Lexi’s review of Iron Widow (Iron Widow, #1) > Likes and Comments
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Yeah I agree with a lot of these assessments. I also conflicted by how it ended. Like it came from left field of the environmental twist. Things happened too fast for her.
I just finished my read-through of the ARC as well, and like you it was highly anticipated for me and fell flat. There was so much potential here but it was ruined by poor writing, half baked plot and character development, and lack of real conflict.
I loved the book, but I think your commentary has merit. It's not some crazy masterpiece or got insane world-building (though I would actually argue that too many fantasies spend too much time on world-building and forget how to connect the characters to the reader in the most fundamental human way, so between this and that, I'd rather this), but it is absolutely cathartic in a way that's so rare.
I do think Wu Zetian does come in super powerful (just, instead of physical, it's mental) and takes on the traditional role of 'powerful main character blasts their way through things'. But damn if I'm not enraptured though. The thing is that it connects in a way that some other stories, while certainly more cleverly plotted out and more deep in character build-up, just seem to fall short on.
It's definitely a raw energy first over any literary art.
I'm surprised there's little worldbuilding, but it's true. Expecting a lot of an EVANGELION type of execution but this falls flat.
I find it so strange to see "she always has a cool, badass feminist response to everyone despite absolutely no context for how she became outspokenly defiant in a world that treats women so poorly. She the slightly edgy mary sue character" said about a character openly inspired by a real life woman who was also outspokenly defiant in a world that treats women terribly. Do you think the real life Wu Zetian was a Mary Sue or is she a larger-than-life figure akin to plenty of male real life figures no one ever demands a justification for (plus, I can't help but notice there was not accusations of being a Mary Sue or questions about how they came to be about the two male larger-than-life characters in this book)
If it makes you feel better, the two male leads are both wooden, forgettable stock YA boyfriends that aren’t remarkable enough to comment on, because their personality starts and ends with getting with the Mary Sue lead.
Dee wrote: "I find it so strange to see "she always has a cool, badass feminist response to everyone despite absolutely no context for how she became outspokenly defiant in a world that treats women so poorly...."
@Dee
The historical Wu Zetian lived in the Tang Dynasty, in which women, at least the noble class women, enjoyed more personal freedom, political power and privileges than the other dynasties.
The founder emperor of Tang actually had a daughter, Princess Pingyang, who led an army to help her father building up the empire. And Princess Pingyang is only two or three generations removed from Wu Zetian.
Do read more about the historical Wu Zetian and the time she lived in, there are plenty more historical excitement to be discovered, which is far richer than what this book seemingly has to offer.
I do have to say that, while it may not have been an immediate best-seller without the author's "fame," it was set to be published long before they got any youtube attention.
Christina wrote: "This review made me laugh because how do you think feminism came to be? It appeared out of thin air, or rather, women realising they weren't being treated fairly. The senseless death of a sister wo..."
I recommend reading The Gilded Ones or The Grace Year, two YA series about a young girl from a patriarichal society unlearning the patriarchy and standing for feminist ideals- and both of them are actually good and done in a believable way rather than the character being the world's biggest and most outspoken feminist by default.
I like this book in the beginning, wu zetian’s badassness exhilarates me. But then she tries to use media fervor as leverage and sleeps with two guys even though she comes from a culture that deems it shameful even deadly. I also think borrowing names from Chinese history is unnecessary and blasphemous. The only explanation I can think of is they’re the author’s “favorite tropes”. The whole book gives me the vibe of a web fiction.
Xvory wrote: "I like this book in the beginning, wu zetian’s badassness exhilarates me. But then she tries to use media fervor as leverage and sleeps with two guys even though she comes from a culture that deems..."
Easter eggs do not make blasphemy.
That's exactly what I thought but put into better words than I did
this verbalized a lot of problems i had with it too. it has a lot of potential, but the pacing is bad and the world building is so lacking that a lot of it was incredibly hard to visualize. the plot point with the gods was hugely important to the world but wasn't even mentioned until like 3/4ths of the way through the book, which was so bizarre to me
Your review resonated with my thoughts on this title too. Something was missing…the build up, the why, the where are we and what are we doing here. Great review.
We had much the same response to this story, and I'm so glad I'm not the only one who found a lot of the book to be flat and surface level. There was so much wasted potential here, and a lot of it was hampered by the genre it was forced into, I feel.
so glad to see a similar opinion to mine! (lmao i was scared to pose my review of this novel)
Ugh, please review it , its so sad how many people ive seen be scared to knock on this legitimately bad book.
