Reviews with content warning for Blood - Rache im Herzen

Shit, I really really enjoyed this! Zetian is an amazing main character, even tho it all gets really dark, especially towards the end. I really understand her though, and her struggles make her actions understandable af. I really liked the fight descriptions, I could totally imagine the Pacific rim like battles and it was really exciting. I can only imagine the feeling of power it gives a young woman like her to pilot such a robot

and the devastation when she finds out that her and many other girls were kept at an intentional disadvantage for hundreds of years and killed because of it just for the men to keep their ego. No wonder she kills all the men in power she can ... Queen shit honestly. Or empress shit? Mh.

Anyway! I watched the authors YouTube channel before the book came out and I know I'm late to the party on this book as it's been on my shelf for some time but I really enjoyed their writing and I can't wait for the sequel next year!!

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kbairbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

CHILLS. The rage, the revenge, the sit down little boy and let me handle it. Everything. I have been waiting for a book like this my whole life. I absolutely loved it. I want to reread it this instant. Absolutely stunning and I CANNOT WAIT FOR BOOK TWO.

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sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-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

5.0

This is like a Pacific Rim fanfic, but it's really good! 20 minutes after I finished it, I'm still thinking about the ending and I'm really excited for the sequel.

So in this book there are these monsters that attack the cities that the main character Zetian lives in and around, and these male celebrities with their female concubine partners get in giant animal shaped robots and they fight these monsters. The woman often die after going into battle so there's always a need for female concubine pilots. The main character has a big sister who was sacrificed in battle as a concubine pilot and she wants revenge. Her plan is to get chosen to pilot along side the man responsible for her sister's death.

Okay, so I really love how the

love triangle was handled, and as a polyamorous person, I'm so happy to see polyam representation in this book. This is the first time I've read a book where the author decides to make a trio out of the "love triangle" and it works perfectly!

I liked how much action there was and I loved how the action scenes played out, it was like I could imagine the scenes in my head while I listened to the audiobook.

I really loved the twists and turns in the book and I'm so happy that I didn't get anything spoiled for me, because those surprises were worth the wait.

Does Zetian fall under the "evil cripple" trope that is apart of the "magical disabled persons" trope? I don't think so, I don't think Zetian is evil, though I think she's emotionally evolving. I think her character walks the line of the "evil cripple" trope though, so I could easily see how some people think she falls under that trope.

<blockquote>"Typically, the disabled characters are limited to four types: the “magical cripple,” the “evil cripple,” the “inspirational cripple” and the “redemptive cripple.” An Evil Cripple is a villain or generally morally perturbed character who also suffers a debilitating physical condition, often taking the form of paralysis requiring the use of a wheelchair. The Evil Cripple doubles as the Genius Cripple a lot, providing an intellectual threat to compensate for their physical frailty. Alternatively, the Evil Cripple can become a physical threat if they use futuristic enhancements to overcome their disability, such as replacing missing or defective limbs with super-strong Powered Armor or cybernetic parts."

- tvtropes.org</blockquote>

Overall, this was a really good book and I enjoyed it very much. I'm giving this
5 out of 5 stars.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

libbyapp.com

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thenoboshow's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny sad 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? It's complicated

4.5

A coming of age story in a dystopia hellscape where that means teens climb into body operated giant mechs to protect the country from "invading forces". Female rage in a society that treats women as disposable. Action was well written and dialogue was witty when it was meant to be.

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taisgrim's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad 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? It's complicated

3.75

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matturay's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark 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

5.0

I don't usually read sci-fi, but this book grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go.

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toy_masterpiece's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense fast-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

5.0

⭐🎧Audiobook Listener🎧⭐

What. A. Book.

It is angry girl hours everyone. This book is a masterclass in saying the quiet part out loud: Love is not a finite resource. A system that hates women also hates men.

The system is literally rigged and we should talk about it. Also you don't owe anything to people who don't respect you, even if "they're family".

I don't know how I'll be able to go back to other fantasy worlds when this one was so intricate. I don't know how I'll go back to other romantic subplots when this one is so much of what I have always wanted from a romantic subplot.

I at first had a hard time getting along with Xetian but it was just a classic case of relating to the point of disliking the parts of her that I see in myself.

Rong Fu truly brought this text to life with her reading. It was emotional, blunt, and engaging at all the right parts.

