like I said, I had a lot of fun with it. Zetian is a girl who’s completely fucking done with how women are treated. And how she, specifically, is treated. She’s also slightly unhinged and wants to wreck some shit. I can totally get behind that. She’s not a perfect person, but most of the time, her flaws are intentional, and they’re acknowledged by the story and the people in it. I also enjoyed how recklessly fearless she can be.
There are two important side characters, both guys and both love interests. But in a fantastic turn of events, there’s no love triangle. Instead, the author choses polyamory, and I could not be happier about it. I also quite like both the guys. Li Shimin is easily my favourite character, though I’ll let you see for yourself why. The relationship between the three is good, and I’m interested to see how it will develop in future books.
Now coming back to what I said at the beginning. Basically, feminism is a big part of the story. Zetian is supposed to be this feminist icon, and it’s not done very well. Zetian’s brand of feminism feels out of place. She’s somehow managed to figure out all the ways in which women are mistreated, and all the reasons why. She doesn’t feel like a girl who was born in her world who’s figuring out how fucked up her society is. She feels like someone who was plucked from the twenty-first century and put in that world after someone did a really shitty job of erasing her memory.
The world-building is also not great. We know almost nothing about the aliens, we get glimpses of the society as a whole, but no clear picture. And there are these gods mentions who we also know nothing about. And I know a lot of these things, maybe all of them, will likely be elaborated on in future books, but I’d have liked some of that elaboration here as well.
But overall, I liked this book. It has good characters, a decent start for a romance, the action is well-written, and all the unhinged/murder-y moments are so much fun. This book is a good time. It’s just not as deep as it wants to be. And if you can look past that, you’ll probably enjoy yourself.