I'm glad someone else thought so as well! I saw so much potential for really exciting deatils but then it was just kind of never happened.
This hit the nail on the head for almost all of my feelings on this book.
" she always has a cool, badass feminist response to everyone despite absolutely no context for how she became outspokenly defiant in a world that treats women so poorly."
Yes! Exactly. This put into words I think what bothered me so much about Zetian's internal dialogue about her oppression. I'm so sad because this book felt like it had so many neat things going for it conceptually
I agree, there is something lacking in this book and perhaps the author just needs to grow as a writer. It is rare that a writer who happens upon early success does grow.
I think the objections to your analysis of the Zetian's characterisation based on her being inspired by a real life historical figure, are flawed. Just to be clear the objections are flawed not your analysis.
My opinion is that Zetian's characterisation is flat. There is no nuance. She's angry, she's a feminist, she's fighting all social conventions around gender and sexuality. She is always right. Always angry. Always always angry.
Great feminists of their time or current, are still human beings. They're not balls of anger fighting everyone and everything, no one has the energy for that. I was drained reading this book due to all the anger!
The problem with Zetian is the reader has no investment in her, in her cause, her anger because it isn't built up, we've just to accept it. Teens/young adults may contest this because many are angry at the world too, unnecessarily so.
Zetian is a hero without the journey and I think the author needs to read Joseph Campbell. It's never about the outcome always about the journey.
Okay, but the comparison to "My Immortal" is somehow so dramatic, and yet really accurate. I'm about halfway through and this review so far has hit the nail on the head for me.
Personally I love Iron Widow, but after reading your review I realize that yes you are right Zetian kind of doesn't have an "origin reason" to become a badass feminist?? I thought it was because of her sister dying (making her question the patriarchy) or maybe Yizhi's influence, but 1) many girls died in the piloting system and their sisters didn't all become badasses, and 2) Yizhi only met her once a month so he probably didn't have a lot of influence on her. I still love the book though and I don't think this flaw really impacts it a lot.
I couldn’t put my finger on why this book just didn’t do it for me and then I read your review and was like, “That’s it!” Zetian was very one note and her relationships didn’t make sense when all she was about was revenge. I also don’t understand when a writer creates such a cool world but never full takes us there and immerse the reader in it. Also, if this world has war mechs then why is someone still wearing contacts. That threw me out of the sci-if fantasy.
I'm a little over halfway through the book and it's so gratifying to know I'm not the only one who feels this way. The word I keep coming back to in my head is "breathless"; the book has SO many ideas, and SO much exposition, and SO much distraction, that it hasn't had a chance to be still and reflect and allow me to FEEL something in a deep way. It's claustrophobic, and it makes me wish, at the very least, we could get someone else's POV to take a break from Zetian.
It surprised me when I heard the author compare this to The Handmaid's Tale because the thought hadn't occurred to me at all. The Handmaid's Tale knows how to utilize stillness and silence to create dread, to actually make you FEEL the oppression and wrongness of the world. Another big thing that's missing for me 65% through the book are positive female interactions in this "feminist" book. Aside from Zetian having a dream/vision of her sister, she had a brief, mildly positive interaction with that woman at the baths...and that's it.
I saw all the flaws you mentioned while reading this book but somehow still ended up being sucked into the story and thus loving it. Thinking back on it, I would probably be a bit more critical about it - but am really curious now about how the second book will turn out and if Zhaos writing will improve
I never read this book myself, but I've heard so much about it and many people are saying basically the same things you do. I'm glad that I've never picked this book up.
THANK YOU I feel crazy seeing so many good reviews when I didn’t care much for this book at all. It’s a real shame because I think the story and the bones of it really could’ve been something
you're talking from my SOUL! and my expectations were so high from the premise and the good rating... meh.
I felt very similar! Had to stop after getting mid-way through Part 2 because of some of the flaws you mentioned.
also it really reminded me of the Hunger Games. The girls as tributes, she against the system. The building of a public image, how she thinks about how to impress the media, the “crowning/wedding” to impress and shock, the guy she has to partner with but now finds endearing, the crowd of rich people who are basically the capitol - i was so bored after I realised this
I’m 80 pages in and you summed up a lot of how I’m feeling. I really wanted to love this book but I can’t really stand the writing that feels too edgy/immature or the main character that feels too much ‘not like the other girls’ to me. I’d love to dive deep into this world as the concepts seem so interesting but the pacing/organization so far is pretty fast paced. Hopefully it gets better for me.
i felt soo bad for not liking this book, because I totally think that the feminist pretense was so promising. But literally the MC was so DUMB I SWEAR. I feel like I’ve already read this story, the writing is so bad and just BORING!
