soph (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sophia_sol) wrote2022-05-15 10:46 pm
sophia_sol) wrote2022-05-15 10:46 pm
Iron Widow, by Xiran Jay Zhao
....huh, I did not expect to be as compelled by this book as I ended up being! I had seen a bunch of hype for it and deliberately decided not to read it because it didn't sound like my kind of thing, but then it ended up on the Hugos list for this year so I read it after all, and. It isn't exactly my thing? But I really liked it regardless!
It's a YA fantasy historical-futuristic reimagining of the story of the chinese empress Wu Zetian, with giant mecha battles.
Things not calculated to appeal to me:
- It's about giant mecha battles, lovingly described in detail.
- It's real violent, and real dark.
- It does not have a happy ending. It does not even have a hopeful ending!
- The ending is also one of those endings with a major reveal at the very end that doesn't get addressed, making you wait for the sequel.
But it features a viewpoint character, Zetian, who is absolutely convinced that she is doing the right and necessary things, in reaction to a totally fucked up world. That includes some pretty fucked up things from her, too, but to her that doesn't matter. And she's so strongly motivated and so charismatic a main character that she carried me along with her the whole way! She just cares so MUCH and she's been hurt so much but keeps FIGHTING to be seen, to be heard, to be loved, to have power, to change things. I would not want to meet her but I loved reading about her.
And after the reveal at the end I VERY much want to know what happens next so I guess I've been got! I guess I'm reading the next book in this series too! I take hope from the fact that the historical Wu Zetian lived a very long life as a very successful and effective empress.
It's a YA fantasy historical-futuristic reimagining of the story of the chinese empress Wu Zetian, with giant mecha battles.
Things not calculated to appeal to me:
- It's about giant mecha battles, lovingly described in detail.
- It's real violent, and real dark.
- It does not have a happy ending. It does not even have a hopeful ending!
- The ending is also one of those endings with a major reveal at the very end that doesn't get addressed, making you wait for the sequel.
But it features a viewpoint character, Zetian, who is absolutely convinced that she is doing the right and necessary things, in reaction to a totally fucked up world. That includes some pretty fucked up things from her, too, but to her that doesn't matter. And she's so strongly motivated and so charismatic a main character that she carried me along with her the whole way! She just cares so MUCH and she's been hurt so much but keeps FIGHTING to be seen, to be heard, to be loved, to have power, to change things. I would not want to meet her but I loved reading about her.
And after the reveal at the end I VERY much want to know what happens next so I guess I've been got! I guess I'm reading the next book in this series too! I take hope from the fact that the historical Wu Zetian lived a very long life as a very successful and effective empress.
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And she's so strongly motivated and so charismatic a main character that she carried me along with her the whole way! She just cares so MUCH and she's been hurt so much but keeps FIGHTING to be seen, to be heard, to be loved, to have power, to change things.
Oh, that's a more compelling case for this particular book than any I've heard before! (You are a very useful person to have around, as you frequently focus on the same things I do in texts. I wouldn't say that our tastes are always the same, but they definitely have some significant overlap.)
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