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bashsbooks · 1 year

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Iron Widow Book Review

★★★★★ ~ 5 out of 5 stars

Due to its popularity on Tiktok and Tumblr, I have long heard rumors about Xiran Jay Zhao’s Iron Widow. I tend to be skeptical about social media hype, but after a friend recommended it to me personally, I added it to my to-read list, forgot about it for like a year, and then promptly remembered it when I was figuring out what books to read for my 2023 reading challenges. And as soon as I started reading, I was like, “Oh shit. I should’ve read this sooner.”

Iron Widow lives up to the hype. Actually, it smashes through the hype and goes way past what I expected. Set in a futuristic alternative universe based on Chinese history and mythology, Iron Widow follows Xu Zetian as she volunteers to be a concubine-pilot, a deadly but supposedly necessary role required to power Chrysalises, which are basically giant supersuits used to fight off aliens. Concubine-pilots usually die in the process of powering Chrysalises, though their families are heavily compensated for this sacrifice. At the beginning of Iron Widow, Zetian is desperate to get vengeance for her sister was forced to become a concubine-pilot by their family - and then murdered by a male pilot before she could. (Interestingly enough, piloting the Chrysalises is not deadly for men - usually.) So Zetian volunteers with the ulterior motive of killing her sister’s murderer and quickly finds out that everything she knows - about the piloting system, gender and social dynamics, about the war - is a lie.

Although the patriarchy is a primary antagonist in Iron Widow, not every man in the book sucks sucks; in fact, Zetian manages to find not one but two love interests in Gao Yizhi, the son of the richest man in the country, and Li Shimin, a man who murdered his whole family (for good reasons, he’s valid) and is only being kept alive because he’s the best damn pilot in the war. As a hater of love triangles and a lover of fellow bisexual men, I am pleased to report that Yizhi and Shimin are also very interested in each other.

Iron Widow contains such a nuanced and fascinating take on how the patriarchy fucks over everyone. Zetian is understandably upset with the way women are treated, but she learns over the course of the novel that things aren’t all sunshine and roses for men, either. This does not diminish her passion for fighting for women (and indeed, it is never really poised as a competition of who has it worse; it’s pretty clear that it’s by-and-large worse for women), but it allows her to see men as fellow humans rather than inherently The Enemy.

Zetian is also disabled, having had her feet broken and bound from a young age to turn them into ‘lotus feet’, which are considered beautiful in her culture. She has trouble walking, even with the aid of a cane, and she constantly feels pain in her feet. This is a central aspect of her character, not an afterthought, and it’s woven into the novel thoughtfully. It parallels and interweaves with the novel’s exploration of gender and gendered expectations - much like Zetian cannot be reduced to the caricature of womanhood expected of her, nor can she be reduced to a caricature of her physical disability. Instead, the integration of these aspects into her character are complex. Her successes are not in spite of her womanhood and her bound feet, but because of them, and that makes her all the richer as a protagonist.

I love Iron Widow, and I’m happy to recommend it with a full 5 out of 5 stars. Its sequel, Heavenly Tyrant, comes out in August, and I can’t wait to read it. Xiran Jay Zhao, Iron Widow’s author, is here on Tumblr (@/xiranjayzhao) and they have already posted some Heavenly Tyrant memes to tide me over until then. (And if you like authors commenting on their books outside of the text, then I recommend following their Tumblr after you’ve finished Iron Widow.)

#iron widow #xiran jay zhao #ya books #sci fi books #ya sci fi #queer books #book reviews #my book reviews #5 out of 5 stars #i could not find a nongrainy picture of the cover anywhere i swear #what is up with that #anyway read iron widow it's awesome #can't wait for the sequel later this year

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qbdatabase · 1 year

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The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.

When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

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checkoutmybookshelf · 11 months

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When the Russian Mafia Learned Not to Mess With Artemis Fowl II

I've been an Artemis Fowl girl (not the movie) for a long time, and while I think the first book in the series is literally a perfect first book, it's not my favorite in the series. That honor goes to book two, Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident. And I think that the key points that really make this my favorite book are the shift from brilliantly executed archetypes to genuine characters, the fact that a 12-year-old absolutely OWNS the mafia, and the expansion of the worldbuilding in Haven and the Lower Elements generally. Oh also, this is where we get Opal Koboi for the first time. *Screes in best villainess ever* Let's Talk Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident.

There will be light spoilers below the break, as is pretty standard for all books second and later on this blog, so be warned.

First of all, in the first Artemis Fowl book, the characters are--with the exception of Artemis and Holly--largely archetypal. That falls apart here, because the story isn't trying to be a fairy tale or a heist so much as it is Opal Koboi and Briar Cudegon trying to start a war that Artemis has to stop in order to get fairy help to rescue his father from captivity by the Russian Mafia. Book 1 Butler is your standard bodyguard with a heart of gold, Commander Root is a standard grouchy police chief, and Trouble Kelp is basically ye olde marine. Briar Cudgeon is power hungry, and that's about it.

By book 2, Bulter is getting more personality and a low-key understanding with Holly and Root because they're all "old soldiers" in his book. Root gets to actually have some personality and is a damn good field commander--can we just take a sec to appreciate how much he cares (gruffness notwithstanding) about Holly and the fact that he super did not care that the sealed acorn was blasphemy because it worked!? He becomes more than just a hardass vaguely sexist archetype, and I have SUCH a soft spot for Julius Root. We also get some more of Trouble and Grub Kelp. Briar Cudgeon stays pretty simple, but that's fine because we have Opal goddamn Koboi for a more complex and also very classical villainess--she is LOVING being evil and frankly she is never not a joy to watch. Opal knows how to lean in to sheer joyous villainy.

I'm also just a fan of Artemis actually running into the real world with his planning. Our boy can absolutely sketch out an on-paper plan that is brilliant, but then you get things like gaps in train tracks, fairy politics, dwarf reflexology, and humans reacting in weirdass ways and suddenly Artemis has to get his hands a bit dirty and he has to improvise. Our boy grows and STILL hands the Russian Mafia its collective ass on a radioactive submarine hatch. Artemis Fowl's character growth in this book is great.

Book 1 was very limited to Fowl Manor and its grounds. We got a bit of Haven and the Lower Elements in book 1, but book 2 is mostly in the Lower Elements and Russia, and the expansion of what Haven is like, what shuttleports are like, what Koboi Labs is like, what Howler's Peak is like, is incredible. We get more fairy lore, fairy life, and more LEP. This keeps expanding in later books, but this is our first really close look at the world beyond what was strictly necessary for the kidnapping and rescue plot of the first book, and that's very fun.

I know I've already mentioned Opal Koboi and her gleefully unhinged joy at her seemingly imminent rise to Empress, but honestly I love her to little tiny peices. She is too samrt for her own good, she girlbossed her own father into literally insanity, and her college-era feud with Foaly is just peak "the smartest kids in class have extremely different skillsets and they hate each other for it". Opal starts off very evil kitten, but kitty has claws and she's just waiting for a chance to unsheath them.

The Artemis Fowl series is improbably good, and I cannot recommend it enough. Especially this fozen, slightly radioactive entry in the series that is very much my favorite book.

#eoin colfer #artemis fowl #artemis fowl the arctic incident #holly short #ya fiction #ya sci fi #book recommendations #books and novels #books and reading #books & libraries #opal koboi #the arctic incident #julius root #domovoi butler

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gracehosborn · 8 months

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I was today years old when I discovered you can export PowerPoint presentations as GIFs.

So naturally, I had to do something with my magical timeline-altering pen in Ink of Destruction:

#this is rough it could be better but oh well #but hey at least this proves the magic looks cool imo #ink of destruction #IOD #magical gifs #ya sci fi #sci-fi fantasy #alternate history #alt history #ya fantasy #writers on tumblr #writing community

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camille09hart · 11 months

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Hello everyone! Today is the big day where I finally publish my book, Humebeasts. It's a YA Sci-Fi novel with human/animal hybrids and musicians. Check it out and spread the word!

#self promo #book launch #ya sci fi #self publication #rock band #mental health #lgbt characters #disability #anthro #musician #books are life #book launching

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stardustandrockets · 8 months

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What's a book on your shelf that's been hyped but you still haven't read?

