faolan 's review for:

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
3.5
This book was a rollarcoaster!!! I have many thoughts which I will go through, but overall this is a very enjoyable read not to be read with high expectations (or by very young adults in my opinion) 

Positives: 
Fast Pace - 
There is never a dull moment in the book (while this comes up later as a negative, it is in a different context) This book pulls you in with some great descriptions and interesting plot points, which there were several of.

Concept - 
Very cool concept, in terms of including the only
empress of China as the main character
and the mecha element as well

Good time: 
If I were fifteen when reading this I would be eating it up with a spoon with absolutely no criticism and honestly there were points in the book that I was!
I have the moment she comes out of the nine tailed fox holding his dead body saying welcome to your worse nightmare in my head INCREDIBLE!!
As I said it is an enjoyable read but once you go into it knowing it's intended for YA 

Unfortunately onto the negatives, but should be said I did enjoy it overall

Writing style and content disconnect -
As mentioned by other reviews, this is written for YA with some phrasing/tropes that seem juvenile
(every other woman being an enemy)
, the phrasing of some scenes or inner thoughts. That being said I do feel a lot of the content would not be suitable for a younger audience with things I found very tough to read

Too many things happening: 
Flip side of this was the positive face pacing, but particularly towards the end I did feel there was a lot going on, maybe even too much! 

Girl boss - 
This was felt through out the book, along with some classic not like the other girls. I think this coupled with the lack of other girls with depth in the novel really made it hard to get through, related point that while her female rage was incredibly written and is far too often not written like that, I felt there were no strong portrayals of other characters showing alternative ways of expressing themselves other than with violence or keeping it inside

Queer - 
This was one of the main tags on the book, but definitely not prevalent throughout the novel.
There were some moments it seemed like Zetian wanted a more masculine body, but this may have been more abour physical strength, would have loved to read about this more


To conclude, do read it as long as you're comfortable/aware of the content warnings as I did enjoy this book, just can't give it more than a 3.5!
Expand filter menu Content Warnings