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A review by badmc
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
A girl of rage will make the world bow to her...
..in a book I was underwhelmed with. I will just add a disclaimer that it suffered in comparison with the book I read previously, that really underlined the major problem I had with it: telling instead of showing. It sure sounds like a cliche, but in this book, the plot went very fast, we got a lot of information thrown at us: about the world, about the characters, about the relationships... and it all felt surface level. I didn't care for neither, and it greatly lowered my enjoyment. For example, in a scene close to the beginning on the book our main character goes by her father and brother who are watching some program, and then after the midway point she tells us her brother used to watch a certain celebrity a lot, and I thought: "What a wasted opportunity, she could've seen it in that scene at the start and it would've felt so much more natural!". We are spoon-fed information, and some of the character lines felt like preaching, and reading third wave feminist manifest. I'm all for feminist manifests, but I prefer to have it mirrored in the fiction I'm reading in a more believable way.
I finished the book because I was intrigued with the rage of the protagonist, but ultimately I didn't connect with her because she felt disconnected to everything and everyone else. We don't get to see her care and compassion for other girls she is so obsessed with saving, and her love for her big sister comes seemingly from shared trauma and not much else. Also, a character at the end gets "fridged" to force her hand - subverting the trope with the gender reversal is not a real subversion, in my opinion. The "twist" at the end was predictable and made me roll my eyes pretty hard. I really like the author and choices this book took (for example, incorporating bound feet added to the character, and motivation) but I don't think I'm continuing this particular series.
..in a book I was underwhelmed with. I will just add a disclaimer that it suffered in comparison with the book I read previously, that really underlined the major problem I had with it: telling instead of showing. It sure sounds like a cliche, but in this book, the plot went very fast, we got a lot of information thrown at us: about the world, about the characters, about the relationships... and it all felt surface level. I didn't care for neither, and it greatly lowered my enjoyment. For example, in a scene close to the beginning on the book our main character goes by her father and brother who are watching some program, and then after the midway point she tells us her brother used to watch a certain celebrity a lot, and I thought: "What a wasted opportunity, she could've seen it in that scene at the start and it would've felt so much more natural!". We are spoon-fed information, and some of the character lines felt like preaching, and reading third wave feminist manifest. I'm all for feminist manifests, but I prefer to have it mirrored in the fiction I'm reading in a more believable way.
I finished the book because I was intrigued with the rage of the protagonist, but ultimately I didn't connect with her because she felt disconnected to everything and everyone else. We don't get to see her care and compassion for other girls she is so obsessed with saving, and her love for her big sister comes seemingly from shared trauma and not much else. Also, a character at the end gets "fridged" to force her hand - subverting the trope with the gender reversal is not a real subversion, in my opinion. The "twist" at the end was predictable and made me roll my eyes pretty hard. I really like the author and choices this book took (for example, incorporating bound feet added to the character, and motivation) but I don't think I'm continuing this particular series.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Torture
Moderate: Violence and Xenophobia