Reviews tagging 'Homophobia'

Viúva de Ferro by Xiran Jay Zhao

68 reviews

lunalikesbooksss's review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring tense 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? Yes

4.5

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crasscass's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

2.25

Greatly disappointed but I finished the book which means it wasn't so bad.
It was very well pace and the action was usually very clear.
I was really looking forward to a cool Pacific Rim story about feminism and rage. In the end, the MC over explained every single decisions, leaving nothing to be inferred. The love triangle, though good polyamory represetation, was rushed and pointless. At no point did I think that she was in love with either men. The world is filled with plot holes and doesn't always make sense. The dialogue was childish at times, the main character, inconsistent, and the plot, thought well paced, felt very predictable, up to the plot twist at the end.

The female rage aspect wasn't bad per se, but the main character was so busy being an activist and saving all women that the reason why she craves blood, her dead sister, isn't even named.
I did enjoy the decent into madness and becoming the villain though I wish more could have been done with it. I also enjoyed the culture and history woven into the story, particularly the myths.

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silverdawn02's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Worldbuilding was cool, but I didn’t really care much for the characters. They weren’t bad, I just found I didn’t care enough about them to keep reading. The main narrator is very blunt with how she descibes what’s happening and it throws me off sometimes. Though I suppose that’s part of her character, so I can’t fault her there.

There was something introduced the last few pages that was a cool

plot twist

but I don’t care about the story or characters enough to continue the series.

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madmantha's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

What a great book!! I cannot wait for the sequel!

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hearkenheretic's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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kylieabbynormal's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

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mrgattman's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced

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

3.75

The end is extremely rushed.

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squinnittowinit's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny tense fast-paced

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

4.75

A delightful book in every way. Full of drama and emotion, action and intrigue, with powerful characters who will fight tooth and nail to get what they want.

I thought this book did a very good job of immersing the reader in the very real misogyny that Wu Zetian experiences at every turn, but also not wallowing in those feelings. Instead, Zetian fights against the system at every turn and the reader can celebrate with her when she succeeds. Gao Yizhi and Li Shimin are great supporting characters as well, full of their own depth, but without taking away from Zetian's character in any way.

I especially loved how unapologetically bloodthirsty Wu Zetian was, so often the "dangerous woman" main character ends up just being misunderstood, or becomes tamed by love or something, which is just weak character development. Wu Zetian is a dangerous woman, and that never changes.

4.75 stars because some of the most dramatic dialogue moments were just a little too silly for my liking.

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vagabond_bones's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

I couldn’t put it down and read it in less than 24 hours. It is feminist, fierce, raw, choke-full of amazing quotes. Although not reflective per se, it left me deeply in thought about systems of oppression, and the twist ending (which was foreshadowed, yet jaw dropping) only adds to my hunger for more.

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ufollowbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny 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? Yes

4.0

a bit of mary sue fanfic kind of vibe, but in a good way

what a book! traditions from our world intertwined with technology you cannot fathom properly, sprinkled with female rage, political intrigues, surprisingly great romance, and, of course, brilliant writing.

basically, it's "labour" by paris paloma, but in a book form.

i already knew that there's a polyamory done right - it was the main reason i added this book to my tbr in all honesty - as well as disability rep, but damn! it was amazing and seeing a badass wheelchair user made my heart go "wheee" 🫶🏻

it's definitely a very fast paced book, and an intense one, too. a lot of violence happening, but it never is just for the sake if violence, as it often happens with male-written fantasy. and yes, it felt much more like fantasy to me than as sci-fi, though there are element of it for sure. maybe because sci-fi to me is more about space and aliens, and there are little of that! 😅

the ending felt a but rushed, and i can actually understand the motivation behind the way things end. discussing the ending in detail and with spoilers:

yes it's not very thought through and a lot of decisions are made here and now, but that's how the whole book is! Zetian is young, and emotional (in the best way possible!), and she has a lot of power for literally the first time in her life. she doesn't play the nuanced game, she never did - she comes in hot and does things the way she sees fit, without compromises. taking over control of the golden dragon and planning to overtake the country is very much in her character, so you're either ok with it or not. can't wait to read the second book to see how it all will be addressed!

the romance is... well. it's m/f/m triangle, but the proper one, where everyone is queer. gender identity is also mentioned, but the book did felt a bit too cis and straight to me, with only the main throuple being part of the lgbtq+ community. it didn't worsen the story, but looking back it was, indeed, a bit odd. on the other side, this also highlights once again that Zetian is different from people around her - and her partners are, too. overall, the romance is a pretty big part of the storyline.

❗️ beware, there will be a second book, and the story ends on a BIG cliffhanger! so if you're not ready to commit to thus - wait until 30th of april, 2024, when "Heavenly Tyrant" comes out.

to summarise, a great book, which i can definitely recommend to those who like intense, fast-paced fantasy with elements of sci-fi and historical basis

8/10 ⭐️

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