toothlesss 's review for:

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

3.25

adventurous dark tense fast-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

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ok so i have pretty mixed feelings about this book and i cannot for the life of me articulate my thoughts. all i can say is by the end of this book i was fully charged with feminine rage. i support women's rights and wrongs.

i got through the first two-thirds of this book just for the sake of it, i haven't been reading with much concentration so i must've missed out on some world building and mechanics of piloting so i won't hold it against this book.

in the beginning i was intrigued but not entirely engaged. then,

yang guang died so suddenly without any further details about zetian's elder sister

and that threw me off.

i wasn't a fan of the romance element either. personally, it felt like zetian was the only one with good character depth and the others were lost opportunities. i never understood why anyone liked who they liked. felt like the subplot was there for the sake of it. 

but when once the counterattack begins, i had the best time. looking forward to reading the next book though i'm not sure if i'll pick it up immediately!