I understand your reasoning, but we have to remember it’s from a first person. Zetian doesn’t explain because it’s from an inner monologue in her head to me. She believes that she is the strongest
I was not expecting for the writing to be that bad. It just wasn’t that it was basic prose but it felt so juvenile. Like a young teenager’s first writing efforts ever.
Thank you so much for posting this review. I got this recommendation from a Tiktok where the author said she had ADHD and that her book was loved by people who had ADHD. I figured, let's see what the fuss is about had had high expectations for something refreshingly unique and creative, and now I see that it's just a marketing gimmick for a badly written book with cliched and cringe tropes. I hoped that maybe the author would give a good rendition of a female lead or know how to put feminism in it's true sense, but this just feels like trite nonsense and misguided views. In fact, the author herself writes "ENFORCE YOUR LAST PATHETIC GENDER ROLE, PATRIARCHY" in the review, and that just feels like a desperate hard sell to a bunch of non-thinking misandrists.
Based on your review , it is absolutely not worth my time and I can knock this off my "to read" list. Great job being unbiased and effective in your critique. I'm glad this is the top review
I liked it but also your review is spot-on, lol. I think I might have given it more credit than is due because it's a lot LESS BAD than much other YA I've been reading. It definitely would have been better if Zetian's beliefs had been challenged over the course of the book instead of just reaffirmed over and over again. None of the characters really have any growth.
I actually gave this book 5 stars, yet I completely 100% agree with this review. I guess I expected and enjoyed its cathartic energy and looked past the shallow story telling. But thank you for explaining this, because I didn’t quite get how to explain why it’s technically bad, but I recommend it anyway.
Absolutely well done review. I could never articulate the details this good myself. I have similar thoughts, but never could put my finger on the particulars. Thank you for this review.
You bring up such a good point, what about her makes her able to think so differently from everyone and everything she’s ever known?
Even though it’s supposed to be an imaginative re-telling of collectivist ideas, the protagonist is very clearly individualistic.
The way this review encapsulated everything I felt about this book🤌🏻
I just finished this book and wrote a review. But I am not very eloquent in conveying myself and you just nailed every one of my issues with this book. So I am deleting my review and just liking this one.
I have not read pacific rim but got huge power rangers meets attack on titan meets hunger games vibe. I also have doubts about the originality of the story.
Almost I tried to explain my feelings but you already wrote all the things I disliked, hated and liked about the book. Maybe it's hard to write good (inner) dialogue, I see a lot of ya novels with painful dialogue. But I think that it's an important tool for worldbuilding.
Finally a review that speaks my mind! I wanted to like this so badly but it was just too simplistic, and the feminism felt very forced and overt. It wasn't integrated or treated with any subtlety.
"-Feminist story
- Alt love triangle (MFM poly it seems?)
- Scifi/alt-history
- Chinese history inspired
- Big robots
- Bisexual rep"
OK, I am convinced, this is absolutely worth moving way up my "Want to read" list.
I had such high hopes for this book and I was left severely disappointed. I couldn’t even finish the last 30 pages because I just couldn’t care less about how it ended. You perfectly pointed out everything I didn’t like about this book. The lack of world building, lack of character development, lack of developed romance, etc. I enjoyed the first 1/3 - 1/2 of the book and then it just flopped after a certain point. I couldn’t have written a better review for this book. No hate towards Xiran Jay Zhao though. I loved the idea of Darling in the Franxx mixed with Handmaids Tale. What’s why I bought the book in the first place. Th author had a brilliant idea but it just wasn’t executed properly in my opinion
Honestly, I didn't enjoy this all that much (despite giving it 4-stars, partly because of some of the boxes it checked off) but I think the narrator for the audiobook did a great job so some of the issues you brought up weren't as noticeable. Thanks for the review!
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Yeah I agree with a lot of these assessments. I also conflicted by how it ended. Like it came from left field of the environmental twist. Things happened too fast for her.
