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A review by ali_k0
Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao
This book is enrapturing. It is terrifying. It is a car crash you can't help but watch and a murder that freezes your blood while you cheer for the murderer. I would say I couldn't put it down, but that's untrue. I threw it on my couch and ran laps around my house from the adrenaline it caused me. I was screaming in the drive through for in-n-out beside my mom. I was reading every word between the fingers I covered my eyes with and pausing for breaths at every turned page. I was scared to start every chapter for fear of what lied before me. This was the most stressful inducing book with some of the most complex characters I ever read.
But I was also cheering, whooping with joy, crying from relief. I swooned at certain romantic lines (even when I was aware I *really* should not be, but Wu Zetian the women you ARE) and reveled at the characters vengeance.
The author stings along your hopes, crushing them in one hand while reviving them in the other. They twist your view of the world in so many knots your as unsure of every step as the characters. It was thrilling.
I hadn't realized how much I've missed books that make me feel this way until I read Heavenly Tyrant. They are rare and brilliant and this is at the height of them. We had to wait a long time for the sequel to Iron Widow because of the industry, but this book is a testament to how good things are worth waiting for, and how revolution relies not just on violence, but the voices of artists to carry it.
But I was also cheering, whooping with joy, crying from relief. I swooned at certain romantic lines (even when I was aware I *really* should not be, but Wu Zetian the women you ARE) and reveled at the characters vengeance.
The author stings along your hopes, crushing them in one hand while reviving them in the other. They twist your view of the world in so many knots your as unsure of every step as the characters. It was thrilling.
I hadn't realized how much I've missed books that make me feel this way until I read Heavenly Tyrant. They are rare and brilliant and this is at the height of them. We had to wait a long time for the sequel to Iron Widow because of the industry, but this book is a testament to how good things are worth waiting for, and how revolution relies not just on violence, but the voices of artists to carry it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Colonisation, War, and Classism
Moderate: Genocide, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Vomit, Trafficking, Death of parent, and Gaslighting
Minor: Miscarriage and Terminal illness
The authors own included Note on content warnings:
"Please beware that this book contains violence and abuse, body horror, mass murder, toxic relationship dynamics, discussions of reproductive coercion, allusions to childhood sexual abuse, and references to mis- carriage, domestic violence, sexual assault, and suicide.
Although inspired by figures and events from across Chinese history, this book is not historical fiction, historical fantasy, or alternate history, but a futuristic story set in a science-fiction world entirely different from our own in the way that many sci-fi stories riff off of the Roman Empire. Historical figures are reimagined for the purpose of exploring the spirit they represented rather than accurately depicting their origi- nal life circumstances and upbringings. This book should not be taken as an educational guide in any way. To get an authentic view of history, please consult nonfiction sources.
The fictionalized characters in this novel make many morally ques- tionable choices in the conditions unique to their world. Depictions do not equate to endorsement in real life, and parallels to reality should not be drawn without considering the impacts of the existence of fantasy plot devices such as Chrysalises." -Xiran Jay Zhao