Reviews with content warning for Medical trauma - Iron Widow

Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

90 reviews

katie0528's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? No

4.75

I couldn't put this book down! A blending of Chinese history/mythology with Voltron and Hunger Games style sci-fi elements led to a really unique story that still felt familiar to Western sci-fi fans. In a futuristic world bombarded by aliens known as Hundens, male/female pairs pilot giant mechs called Chrisalises. However, the females are concubines to their male counterparts in every sense, including using their life force to power the mechs. After Zetian's sister died as a pilot's concubine, she volunteers to become one as well to enact her revenge. She quickly becomes a powerful pilot in her own right, as an Iron Widow, and decides to enact revenge on the system that sees women as nothing more than objects.

Content Warnings

juan_adhd_reading's review against another edition

Go to review page

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!!!

Content Warnings

madalinka's review against another edition

Go to review page

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.

Content Warnings

mandieroz's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

This book starts out a little slow. The main character can be whiney and really annoying to follow when she's clearly ignoring things happening around her. Zeitan wants very much to believe that everyone should just believe what she wants them too, while simultaneously wanting to buck a 200+ year old system. Which is a haunting task in itself, but to try and do so with absolutely no help and no support is ridiculous even for a strong headed, passionate, killing machine (literally). She eventually does start to open her eyes to the society she's stuck in and learns to work around it...only to windup in a new hell towards the end. Overarchingly, I really enjoyed the book I will definitely read the next one because I'm invested in knowing what happens next. Not 5 stars, but it's right there, I'm here for it.

Content Warnings