I just finished my read-through of the ARC as well, and like you it was highly anticipated for me and fell flat. There was so much potential here but it was ruined by poor writing, half baked plot and character development, and lack of real conflict.
I loved the book, but I think your commentary has merit. It's not some crazy masterpiece or got insane world-building (though I would actually argue that too many fantasies spend too much time on world-building and forget how to connect the characters to the reader in the most fundamental human way, so between this and that, I'd rather this), but it is absolutely cathartic in a way that's so rare.I do think Wu Zetian does come in super powerful (just, instead of physical, it's mental) and takes on the traditional role of 'powerful main character blasts their way through things'. But damn if I'm not enraptured though. The thing is that it connects in a way that some other stories, while certainly more cleverly plotted out and more deep in character build-up, just seem to fall short on.
It's definitely a raw energy first over any literary art.
I'm surprised there's little worldbuilding, but it's true. Expecting a lot of an EVANGELION type of execution but this falls flat.
I find it so strange to see "she always has a cool, badass feminist response to everyone despite absolutely no context for how she became outspokenly defiant in a world that treats women so poorly. She the slightly edgy mary sue character" said about a character openly inspired by a real life woman who was also outspokenly defiant in a world that treats women terribly. Do you think the real life Wu Zetian was a Mary Sue or is she a larger-than-life figure akin to plenty of male real life figures no one ever demands a justification for (plus, I can't help but notice there was not accusations of being a Mary Sue or questions about how they came to be about the two male larger-than-life characters in this book)
If it makes you feel better, the two male leads are both wooden, forgettable stock YA boyfriends that aren’t remarkable enough to comment on, because their personality starts and ends with getting with the Mary Sue lead.
Dee wrote: "I find it so strange to see "she always has a cool, badass feminist response to everyone despite absolutely no context for how she became outspokenly defiant in a world that treats women so poorly...."@Dee
The historical Wu Zetian lived in the Tang Dynasty, in which women, at least the noble class women, enjoyed more personal freedom, political power and privileges than the other dynasties.
The founder emperor of Tang actually had a daughter, Princess Pingyang, who led an army to help her father building up the empire. And Princess Pingyang is only two or three generations removed from Wu Zetian.
Do read more about the historical Wu Zetian and the time she lived in, there are plenty more historical excitement to be discovered, which is far richer than what this book seemingly has to offer.
I do have to say that, while it may not have been an immediate best-seller without the author's "fame," it was set to be published long before they got any youtube attention.
Christina wrote: "This review made me laugh because how do you think feminism came to be? It appeared out of thin air, or rather, women realising they weren't being treated fairly. The senseless death of a sister wo..."I recommend reading The Gilded Ones or The Grace Year, two YA series about a young girl from a patriarichal society unlearning the patriarchy and standing for feminist ideals- and both of them are actually good and done in a believable way rather than the character being the world's biggest and most outspoken feminist by default.
I like this book in the beginning, wu zetian’s badassness exhilarates me. But then she tries to use media fervor as leverage and sleeps with two guys even though she comes from a culture that deems it shameful even deadly. I also think borrowing names from Chinese history is unnecessary and blasphemous. The only explanation I can think of is they’re the author’s “favorite tropes”. The whole book gives me the vibe of a web fiction.
Xvory wrote: "I like this book in the beginning, wu zetian’s badassness exhilarates me. But then she tries to use media fervor as leverage and sleeps with two guys even though she comes from a culture that deems..."Easter eggs do not make blasphemy.
That's exactly what I thought but put into better words than I did
this verbalized a lot of problems i had with it too. it has a lot of potential, but the pacing is bad and the world building is so lacking that a lot of it was incredibly hard to visualize. the plot point with the gods was hugely important to the world but wasn't even mentioned until like 3/4ths of the way through the book, which was so bizarre to me
Your review resonated with my thoughts on this title too. Something was missing…the build up, the why, the where are we and what are we doing here. Great review.
I dnfed this so I applaud you being able to read the entire thing. I feel the author focused too much on the feminist issues and not enough on build the world and characters.
We had much the same response to this story, and I'm so glad I'm not the only one who found a lot of the book to be flat and surface level. There was so much wasted potential here, and a lot of it was hampered by the genre it was forced into, I feel.
so glad to see a similar opinion to mine! (lmao i was scared to pose my review of this novel)
Ugh, please review it , its so sad how many people ive seen be scared to knock on this legitimately bad book.
I'm glad someone else thought so as well! I saw so much potential for really exciting deatils but then it was just kind of never happened.
This hit the nail on the head for almost all of my feelings on this book. " she always has a cool, badass feminist response to everyone despite absolutely no context for how she became outspokenly defiant in a world that treats women so poorly."
Yes! Exactly. This put into words I think what bothered me so much about Zetian's internal dialogue about her oppression. I'm so sad because this book felt like it had so many neat things going for it conceptually
I agree, there is something lacking in this book and perhaps the author just needs to grow as a writer. It is rare that a writer who happens upon early success does grow. I think the objections to your analysis of the Zetian's characterisation based on her being inspired by a real life historical figure, are flawed. Just to be clear the objections are flawed not your analysis.
My opinion is that Zetian's characterisation is flat. There is no nuance. She's angry, she's a feminist, she's fighting all social conventions around gender and sexuality. She is always right. Always angry. Always always angry.
Great feminists of their time or current, are still human beings. They're not balls of anger fighting everyone and everything, no one has the energy for that. I was drained reading this book due to all the anger!
The problem with Zetian is the reader has no investment in her, in her cause, her anger because it isn't built up, we've just to accept it. Teens/young adults may contest this because many are angry at the world too, unnecessarily so.
Zetian is a hero without the journey and I think the author needs to read Joseph Campbell. It's never about the outcome always about the journey.
Okay, but the comparison to "My Immortal" is somehow so dramatic, and yet really accurate. I'm about halfway through and this review so far has hit the nail on the head for me.
Personally I love Iron Widow, but after reading your review I realize that yes you are right Zetian kind of doesn't have an "origin reason" to become a badass feminist?? I thought it was because of her sister dying (making her question the patriarchy) or maybe Yizhi's influence, but 1) many girls died in the piloting system and their sisters didn't all become badasses, and 2) Yizhi only met her once a month so he probably didn't have a lot of influence on her. I still love the book though and I don't think this flaw really impacts it a lot.
I couldn’t put my finger on why this book just didn’t do it for me and then I read your review and was like, “That’s it!” Zetian was very one note and her relationships didn’t make sense when all she was about was revenge. I also don’t understand when a writer creates such a cool world but never full takes us there and immerse the reader in it. Also, if this world has war mechs then why is someone still wearing contacts. That threw me out of the sci-if fantasy.
I'm a little over halfway through the book and it's so gratifying to know I'm not the only one who feels this way. The word I keep coming back to in my head is "breathless"; the book has SO many ideas, and SO much exposition, and SO much distraction, that it hasn't had a chance to be still and reflect and allow me to FEEL something in a deep way. It's claustrophobic, and it makes me wish, at the very least, we could get someone else's POV to take a break from Zetian. It surprised me when I heard the author compare this to The Handmaid's Tale because the thought hadn't occurred to me at all. The Handmaid's Tale knows how to utilize stillness and silence to create dread, to actually make you FEEL the oppression and wrongness of the world. Another big thing that's missing for me 65% through the book are positive female interactions in this "feminist" book. Aside from Zetian having a dream/vision of her sister, she had a brief, mildly positive interaction with that woman at the baths...and that's it.
I saw all the flaws you mentioned while reading this book but somehow still ended up being sucked into the story and thus loving it. Thinking back on it, I would probably be a bit more critical about it - but am really curious now about how the second book will turn out and if Zhaos writing will improve
I never read this book myself, but I've heard so much about it and many people are saying basically the same things you do. I'm glad that I've never picked this book up.
THANK YOU I feel crazy seeing so many good reviews when I didn’t care much for this book at all. It’s a real shame because I think the story and the bones of it really could’ve been something
you're talking from my SOUL! and my expectations were so high from the premise and the good rating... meh.
I felt very similar! Had to stop after getting mid-way through Part 2 because of some of the flaws you mentioned.
also it really reminded me of the Hunger Games. The girls as tributes, she against the system. The building of a public image, how she thinks about how to impress the media, the “crowning/wedding” to impress and shock, the guy she has to partner with but now finds endearing, the crowd of rich people who are basically the capitol - i was so bored after I realised this
I’m 80 pages in and you summed up a lot of how I’m feeling. I really wanted to love this book but I can’t really stand the writing that feels too edgy/immature or the main character that feels too much ‘not like the other girls’ to me. I’d love to dive deep into this world as the concepts seem so interesting but the pacing/organization so far is pretty fast paced. Hopefully it gets better for me.
i felt soo bad for not liking this book, because I totally think that the feminist pretense was so promising. But literally the MC was so DUMB I SWEAR. I feel like I’ve already read this story, the writing is so bad and just BORING!
