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astressedmarshmallow's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Xenophobia, Vomit, Kidnapping, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, and War
Moderate: Rape, Suicide attempt, and Injury/Injury detail
respheal's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
As a person in a healthy poly relationship, seeing that sort of relationship in media is lovely. Even when 1/3 is the delightful boyfriend who greets the other 2/3s with baked goods when they're done torturing a man to death. I was a little worried towards the end, before the Sequel Hook dropped. Disappointment turned immediately into deep concern. With the sequel hook came confirmation of many theories I had, which is always a good sign—a cohesive narrative rewards theorizing.
Overall, recommended. I'm still reeling.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Gaslighting, and Classism
Minor: Bullying, Confinement, Rape, Cannibalism, and Pregnancy
rensreading's review against another edition
- 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
first of all, when people say this is feminist rage, they should also mention its not the modern-day feminism we’re used to and that the beginning is riddled with inner misogyny as well. it gets better and definitely resembles something more like modern-day feminism at the end but i still would have liked more elaborate reviews on that angle before reading.
wu zetian is bloodthirsty and i love it. she’s suicidal in the beginning, willing to risk everything to avenge her older sister and shed light on the unspoken horrors of the piloting system. i love that. what i didn’t really love was how much misogyny she had absorbed without even realizing it. she judged other women who were grasping at the only hope their society had shoved down their throats since birth and believed herself better because she rebelled against it all. “im not like other girls, i fight back” vibes. she ends up maturing and realizing women are not the ones solely to blame when it comes to their assimilation to the misogynistic society they’re forced to live in. yes their actions are their own, but zetian recognizes that the behavior and thought process are learned, just the same way she learned. the difference is she decided early on to fight back against it, no matter what it cost.
gao yizhi. oh, yizhi. the fifth child out of twenty-seven of one of the most powerful and disgusting men of chang’an. he definitely isn’t all sunshine and rainbows or the boy next door he projects himself to be. he’s bloodthirsty when needed, especially when it comes to his people. i think he’s the type who doesn’t like getting their hands dirty but absolutely will when push comes to shove. or when he’s lost one part of his soul and the other part is now being threatened by the man who (probably) forced himself on his mother then killed her later. i expected him to be the one to kill his father for sure. if it wasn’t zetian, it was going to be him. for a moment, i did think he would try and appease his father and leave zetian behind—they had just lost shimin after all—but yizhi surprised me. he surprised everyone. killed his father and forced everyone to recognize zetian as empress after they both lost a big part of their hearts. gods. he obviously has a mysterious past and definitely did questionable things for his dad, but im willing to wait and see about it. i doubt it would be enough to make me dislike him though. i think the only thing that caught me off-guard about yizhi was how kind he could be when his father was a piece of flaming shit.
last, but definitely not least, li shimin. the tortured, murderous man with an incredible amount of spiritual power. the man zetian is being forced to “marry” so to speak. a man addicted to alcohol who has lost a true match before and turned to the bottle to forget his grief for her and the other countless girls the army has forced him to kill. shimin, a young boy who used his strength and his body to pay for an expensive and prestigious school to further his education and ruined his eyesight in the process. a boy who studied under the dim lights of a fighting ring every night just so he wouldn’t fall academically behind. shimin, a man who killed rapists, his brothers, his father, and his family for the only person who ever bothered being kind to him. who let himself open his heart to a girl he was told was his match, not knowing those same people who put them together were dooming her. a man who was tortured into fighting again, forced to develop an addiction to alcohol and only fighting against it after meeting the one woman who could change everything. the one city boy who never found him lacking and fought him to get better. shimin who watched zetian and yizhi, knowing they loved each other and tried his best not to let it get to his head because the situation wasn’t any fault of theirs, nor his. the same shimin who laid himself on the wire so his loves could survive. i cried when he hit 0. i didnt want to believe it but i didn’t start hoping he was alive until that confirmation in the epilogue.
and gods, that epilogue. it makes so much sense that the hunduns were the indigenous people of the planet and not the humans. i had a feeling nothing was what it was cracked up to be and was proven right. the story was amazing either way though. plot twists were kind of obvious but i still liked watching them unfold. the cliffhanger though? that’s just a personal thing for me to be annoyed about it. realistically this is a 5 star rating but i have to bump it down to 4.75 for the cliffhanger alone.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Sexual violence
Minor: Rape
content warnings for this book include: violence, suicide ideation, alcoholism, torture, referenced sexual assault, child abuse, bound feet, mutilation, body horror, murder, death, domestic violence, gaslighting, sexism, and misogynytinyjude's review against another edition
- 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
4.5
She is definitely a character partly defined by her anger and defiance to the system. Patriarchy is lenthly tackled and criticized in this world. Even though she has her "I am not like the other girls" slightly annoying moments, she is an incredible character. I hope she is able to find and befriend many other women like her, which is what this book lacked (a lot, I dare say for a feminist book, but nothing that a sequel cannot fix). Kind of wishing she befriends now the other bitchy female pilote, I want some enemies to friends. I think they both could be fcking neat. Also, I think it would have also been good to add a few scenes with her sister in order to get a better idea of how she was, so that we care deeply about her.
I loved the worldbuilding but, most of all, A POLY RELATIONSHIP FULL OF CHAOTIC BISEXUAL PEOPLE. LETS GOOOOOO. Yizhi being the lawfully good boyfriend who makes a snack for his murderous girlfriend and boyfriend... oh, I love them. I hope we get a lot more cute and domestic scenes between them and, ehem, Zetian said she can also be attracted to women so... GIVE HER A GIRLFRIEND IN THE NEXT BOOK I BEG
Anyway, morally grey characters, a lot of murder and torture, chinese history mixed with modern technology, criticism about patriarchy and a poly relationship, very good food :)
Graphic: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Sexism, Torture, Trafficking, and War
Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment
solarel's review against another edition
- 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
4.0
Is it healthy? Probably not. Was it so so satisfying? Hell yes.
I feel like this is what men must feel like after watching those war movies or something. God it feels powerful to read of Zeitan’s rise.
That being said: I wish this was an adult book, not YA. It had potential to be more and go deeper. The romance line could have carried more weight if they had the ability to flesh it out more, beyond the YA label. Also the “girl” and “boy” phrasing felt juvenile. You’re 18 now, time to stop calling yourself a girl exclusively. And a man in his early 20s is not a boy. It was the only part I disliked.
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Biphobia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Trafficking, and Sexual harassment
jessicax941's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Bullying, Cursing, Misogyny, Violence, and War
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Genocide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Murder
Minor: Rape and Sexual assault
its_van_vulpen's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Death, Gore, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, Colonisation, and War
antonique_reads's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and War
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Suicide attempt
amccarthy's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Suicide attempt, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail
lolajh's review against another edition
- 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
5.0
Honestly the best development I’ve seen of a heroine becoming an anti heroine. Zetian, a morally grey Chinese disabled woman rebels against her patriarchal society, having to prove her power throughly due to being a woman and doing it FLAWLESSLY whilst criticising the patriarchal and misogynistic society that also exists in the real world. Zetian proves to be so much more powerful than any man, as
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical trauma, Suicide attempt, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, and Injury/Injury detail