Iron Widow

I hadn’t read a book in many years and so this is the first one to get back into reading and, might I say, was a great choice and great read! I love the world building, the characters, the plot and how you are gets so attached to this world like as though you are a part of it. The only things I would say I have an issue with was, I personally has a love/hate relationship with the main character, Wu Zetian. Sometimes I liked her sometimes I didn’t. I don’t know if the author wanted us to hate her at times for the decisions she’s makes. But I know for a fact I loved the side characters a lot (Yizhi & Shimin) The other thing is, that I felt that the relationships were rushed and the ending was a bit rushed as well. I think because a lot of the book was about world building, the author could used some of those parts to develop the relationships more. The ending was very interesting. There should definitely have a sequel to this book as the ending was open. So we’ll see. If they do make a sequel, I’m definitely reading it!

I have read over 68 books this year per my kindle reading stats and until this book I didn't feel compelled to underline or highlight more than a single sentence in any of them. I've highlighted so much of this book. I couldn't put this down and read it in one sitting. Mx Zhao has a beautiful writing style. All their characters feel like full people. Zetian's inner struggle and cruel decisions are wonderfully detailed. She's a full person from her first line and unlike other protagonists I've read who are described as cruel or cold, she actually does do borderline unforgivable things. The world building is excellent, it really is. Huaxia is honestly the best dystopia I've encountered. Each level of cruelty (and there are many) makes sense within the systems that govern it. I don't want to spoil the plot more than the summary but I do want to say that I'm emotionally devastated and very impatient for the next book. I'm actually very upset and I cannot wait to cry more in the next book.

Holy mother of swear words! This book was absolutely jaw dropping in it's scope and intensity. I absolutely loved it. Can't say enough good things about. The love trinity/triangle thingy isn't weird and it isn't forced. It's sweet and natural and really well written and not in any way x-rated. The 3 main characters are fairly well written with interesting personalities but I do wosh ee could get more to the meat of their backgrounds. Really loved it.

This is girl power taken to new heights - everything you ever wanted a powerful woman to do, and more - resisting all the tropes that have ever been said to lay women low. It’s got polyamory, bisexuality, a gay, straight triangle…. And a woman feeling her own power and not afraid to use it. The world building and plot are beautifully delivered and the language is truly outstanding - I downloaded this moths ago and decided it was ‘too worthy’ to read which was a huge mistake. I’ve just stayed up way beyond sane bed time to finish it. Well, well worth a read.

Huaxia has a problem. Mecha aliens lurk beyond its Great Wall, and it must send its youth to battle them in giant mecha robots called Chrysalises. The Chrysalises are piloted by two pilots, one boy, one girl, and for some reason, the girls don't always return home alive. It requires intense mental energy to be a pilot, but that doesn't dissuade Zetian, who wants to be a pilot so she can get revenge on the male pilot who killed her sister. She gets her wish, and when she strangles the life from him with her mind while they're in the cockpit, she's branded as an Iron Widow, a girl pilot who's turned the tables on the system, sacrificing her boy partners to battle the mecha aliens. When she's paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest male pilot of Huaxia, it's thought that she won't last long, but she's determined to use her mind to stay alive, interrogate the misogynist technology of the Chrysalis, and save the girls of Huaxia from their supposedly unavoidable fate as sacrificial pilots. The story of a girl, raised in a patriarchal society, rebelling against the status quo, using giant mecha to fight giant mecha aliens. It's an interesting premise, and I was thrilled to see that my suspicion that anime Darling in the Franxx (which I adore) was partial inspiration for this story was true! Zetian was brought up like the other girls, but at every turn she's rebelled against the status quo. Sometimes, you just know that things are wrong, and I really get that in my gut, just as Zetian does. She sees something wrong, and even with others telling her it's not wrong, that girls being used and discarded like batteries is a distinct honor, Zetian knows that everybody is full of crap. Many aspects of morality are taught, but others can be discerned by imagining ourselves in the same situation. Zetian's empathy for others, and the grief of her dead sister, also drives her rage, and I felt it on a visceral level. Zetian harbors disdain and derision for the world around her, and the people living in it. This is because the culture is built on doing things because of precedent or using people as if they are disposable and lack value. She even attacks other women at times because they also support and act within the system to support it. It is a common observation that for evil to become common and widespread, all that is needed is for people to stand by and do nothing about it, so how is Zetian supposed to feel if she is beset on all sides by people who believe she must feel like it's normal to walk with a crutch as a result of her foot-binding, or she must be honored to be considered as little more than a meat battery to be discarded as collateral damage, while boy pilots are hailed as heroes? How would you feel, being locked into a future with no tomorrow? Zetian grabs the bull by the horns, figuratively speaking, and turns the equation of the...