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A review by ritangomes
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
fast-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
3.0
This is the book that got me thinking that maybe I'm getting too old for YA. But then I realized it was actually the premise of the book which didn't work well with the genre. It needed more depth, more nuance. I'm a raging feminist, but 90% of the time I was thinking "I really dislike this girl". I'm sad because the ideas behind the book are quite original and would be fun to read about if the characters were more nuanced.
At some point the MC verbally and psychologically abuses one of the romantic interests. By the end of the book, upon his death and after learning about the atrocious abuse he suffered, she seems to express remorse... Just so that, two sentences after, she shrugs it off as "he wouldn't want me to feel like this".
There seems to be an intention of introducing nuance in the MC's relationship with her female relatives, but it also falls through the cracks very quickly and at the end she ends up killing them without regret.
The weirder thing is that through it all we are supposed to believe this woman is right all the time. And sure, she's right a lot - her anger towards the patriarchal society is totally justified, even if the oppressive system feels, again, heavy handed -, but her complete lack of empathy should not be something to root for. The author uses the two love interests as contrapoints to this, but to barely any character growth from the MC.
The 3* rating is mostly due to the premise of the book being super interesting. And it's not a bad book, it just could be much, much better.
There seems to be an intention of introducing nuance in the MC's relationship with her female relatives, but it also falls through the cracks very quickly and at the end she ends up killing them without regret.
The weirder thing is that through it all we are supposed to believe this woman is right all the time. And sure, she's right a lot - her anger towards the patriarchal society is totally justified, even if the oppressive system feels, again, heavy handed -, but her complete lack of empathy should not be something to root for. The author uses the two love interests as contrapoints to this, but to barely any character growth from the MC.
The 3* rating is mostly due to the premise of the book being super interesting. And it's not a bad book, it just could be much, much better.