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A review by dark_reader
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
3.0
Knock-knock.
Who's there?
Patriarchy.
SMASH!
. . . like a luminous meteor strike juddering the earth into convulsions.
This book is exactly what was promised by the author, reflecting their passion for anime and Chinese history, written for a YA reading audience. The book invokes reflections of Evangelion, Attack on Titan, [b:The Poppy War|35068705|The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1)|R.F. Kuang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1515691735l/35068705._SY75_.jpg|56364137], Pacific Rim (or more accurately an anime I have not seen, Darling in the Franxx), Voltron, Battlestar Galactica, Starship Troopers, and Dragon Ball Z. I wish it drew more on Yu-Gi-Oh! like the teaser image that circulated of the girl on the cover art wielding a duel disk.
The prologue is heavy-handed on dropping almost all of the necessary world info, but it and the next hundred pages are pretty f*ckin rad. The transformation scenes for the Chrysalises, animal-themed giant mechas made of spirit metal, and their subsequent attacks against the "Hundun" bug-like swarming creatures, are out of this world.
The main character is badass and full of unrelenting righteous rage, and for good reason. If she only had the early-childhood trauma of being permanently crippled for the purpose of foot binding, that would be enough, but there is plenty more gender-based injustice permeating her not-so-fantasy world to keep fuelling her indignant anger. This book is her journey.
After those first hundred pages, well . . . it lingers in standard YA genre territory, with the next two hundred pages focused on relationships and power politics and learning to ice-skate (because China?) before the action picks up again for an explosive finale.
Contemporary YA readers will eat this up, find themselves satisfied, and cry for the sequel with all haste. I am not among this readership. I was drawn to the book for its pop culture inspiration and the author's passion for the material, but expected that I would not ultimately love it due simply to its YA placement. I was right, but that's okay; it was not meant for me in particular.
But if I might put on my "old curmudgeon" cap for while... do readers like the writing itself? I might not have even noticed it in my youth, but now does it ever stand out. Stylistically, it was way over the top. It's not bad in small doses, but the overall effect is just too much. I often found myself thinking, "settle down." Adjectives everywhere! So many similes! Are they bad similes? Not technically; they make sense and fit the moment. There's just so damn many of them! Almost every page has at least one. From one two-page spread:
The ending will impress many, but I found it somehow unsurprising that, given glaring major knowledge gaps about certain world elements that the characters never questioned, it would turn out that all in this world was not at it seemed.
I suspect that the, let's call it exuberance, in the prose stems from fanfiction fandom. Whatever the source, and as awesome as the book's premises are, in the end I find myself reminded, as I am a couple of times a year, that YA books in their currently popular form are not for me.
Who's there?
Patriarchy.
SMASH!
. . . like a luminous meteor strike juddering the earth into convulsions.
This book is exactly what was promised by the author, reflecting their passion for anime and Chinese history, written for a YA reading audience. The book invokes reflections of Evangelion, Attack on Titan, [b:The Poppy War|35068705|The Poppy War (The Poppy War, #1)|R.F. Kuang|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1515691735l/35068705._SY75_.jpg|56364137], Pacific Rim (or more accurately an anime I have not seen, Darling in the Franxx), Voltron, Battlestar Galactica, Starship Troopers, and Dragon Ball Z. I wish it drew more on Yu-Gi-Oh! like the teaser image that circulated of the girl on the cover art wielding a duel disk.
The prologue is heavy-handed on dropping almost all of the necessary world info, but it and the next hundred pages are pretty f*ckin rad. The transformation scenes for the Chrysalises, animal-themed giant mechas made of spirit metal, and their subsequent attacks against the "Hundun" bug-like swarming creatures, are out of this world.
The main character is badass and full of unrelenting righteous rage, and for good reason. If she only had the early-childhood trauma of being permanently crippled for the purpose of foot binding, that would be enough, but there is plenty more gender-based injustice permeating her not-so-fantasy world to keep fuelling her indignant anger. This book is her journey.
After those first hundred pages, well . . . it lingers in standard YA genre territory, with the next two hundred pages focused on relationships and power politics and learning to ice-skate (because China?) before the action picks up again for an explosive finale.
Contemporary YA readers will eat this up, find themselves satisfied, and cry for the sequel with all haste. I am not among this readership. I was drawn to the book for its pop culture inspiration and the author's passion for the material, but expected that I would not ultimately love it due simply to its YA placement. I was right, but that's okay; it was not meant for me in particular.
But if I might put on my "old curmudgeon" cap for while... do readers like the writing itself? I might not have even noticed it in my youth, but now does it ever stand out. Stylistically, it was way over the top. It's not bad in small doses, but the overall effect is just too much. I often found myself thinking, "settle down." Adjectives everywhere! So many similes! Are they bad similes? Not technically; they make sense and fit the moment. There's just so damn many of them! Almost every page has at least one. From one two-page spread:
My heart plunges like a stone into a never-ending abyss.The word choice and description in general is just too much, too often, and the reading experience can be exhausting.
. . .
Shouts drift in and out of my ears like I’ve plunged into ice water.
. . .
The storm whistles outside and pounds on the metal around us like a thousand invading heartbeats.
A warping scream and a flapping of robes lacerate through the stunned haze in my mind.As expected in this genre, characters' eyes get top billing:
Gao Qiu's eyes, which hold a stunning feline beauty, pierce me with a knowing edge.‘Luminous' is a perfectly cromulent word. But, the second time it is used early in the book, I think, "Huh, I think they used the same word, weird." The third time, I think, "What is going on here?" The seventh and eighth times that I read 'luminous', ON THE SAME PAGE (page 78 to be precise), were the final nails in that coffin. Can you please just say 'glowing' sometimes? Fortunately after that there is a 150-page luminosity break, but its eventual reappearance is triumphant:
My wrath collides directly with his, like oil smashing into fire, and a scream scours out of the Bird's beak, luminous into the night. Rain clinks down over us like a thousand needles per second.I don't understand; is the scream luminous? I don't think a thing can be 'luminous into' anything. Note the bracketing similes also.
The ending will impress many, but I found it somehow unsurprising that, given glaring major knowledge gaps about certain world elements that the characters never questioned, it would turn out that all in this world was not at it seemed.
I suspect that the, let's call it exuberance, in the prose stems from fanfiction fandom. Whatever the source, and as awesome as the book's premises are, in the end I find myself reminded, as I am a couple of times a year, that YA books in their currently popular form are not for me.