I understand your reasoning, but we have to remember it’s from a first person. Zetian doesn’t explain because it’s from an inner monologue in her head to me. She believes that she is the strongest
I was not expecting for the writing to be that bad. It just wasn’t that it was basic prose but it felt so juvenile. Like a young teenager’s first writing efforts ever.
Thank you so much for posting this review. I got this recommendation from a Tiktok where the author said she had ADHD and that her book was loved by people who had ADHD. I figured, let's see what the fuss is about had had high expectations for something refreshingly unique and creative, and now I see that it's just a marketing gimmick for a badly written book with cliched and cringe tropes. I hoped that maybe the author would give a good rendition of a female lead or know how to put feminism in it's true sense, but this just feels like trite nonsense and misguided views. In fact, the author herself writes "ENFORCE YOUR LAST PATHETIC GENDER ROLE, PATRIARCHY" in the review, and that just feels like a desperate hard sell to a bunch of non-thinking misandrists. Based on your review , it is absolutely not worth my time and I can knock this off my "to read" list. Great job being unbiased and effective in your critique. I'm glad this is the top review
I liked it but also your review is spot-on, lol. I think I might have given it more credit than is due because it's a lot LESS BAD than much other YA I've been reading. It definitely would have been better if Zetian's beliefs had been challenged over the course of the book instead of just reaffirmed over and over again. None of the characters really have any growth.
I actually gave this book 5 stars, yet I completely 100% agree with this review. I guess I expected and enjoyed its cathartic energy and looked past the shallow story telling. But thank you for explaining this, because I didn’t quite get how to explain why it’s technically bad, but I recommend it anyway.
Absolutely well done review. I could never articulate the details this good myself. I have similar thoughts, but never could put my finger on the particulars. Thank you for this review.
You bring up such a good point, what about her makes her able to think so differently from everyone and everything she’s ever known?
Even though it’s supposed to be an imaginative re-telling of collectivist ideas, the protagonist is very clearly individualistic.
The way this review encapsulated everything I felt about this book🤌🏻
I just finished this book and wrote a review. But I am not very eloquent in conveying myself and you just nailed every one of my issues with this book. So I am deleting my review and just liking this one. I have not read pacific rim but got huge power rangers meets attack on titan meets hunger games vibe. I also have doubts about the originality of the story.
Almost I tried to explain my feelings but you already wrote all the things I disliked, hated and liked about the book. Maybe it's hard to write good (inner) dialogue, I see a lot of ya novels with painful dialogue. But I think that it's an important tool for worldbuilding.
Finally a review that speaks my mind! I wanted to like this so badly but it was just too simplistic, and the feminism felt very forced and overt. It wasn't integrated or treated with any subtlety.
"-Feminist story- Alt love triangle (MFM poly it seems?)
- Scifi/alt-history
- Chinese history inspired
- Big robots
- Bisexual rep"
OK, I am convinced, this is absolutely worth moving way up my "Want to read" list.
I had such high hopes for this book and I was left severely disappointed. I couldn’t even finish the last 30 pages because I just couldn’t care less about how it ended. You perfectly pointed out everything I didn’t like about this book. The lack of world building, lack of character development, lack of developed romance, etc. I enjoyed the first 1/3 - 1/2 of the book and then it just flopped after a certain point. I couldn’t have written a better review for this book. No hate towards Xiran Jay Zhao though. I loved the idea of Darling in the Franxx mixed with Handmaids Tale. What’s why I bought the book in the first place. Th author had a brilliant idea but it just wasn’t executed properly in my opinion
Honestly, I didn't enjoy this all that much (despite giving it 4-stars, partly because of some of the boxes it checked off) but I think the narrator for the audiobook did a great job so some of the issues you brought up weren't as noticeable. Thanks for the review!
I was also struck by Zetian's completely unmotivated character arc (BOOM I'm a feminist is a great way to describe her) and the way we're just sort of dropped into the deep end of the swimming pool with absolutely no idea how to swim through everything.
I just don't think its enough to have strong LGTBQ representation in literature if you don't have an equally strong story and characters to support that representation.