Scan barcode
A review by lolaslalaland
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
emotional
sad
medium-paced
3.0
Mech-suits, spiritual energy, alien fights, I mean this was awesome. It reminded me of Pacific Rim, but also of the manga Darling in the Franxx, especially with the whole male and female pilots for the machines and needing to match each other's power levels.
I really did love the whole concept of the book, but I very quickly got tired of the sexism narrative. After a while, the plot and storyline got swallowed by the main character's constant anger at the fact that she is a girl and girls don't get treated equally. Listen, there is nothing wrong with having a fantasy/sci-fi book criticize sexism and misogyny by placing it as a societal standard in the world building, but I'm a little tired of seeing it. And this book would not let up on it. Because of that I often felt like there wasn't enough character development, world building and general good story-telling.
But that's not to say there weren't some positives about the book, I already mentioned the really cool premise of giant machines fighting aliens, and the ending was actually a very interesting twist, also I really loved the relationships in the book, the concept of love and how it can't adhere to rules and the more you have it, the better, shouldn't be limited by gender. I didn't have a bad time reading this book, but I probably won't pick up the sequel.
I really did love the whole concept of the book, but I very quickly got tired of the sexism narrative. After a while, the plot and storyline got swallowed by the main character's constant anger at the fact that she is a girl and girls don't get treated equally. Listen, there is nothing wrong with having a fantasy/sci-fi book criticize sexism and misogyny by placing it as a societal standard in the world building, but I'm a little tired of seeing it. And this book would not let up on it. Because of that I often felt like there wasn't enough character development, world building and general good story-telling.
But that's not to say there weren't some positives about the book, I already mentioned the really cool premise of giant machines fighting aliens, and the ending was actually a very interesting twist, also I really loved the relationships in the book, the concept of love and how it can't adhere to rules and the more you have it, the better, shouldn't be limited by gender. I didn't have a bad time reading this book, but I probably won't pick up the sequel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Misogyny, Sexism, and Torture
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Slavery, Violence, and Classism
Minor: Homophobia