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gdulecki 's review for:
Heavenly Tyrant
by Xiran Jay Zhao
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I’m really struggling with how to rate and review this. I think for how much I adored Iron Widow, this was kind of disappointing?? I liked it enough, but I am sitting here having just finished the book, and I have such an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. There were some parts of this I really loved, including the exploration of how we build ~what comes next~ and Zetian figuring out what uplifting women does and doesn’t look like. I absolutely hated the “romance” with Qin Zheng and all the coercion and manipulation he did to her. I do think Zhao did great job of writing the narrative in a way where we were experiencing Zetian try to convince herself she was choosing to do a multitude of things but in reality she was his prisoner and couldn’t escape. I also was under the impression that this was going to be a duology and was a bit shocked to get to the end and see a to be continued. I will certainly read the final installment, but for now I feel a bit disappointed!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail