Reviews with content warning for Gaslighting - Iron Widow

shockingly bad. this book was so bad. terrible pacing, cheesy metaphors, i can’t count how many times the phrase “a scream suffocated in my throat” was said. like, what? only redeeming quality was the

love triangle into poly couple

and even that is so clunky. literally every time there was a “plot twist” my first thought was “hmmm was i supposed to think this was an impossible task??? i just learned about its existence soooo???”. also maybe if the author wanted to write about sexism/misogyny they should have done a little research into the actual systems of oppression and power and the way they function in society instead of just making a laughably evil world where women are murdered wholesale for ostensibly no good reason and with no repercussions. idk it just kinda delegitimizes the whole argument, i felt like this was a book written by a trad fem to satirize feminism, especially when it got to the weirdly gendered relationship roles the main character happily puts herself into. anyway I wasn’t planning on dunking on this book for that long but seriously this was so bad. also i still can’t get over

when the main characters waterboarded and murdered that guy and felt literally nothing about it lmaoooo like i’m all for morally grey characters but that shit was kinda hilariously evil

. anywayyyy i wish i never read this book, though it did give me something fun to complain about with my friends

Content Warnings

ender24's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

DAMN.

Content Warnings

ajhling's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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

This book is not just gold tier, but platinum tier. It's such a great book that I have technically brought two copies of - the paperback (which I brought first) and the audio (which I brought so I can listen while driving or playing video games). I have all intentions of buying an E-Book version in the near future so I'll always have a copy on hand.

This book has characters that are mostly grey at best, and down right evil at worst. Our protagonist is a ball of rage and is someone who would be seen as the villain in many works of fiction. I love it. Even her romantic partners are on the verge of being villains in other works of fiction.

My favourite part besides the plot and our protagonist and her romantic partners, and the world as a whole?

The fact that there's no explicit sex scenes which have impregnated the publishing industry these days. Meaning you have a book that treats its readers like the older teens and adults that we are without having to worry about sex scenes because it's aimed towards an older teen, recent high school graduate age range, which apparently means sex most be included un the eyes of modern publishers.

I'm so hoping that the lack of explicit sex scenes continues onto the next book/s in the series (though even if they were present I'd still buy/read them anyway).

Content Warnings

miggyfool's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Content Warnings

sophieweirather2007's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Just because you have the capacity to do something for someone, it doesn't mean you have the obligation to, especially when they won't even appreciate you for doing it.

- Qieluo -

What was that!? Befor reading this, you really should read the trigger warnings. It's really not an easy and lightheaded story. Not at all. But it was soo good and a lot of important topics were covered. It's a very feminist book and is packed with a lot of action. I wasn't prepared for the plot twists and the end was intense!

In some parts I really felt uncomfortable to read it. I heard about this book especially because of it's queer popularity, but this part, I really missed. I thought there would be more about that. I would've liked, to find out more about the world. Also more about the enemy and their culture. With the main-characters I needed some time to conact with them.

But know I'm astonished how complex the characters are, how morally grey. You cannot really say, that they are the good guys. No one is in that world. And that's just great. I adore Zetian, Shimin and Yizhi. I love Zetian, the main Main-character, because she is a feminist badass who gets want she wants. As she should ❤️.

Content Warnings