The Darkness Outside Us by Eliot Schrefer is one of those books. I've heard nothing but great things and how it wasn't necessarily marketed correctly. Also that it's best to go in knowing as little as possible. I'm hoping to get to it before the year is over.

#RCJuly23 #Rainbow Crate #rainbow crate book box #hidden identity #the darkness outside us #eliot schrefer #space gays #on my tbr #ya sci fi #lgbtq reads #lgbtqia #queer book recs #read queer all year #read with pride #stardustandrockets

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whilereadingandwalking · 1 year

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Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak was even better than the first book in the Unstoppable series by Charlie Jane Anders. In the first book, Chosen One Tina Mains, her best friend Rachael, and a cast of earthlings chosen to help save the universe all battle the devastatingly terrifying villain Marrant, a leader under the fascist Compassion. The gang is now in Wentrolo, the capital of the Firmament, and trying to figure out their place in the continuing fight against the Compassion as well as the new existential threat of the Vayt. This volume focuses on Rachael, who just saved the world but lost her ability to make art, struggling under the pressure of people who expect her to save it all over again, and Elza, a trans hacker who is auditioning to become a Princess and help save the universe. "When you know the answer, it becomes your responsibility," a small mouse tells Elza in the Palace. This book is a fantastic tome about what knowledge actually means, about its ugly side. When you know of a lurking evil or of corruption beneath the institution you once believed in, you now have a responsibility to tackle it. It confronts privilege, power, prejudice, and the intricate workings of friendship and romance. This book is emotional, uplifting, and action-packed. The world-building was exquisite: I'm obsessed with the nonsensical Princesses in their computer-hive-mind magical Palace. This novel covers art and survival in gorgeous ways. I can't wait for the next volume in this exciting, queer, delightful space opera series by Anders. Content warnings for death, racism, torture, xenophobia, panic attacks/anxiety.

#dreams bigger than heartbreak #charlie jane anders #victory greater than death #bookish love #ya sci fi #space opera #my book reviews

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lookingforamandaa · 1 year

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DEC 2022 WRAP UP //

17 books read - six physical books, two ebooks, & nine audiobooks

#bookblr #booklr #fantasy books #iphone photography #reading update #adult fantasy #jenn lyons #book recommendations #fantasy #wild and wicked things #Francesca May #historical fiction #lgbt books #beartown #fredrik backman #gearbreakers #science fiction #ya sci fi

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wardenclyffe · 1 year

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Exciting news! Mercury, the second book in the Wardenclyffe Series, will be releasing later this year!

Aboard the colony ship, Mercury, 19-year-old Lucy yearns to know more about her deceased father, much to the ire of her mother, the captain.

When a mysterious meteor strands Lucy twenty years in the past, she finds herself face-to-face with her teenage mother and realizes they may have more in common than she originally thought.

As rifts in space threaten to destroy the Mercury, Lucy looks for a way to save the ship and, with any luck, get back to her own time.

Check it out on NetGalley here!

#scifi #bookish #netgalley #indie author #reading #books #scifibooks #ya sci fi #booklr

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kaileythepoet · 11 months

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Annnnd that's a wrap for my 2nd draft/rewrite of my wip! Now I can let it rest for a bit before jumping back into another round of edits.

#writeblr #writing community #about my wip #wip update #writers of tumblr #ya sci fi #Ya science fantasy #kaileythepoet

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owenlach · 1 year

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"Owen Lach's Broken Valley is an exciting tale full of great characters, a fascinating plot, and effortless queer sensibility." Pre-order your Kindle copy now: https://amzn.to/3EWvcuC

#queer sci fi #queer ya #ya sci fi #sci fi books #queer author

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qbdatabase · 7 months

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Salvation Day by Kali Wallace Zahra knew every detail of the plan. But what Zahra and her crew could not know was what waited for them on the ship abandoned in space—a terrifying secret buried by the government. A threat to all of humanity that lay sleeping alongside the orbiting dead. And then they woke it up.

#black rep #disability rep #PTSD rep #mental health rep #gay #gay rep #dystopia #female protagonist #horror #lgbtqia #male protagonist #queer books #sci fi #science fiction #YA sci fi #YA books

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checkoutmybookshelf · 7 months

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"You're a 15-Year-Old in a Bespoke Suit and Nobody Died!"

