Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Viúva de Ferro

Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Viúva de Ferro by Xiran Jay Zhao

1091 reviews

hellavaral's review against another edition

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3.25

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clovetra's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny tense fast-paced

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

5.0

XIRAN JAY ZHAO THE GENIUS YOU ARE.

i have no clue why i didn’t read this earlier but boy did i love this book!!!!!!

disabled rep in the form of both zetian & shimin? check. feminine rage? check. great dialogue? check. world building that makes sense? check. a love triangle that doesn’t feel forced and is resolved in an interesting way? check. loveable anti-hero as a protag? check. grungy elements that make this YA book feel like it’s pushing the boundaries of YA fantasy? check. check check checkkkkkkk

god i loved zetian. honestly she’s up there as one of my fav protags from literature. i always love a female protagonist who pushes against society’s rules and transcends beyond what is expected of her. plus she felt so rational, and i love that her character development wasn’t focused on her letting go of her rage!!!!! let women be angry and murder lots of men (in fictional books)!!!!!! i really enjoyed the plot and all its progressions and developments. the action scenes felt so real, and although i found it really hard to picture things such as the chrysalises & spirit armour…. i was having way too much fun to let the fact i didn’t have a super clear picture affect my experience reading this.

i’m not a fan of love triangles tbh and they fucking piss me off but the way this one was handled….. chefs kiss. yet again XIRAN JAY ZHAO YOUR MIND. i wish the “resolution” of the love triangle (iykyk) was a bit more fleshed out and had time to breathe before the ending, and i hate when books are such a clear set up to a sequel. babes give me some form of resolution my god!!!!!!! but honestly with how much fun i had i can’t really complain, but i imagine those who read this when it first released would be fuming about the ending. it felt rushed. defo didn’t feel like it came out of nowhere but….. idk it felt Too Fantastical. the ending defo follows zetian’s established personality and motivations, but it feels like it.. wouldn’t be possible in universe. possible as in… yeah that could happen logistically…. but in reality would it be able to work? idk.

but god this book literally scratches every itch i love in a book.

in less than 400 pages, xiran jay zhao has cemented themselves as one of my favourite authors. plus they get bonus points for being a fellow nonbinary baddie. cant wait to see what chaos zetian causes in the next book 😼

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juan_adhd_reading's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense 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? Yes

4.5

Listen, I'm not gonna pretend that this book doesn't have its flaws, particularly regarding prose, dialogue, and world-building. Yeah, it can sometimes feel a bit underdeveloped or even juvenile (I think it could've benefited greatly from being written for adult audiences instead of YA). But at the end of the day I do NOT care, because this book was insanely fun!!! It's an action-packed revenge story that blurs the line between sci-fi and fantasy with magically controlled giant mecha suits fighting against aliens. It basically feels like reading anime. The protagonist, Wu Zetian, starts as a morally grey femme fatale type of character who plots to avenge the murder of her big sister, and throughout the story, we can see her descent into a fully unhinged tyrannical villain. I LOVED IT!!!

There is a plot twist at the very end of the book that completely redefines the events of the story, and some might feel like it came out of nowhere, but I believe there are some clues scattered throughout the book that actually foreshadow it. We know that the war is not what it seems, because the army has been lying about everything from the very beginning, from the accuracy of Spirit Pressure testing, to why women are always placed in the Yin seat instead of men.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story, even if it took me a little time to get into it. I CANNOT WAIT for the sequel!!!

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latsin's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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pipe_dream's review against another edition

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adventurous dark fast-paced

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

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lapraslassie's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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jclymer's review against another edition

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dark fast-paced

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

4.0

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simsplayer30's review against another edition

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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

5.0

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wildflower_magic's review against another edition

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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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ruisquared's review against another edition

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adventurous tense fast-paced

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

1.5

so to preface, i was quite excited to read this book - i've seen some of xiran's stuff online, and being chinese myself i was intrigued by this concept. that being said, i knew going into this that this book wasn't really for me. 'iron widow' is a blend of YA dystopia, fantasy and sci-fi, all genres that aren't particularly appealing to me. for the target audience i think this book fulfils everything it should - it's accessible for readers of every level, action-filled and fast pace.

my personal gripes can generally be put down to a matter of taste and not being part of the target demographic, but that being said i didn't particularly love this book. the pacing, for one; while fast and suited to the constant action and plot development, i couldn't help but feel that it gave very little in terms of worldbuilding or character development.

for the former, details of this futuristic world are given in exposition as the plot demands. while i much, much prefer this approach over that of lengthy infodumps, it gave the world of huaxia a very skewed, half-finished feeling. the anachronisms themselves didn't bother me so much as the lack of explanation surrounding them - if the qing dynasty practices of the mc's village can coexist with drones and tablets apparently issued by the government, how far does technology stretch in this world? if people are plagued by "media" then how far does the internet exist? if at all? and how do the village folk even know how to operate tablets??? is everyone born an innate ipad kid without needing any instructions or literacy??????

of course, being fair, this is sci-fi. i get why there isn't an explanation for any of this, as it certainly wouldn't benefit the plot or the pacing. but it would be nice to at least see a better thought out world, especially as the concept is so fascinating - a post-apocalyptic society with divinely granted futuristic technology could make for a much more vivid backdrop than the mishmash that is convenient for plot purposes in the story.

for the latter, i have to say that i found none of the characters particularly fleshed out. wu zetian is the worst culprit of this - after the prologue i was surprised that this book was told from first person POV, and as i carried on i felt that zetian's narration gave the reader scarcely anything in terms of showing her motivations or personality beyond "righteous fury badass". in the early half this was especially bad, so much that reading her thirst for vengeance felt like sasuke's essence distilled - why does she want to avenge her sister so badly??? the rest of her family is abusive and neglectful so was her sister any different????? if she was, WHY was it never shown??? never even alluded to?????

the writing also at points descends into the cringe (as much as i hate to use that word). the end of every chapter seems to have a sentence specifically written to become a quote, and because this novel is supposedly from zetian's perspective, is the reader meant to believe these are her thoughts???? even though i don't disagree with the sentiment, the execution comes across as heavy handed.

the other characters don't get off much better. yizhi is two-dimensional and shimin not much better, although at least his background is expanded upon. the romance, too, isn't really given enough time to develop organically, especially between yizhi and shimin. the lack of 'good' female characters apart from zetian also is disappointing for a story so centred around women in general, and although mention is made of girls and women just like zetian they are nowhere to be seen.

all in all, i think this book is good for what it sets out to be. a more developed world and more developed characters would slow down the breakneck pace of this book, making it less YA fiction, but even though i understand why it still seems like a shame.

(i wanted to make a dynasty warriors joke about the assortment of historical chinese figures, but couldn't figure out how to fit it in. so just imagine that i made one. thanks.)

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