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A review by analenegrace
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I went into this with high hopes because of the hype it's gotten, and perhaps that's why I didn't like it as much as I hoped I would.
It felt like too much telling and not showing, and almost all of the characters felt one-dimensional, including our narrator, whose inner dialogue was at times confusing and was expressing a type of feminism that is incredibly one-dimensional.
The "plot twist" at the end felt obvious to me as I've seen it in many other novels of this type, but I am interested in reading the sequel to see how the author ends the story they've created here.
I appreciated the polyam relationship and am also looking forward to seeing what the author does with their relationship in the second book.
It felt like too much telling and not showing, and almost all of the characters felt one-dimensional, including our narrator, whose inner dialogue was at times confusing and was expressing a type of feminism that is incredibly one-dimensional.
The "plot twist" at the end felt obvious to me as I've seen it in many other novels of this type, but I am interested in reading the sequel to see how the author ends the story they've created here.
I appreciated the polyam relationship and am also looking forward to seeing what the author does with their relationship in the second book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism