Reviews tagging 'Genocide'

Viúva de Ferro by Xiran Jay Zhao

95 reviews

astrangewind's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

 

I’m so genuinely disappointed that Iron Widow was not as good as I thought it was going to be.

“Way of the Fox,” the first of four parts, is flawlessly executed. Wu Zetian is a firecracker of a character - she is single-minded in her goal

to kill Yang Guang

, utterly uncaring about her family’s wellbeing and throwing aside her love for Yizhi, throwing away even her life. It’s this deep, feminist rage that characterizes Zetian early on and differentiates her from other “strong female characters” in the YA dystopia genre.

When she’s ultimately successful in her task, her violent anger so complete that all she can do is laugh into the cameras, I get chills.

I want Zetian to succeed. I want her family, her country, every man who’s ever wronged her to suffer. This opener promises a novel full of righteous fury, of taking what belongs to her and all the women and girls of Huaxia, of vengeance.

This is a promise that the remaining three parts breaks.

I don’t know what happened here. It’s only speculation, but it seems to me like the author ran up against a deadline before they finished editing. It doesn’t read like a first draft, but it doesn’t read like a final one, either. In contrast with “Way of the Fox,” the rest of the book is disjointed, unsubtle, agonizingly dull at times, inconsistent. The “plot twists” come out of nowhere, and then they’re overexplained; because the foreshadowing is so weak, they require severe, barely-believable retconning. 

Everything that follows “The Way of the Fox” in terms of plot makes little sense. Zetian had accomplished her goal - that makes sense. As punishment, she gets paired with Li Shimin, the Iron Demon, a huge, frightening boy who killed his family, with an incredibly high spirit pressure - yeah, okay. Then...

they become really invested in the war and do everything they can to convince the army to stage a counterattack against the Hunduns

? I feel like I must have missed something. Neither Zetian or Shimin was ever portrayed as taking an interest in the war; in fact, they both are very clear about wanting the violence (against the girl pilots) to stop. It’s not even clear what Huaxia thinks the Hunduns have done. They, what? Took over a province? Yeah, okay, I can see Huaxia being mad about it, but it’s common knowledge in Huaxia that the Hunduns never even attempt to breach the Great Wall - this is stated explicitly. There’s no clear reason why a counterattack is a good idea, or even why Zetian, Shimin, and Yizhi want it to happen. And even after Zetian survives piloting with Shimin, there’s no obvious reason why the army would want someone as dangerous as her to survive. Why did they not try to stage an assassination

beyond Xing Tian’s rogue attempt, which wasn’t even state-sponsored

? And her plan to just say out loud to all of Huaxia that girls are sacrificed on purpose? The author should know that that never would have worked, even in fiction. The whole “war” angle is uncompelling.

Speaking of... Zetian is so furious about girl pilots being sacrificed that she doesn’t mind sacrificing herself and her family to stop it. But she doesn’t mind literally committing genocide against the “mindless” Hunduns. She doesn’t mind

squashing Xiuying and Zhu Yuanzhang,

or

crushing the army vehicles

. Zetian does have feelings and a moral code, so it’s inconsistent for her character to just kill indiscriminately (unless the target is a young girl).

At the end, when something in Zetian snaps, it makes sense for only the young girls to give her pause. But it doesn’t make sense what actually convinces her to try to take over the whole of Huaxia. It’s so... bizarre.

Iron Widow claims itself as a feminist work, but it’s not. Beyond “The Way of the Fox,” most of the “feminism” reads like it’s been copied and pasted from a Tumblr post. People don’t talk like that in real life. At the very beginning, the author takes great pains for describe Zetian as kind of ugly - the first scene is of her getting her monobrow plucked. She’s tall and chubby, despite her family telling her that she needs to lose the weight to be pretty. But then, later on, she talks about how hot she is. It’s not necessarily un-feminist for a female character to be either ugly or hot. But, uh, how is she both? Just wondering. She’s supposed to be independent, but she gets saved multiple times by men out of nowhere. I thought she could defend herself - so why can’t she? It’s not just Zetian, either; the other female characters are shockingly one-dimensional. Xiuying is a mother character; Qieluo is a bully. Even Zetian’s Big Sister is only described as the obedient, pretty, dead daughter. Here’s a quote that I wrote down because it was so insane: “My pain is solely due to being born a girl [...] But for [Shimin], it’s complicated.” (p. 314). You’re telling me you’re a feminist, and you write this bullshit? Come on!

I think there are some things that Iron Widow does well. The scenes related to sexual assault / harassment are accurate without being unnecessarily descriptive. Zetian’s response to being alone with Shimin - and even having sex for the first time - are an accurate portrayal of PTSD. All three main characters are bisexual and kind of in a polycule with each other, which is one of the departures from a love triangle you can choose. (But I think that the author has no idea of the communication required to maintain a polycule because these three cannot communicate well.) I think that

the planet not being their native planet

is a good concept in general, because you kind of forget the sci-fi elements of the book by that point.

To summarize: I’m bummed that Iron Widow couldn’t maintain itself. I am not inclined to continue the series, and I don’t think I would recommend it to anyone else. In an alternate timeline, the author had enough time to finish editing, and Iron Widow is the next Hunger Games. Alas, we are not in this timeline. 

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

vivelarevolution's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

One of my favorite books I have ever read. I'm obsessed with the characters, the story, the world, the dialogue, everything. I will be re-reading this and I cannot wait to read the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Child abuse

sahayatee's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

findleydunn's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Biphobia and Homophobia

wildflower_magic's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book had me in a chokehold. It is a feminisism ICON. I fell hard for these characters and their mission. The world building is beautifully done and in a way that maintains the flow of the story rather than reading like a text book. I love the magic/chi power/spirit metal system. The main character is a fierce, passionate woman who doesn't just break glass ceilings, she shatters the whole building. I was enthralled with her plans the whole time. The ending is living rent free in my head and I absolutely HAVE to read the second book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gun violence, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Minor: Biphobia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

madalinka's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book had me scratching my head. The ending came out of nowhere. Unless there’s a sequel (which I doubt) this book ended up being just okay. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Genocide, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

otakatoe3's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Abandonment, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

traciereads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, and War

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, and Xenophobia

margaret_k30's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexism, Torture, Violence, Murder, and War

Moderate: Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Genocide, Gore, Homophobia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

bubblebot's review against another edition

adventurous inspiring fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

3RD REREAD LET'S GOOOOOOO!!
heavenly tyrant im waiting for you!!
now time to go read some fanfic hehehehe

will buy when the series is finished. CANT WAIT

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Classism