This book has quickly become one of my all time favorites.

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tifftastic87's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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

4.5

Wu Zetian is born low in the caste system, she is "just a frontier girl," and thus has two options in life: get sold as a bride or sold as a concubine to a mech pilot. Ignoring her family's pressure for years, she finally agrees to become a concubine, but only to avenge her fallen sister. Killing the first pilot she's paired with, and avenging her sister gets her paired with the most violent pilot in the military. Li Shimmin is known for having no surviving female pilots, and as her punishment she will be condemned to serve with him. Zetian will not be sacrificed and attempts to use Shimmin to topple the violent and patriarchal system that has wronged her and every other woman in Huaxia.

Iron Widow is a truly YA book that focuses on the themes of gender, race, and power. I feel a bit uncomfortable with the reviews that refer to this as a feminist story and the reviews that are harsh because of how they view the feminism in the book as not portrayed correctly. I don't think this is feminism, this is a woman fighting back against the powers that have been suppressing her and everyone like her. In a way that could be feminism, but it isn't modern feminism - at least from a white American perspective. Currently, we (white American women) are not being violently oppressed, we are not literally sacrificed in war for the success of men, we are not forcibly maimed for the male gaze. If we were, violent feminism would be the answer. Radical, systemic change does not happen through peace. It never has. Wu Zetian is not a feminist hero, she's an antihero.

That being said, I do feel like she is going through similar stages of feminism that many of my age range went through. Rage when she realizes her culture is being used to oppress and silence her, that male violence is used as control to make women passive wives and daughters, that she will never be anything that her husband does not want her to be. She starts off as the “how dare you open my door” type of woman, but as she meets more men she learns that what she was told is not always true. Just as women are multilayered, men are and not all of them are out to control her and use her body for their pleasure. She has a moment where she asks herself after a severe injury:

Can I really call myself a strong girl if I’m relying on two boys?

Which is something everyone of us who has gone through that phase of “I’m a strong woman” has asked. Can we still be strong while relying on others? Can we truly be for empowering women if we let men do things for us? Is this bringing down the movement? All you have to do to see that this is a stage of young women coming up to realize what the world is like is to look at the comments of any woman creator on TikTok or YouTube. If a woman is talking positively about a man the comments will be full of things like this.

As Zetian comes into her own, her anger starts to be placed in the correct directions. We go from just hate radiating through her pores to be aimed at targets within the systems of oppression. She goes from just a rage machine to very Arya Stark, with a kill list to avenge those important to her. The male characters are there to prop her up and are not the stars of the story, but they too go through some growth, especially Shimmin.

I like to think of this story as told through Zetian’s perspective, especially because it is told in first person limited. That makes her a bit of an unreliable narrator as everything will include her bias. That could explain some of the ways the other characters talk and their perceived reactions to things. I think it is really important to always consider the point of view the author takes when telling a story, and Xiran really uses Zetian’s voice very strongly. There was so much of the story that my inner damaged teenage girl ached with reading. Talk of shame and manipulation and what it means to be strong.

People who refuse to break under any number of harsh strikes and any amount of loud words, but crumple as soon as someone touches us gently or speaks to us softly.

Was a line that got me particularly, in the feels as my elder millennial self would say. I could feel that person I used to be, who felt shame at being a woman, who didn’t trust any other women and thought they all disliked me. That girl who didn’t trust men because I was told for all of my life that they wanted nothing more from me than sex. Some parts of this may have felt immature to many reviewers, but I genuinely believe that is done on purpose and serves a purpose.

That being said, some of the writing style was a little off putting to me. It did feel very millennial in the language used, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but there would be some really pretty prose followed up by something harsh and it felt a little jarring.

Ex:

Each tap feels more scandalous than being alone with him on a frontier mountain, shrouded by greenery and spring heat, breathing the same thick eddies of earthy, intoxicating air. My village elders say girls shouldn’t touch these heavenly devices, because we would desecrate them with, I don’t know, our wicked femaleness or something.

But not enough to take me out of the story. The descriptions were clear and I could understand what was happening. The pacing was really good as well. It was just some of the dialogue could have been better.

I will certainly be reading the next book and am looking forward to reading more of Xiran’s work. They are an author I think I will continue to enjoy.

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