A review by pastelhxrmony
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Picked this up because I watch Xiran Ray Zhao on YouTube. It took me a little bit to get through this. I don’t think this book is very bad but it’s not the best either

Things I liked
  • Loved the concept and story
  • Female rage
  • Insane ending with a great plot twist
  • I don’t know if I’ve read anything that made me feel so many emotions so strongly at once
  • Second half

Things I didn’t like
  • Poor writing; the writing is a big reason it took me so long to get through this book. The writing felt a bit childish at times and a little odd
  • I can tell the themes the author wanted to convey but again, because of poor writing, the execution didn’t quite make the landing
  • First half was kinda difficult to get through but things picked up in the second half

Most of my gripes stem from poor writing choices so I won’t list off everything. It’s also hard to remember some of the early parts because it had been a few months since I had started reading. I will most likely read Heavenly Tyrant when it comes out and I hope improvements can be made
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