Well...it wasn't quite that nobody died, Angeline (honestly it's a miracle that Holly doesn't have a complex about beloved CO/mentors dying on her watch), but based on Artemis's reaction to you buying him jeans and a t-shirt, it's fair to say that we might need to recalibrate expectations. Let's talk Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex.

If this is your first time with us, please be aware that THIS IS A SPOILERIFIC ZONE below the break!

Headings worked so well for me the last time that we're going to keep going with them here, because there is a lot to talk about for this book!

Turnball Root

They say that every good villain is the hero of their own story. You flip the perspective on Turnball's story, and it's a twisted version of Romeo and Juliet surviving to become Anthony and Cleopatra. Just with more black magic runes.

Turnball makes me so, so sad as an antagonist, because you don't fall in love and enthrall the object of your affection while hanging on to the signs of your glory days if you have any level of self-worth and self-respect. Opal Koboi revels in her own inflated sense of self-worth, but everything about Turnball screams that he has some deep unresolved issues with himself as a person. That makes it really hard to enjoy him as a villain the same way I enjoy Opal, but I appreciate the nuance and weight and depth to his character that the massive red flags herald. If something had gone just a little bit different, if Turnball had been confident in his worth and his value, he could have been much more like his little brother. Julius Root was not perfect, but self-worth was not an issue he dealt with.

Artemis says it himself at the end of the book: Nobody wins when Turnball is "defeated." Anthony and Cleopatra have died by their own hands, and neither Rome nor Egypt are better for it.

Leonore talking Turnball down and basically saying he can help her or stop her is also heartbreaking, because it's so, so clear that she would have loved him without the thrall rune and--again--if Turnball had had the confidence to let her love him on her own, they could have been happy without the evil schemes and separation while Turnball was in jail. Leonore doesn't get a whole lot of character development in her own right, which makes sense for a middle-grade/YA-ish book that just doesn't have the space to develop yet another secondary character, but she's compelling in the sketch we do get, and I believe that Turnball would actually throw everything over for her. His last words in the book are in service to Leonore and Leonore's well-being as he helps her. He couldn't have done anything else, and that choice says so, so much about what could have been.

For me, Turnball is ultimately a tragic figure who was covering his own insecurities and self-loathing with sheer drama and villainy. He absolutely does bad things, and I'd even go so far as to say that he's a bad guy, but the tragedy is that he simply did not have to be.

The Atlantis Complex: Artemis and Orion

Ok, so my book is literally about representations of physical and mental disability in Shakespeare, but this freaking book manages to be more nuanced and more real in terms of the fact that mental health is COMPLICATED. Experiencing it is complicated. People's reactions to signs and symptoms of mental illness is complicated (and often objectively ableist and shitty). Everyone involved is often trying their best, and often it's just not enough. Sometimes it is.

While I was conceptualizing this review, I spent so much time going back and forth on minutiae: What was a positive representation, what was a negative representation, who said what and was it hurtful or not, the nuances of having symptoms in life-or-death situations. It got to the point where I could have written an entire post just about this, but then it occurred to me: I don't have to do that, because if I'm going back and forth this much and if there is so much evidence for both positive and negative representation, then the book isn't trying to do one or the other: it's simply allowing Artemis's mental illness to exist in the story. Which is MIND BOGGLING since so many stories--if they deign to mention disability at all--make the disability the whole thing. Frankly, Colfer pulled off a story where Artemis experiencing psychosis during a life-or-death situation was just...part of the story. It wasn't the main focus, it didn't warp the rest of the world and the plot around it, and it acknowledged the complicated peice where it can be both a help and a detriment in the situation.

Basically, it was allowed to be messy. And it was allowed to be complicated. And it was allowed to be emotional. But nothing derailed the plot.

There was also something really interesting that I'm not going to articulate terribly well here because I'm still processing it, but I want to at least nod to it. In terms of negative and harmful stereotypes about mental illness, Colfer manages to do this thing where he acknowledges that they exist, and there are moments where characters lean into them, but almost as soon as they do, another character pops up to call bullshit on it. For example, at one point Foaly makes a (totally in-character) crack about Dr. J. Argon strapping Artemis into "the crazy chair," and then immediately calls himself out on having said something absolutely shitty. "Crazy" is an ableist term, but it gets tossed around all the time in the real world. For Foaly to make the crack and then immediately walk it back isn't something you see often, but I think showing the crack, immediate self-correct, and then improved behavior going forward is critical. Humans are imperfect, but to self-correct and change for the better is important, and showing that is rare and I really appreciate it.

Ok, I'm going to stop ramling in circles about something I'm still processing, and move on to talking about Orion. I'm going to treat Orion as a separate character here, partly because the book does and partly because I am a) not an expert in mental illnesses and b) do not personally experience any and I don't want to speak from experience I don't possess. What I do want to say is that writing Orion as a blatant charicature of a fantasy medieval hero is AMAZING and HILARIOUS and holy cow I loved it so much. The contrast with Artemis is excellent, and the fact that ORION took Butler's lessons to heart was fabulous.

Artemis and Angeline

The other amazing relationship in this book is Artemis and an Angeline who knows exactly what Artemis's deal is. Between telling Artemis that girls are frightened of him because he's "a 15-year-old in a bespoke suit and nobody died" and her insistence on him spending at least two days a week in the jeans and t-shirt she's bought him, Angeline is absolutely fabulous.

Artemis and the Butlers

Oh Butler...dear heart, you get done so dirty by the son of your heart in this book. You were hired to be a bodyguard and what Artemis needs more than anything in this book is mental health support. You've done well with his mental health so far, but this is so, so far outside your wheelhouse. And then Artemis is one of perhaps three people on earth who know how to actually hurt you, and he DOES. He pushes you away, he invents a threat to Juliet, and then worst of all, he takes away your trust in him. Butler needs therapy almost as much as Artemis does in this book, and it's just crushing to see their relationship take this pounding. When the bullet is your principle's brain, a bodyguard cannot stand between bullet and principle.

On top of all that, Butler has to make the phonecall to Angeline explaining that Artemis has Atlantis Complex. That is one of the worst possible phonecalls to make, but he does it and he does it with grace and compassion. Domovoi Butler is objectively too good for this world.

Juliet Butler is out here living her best life, and frankly we love her for that. She's loving the hell out of her professional wrestling career, and she's found her own feet to stand on, not only with Butler but also with Artemis. She quite rightfully calls out his bullshit a couple of times, which is just delightful. She marries the girly/feminine stuff with the totally badass (and traditionally coded masculine) beautifully in a way that finds joy in both. So many "strong female characters" are strong because they reject everything girly/feminine, but Juliet gets BOTH. It's my favorite thing.

And her match against a dickhead gnome at the end is A+ no notes.

Holly and That One Time She Dated Her CO???

Ok, so I don't actually have a whole ton to say about this except...OMG OMG OMG HOLLY AND TROUBLE WENT ON A DATE!!!!! Which has to be immediately followed up with "Is this how Holly's complex around beloved and respected commanding officers dying horribly on her watch manifests?" And then naturally we have to side eye the absolute hell out of Trouble Kelp because dating subordinates has got to violate workplace ethics. Not that either Holly or Trouble have a great relationship with the rulebook, but Trouble is in charge now, so....Broski. Meet rulebook.

Now, all of that said...I am so mad that this date happened off-page. I would have killed to see it. Especially if Grub showed up at any point in the evening.

Finally: Artemis asking if Holly and Trouble have any plans to bivouac in the near future is INCREDIBLE and deserves both a slow clap and a slap.

A Brief Moment to Hate on Ark Sool

Ark Goddamn Sool full-on went to the dark side. He is MERC-ING for Turnball Root. He doesn't even have the scrap of integrity or loyalty to join the crew properly, he's in it for the goddamn money. We HATE Ark Sool. So. Freaking. Much.

Butler crushing him to death is better than he deserves, but it is IMMENSELY satisfying.

Concluding Thoughts

Overall, I have a lot of affection for this entry in the Artemis Fowl series. It has a complexity and a humor to it that I actually don't think any other book in the series has ("I'm the nut!" anyone?). It does sort of bring the arc of the series as a whole to a grinding halt to have a tragedy about Turnball Root and give Artemis Atlantis Complex, but I'm not mad about it. There is some really damn good character work here, and it paces quickly enough that the book really rocks on by as you read.

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