A review by grace_reads49
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

This one wasn't for me. I liked how fast paced it was, but it felt like the fast pace was at the expense of the secondary characters. Our main character is good, and I feel like I understand her and her choices pretty well. I can't say the same about either of the men. I didn't quite understand what the loved about her, and I really didn't understand why they chose to love each other.

There were also parts of the plot that felt a little hodge-podge -- which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it just wasn't my favorite. It felt like how I would play with really cool toys, throwing them at each other, giving the characters singular traits and vague backstories: everybody is mean and evil, even the main characters, isn't this edgy and cool? And there were some parts that were interesting and skimming an idea of depth, like the main character's feelings about her family or her disability. But, again, a lot of that fell to the wayside so we could have mech-battles.

Honestly, it was just alright. If you enjoy really good action scenes with paper-thin motives, this will legitimately be a good read. I'd still consider reading more from Xiran Jay Zhao, but probably not more of this particular series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism and Sexual violence

There is lots of mech-battling, a good amount of injury, and some on page death. One of the characters is alcoholic. Battles using the mech-suits are performed by a man and woman, sometimes with the man sexually assaulting the woman. There's no on-page occurrence (unless I'm mistaken), but the main character thinks about it happening to her. There's also a point where she is asked to remove her clothes and be videoed for blackmail purposes. Again, not on page, and the main character decides it isn't truly a threat to her sense of self but be warned.