Just finished: "Iron Widow" by Xiran Jay Zhao

[cathyw]

• starting this at 7 pm was a mistake because the next time I looked up I was done with it and it was after midnight
• the premise invaded my dreams, I remember dreaming something about having a superpower I could only activate in conjunction with a male counterpart
• a female protagonist who is motivated by, straight up, wrath? in a YA novel? is that allowed?
• a love triangle resolved by bisexual polyamory? in a YA novel? is that allowed?
• this is awfully dark for a YA novel.
• Wu Zetian is not nice which in retrospect I should have expected given who she's named after.
• (in fairness to her there is at most one nice character in this book and it isn't her)
• (even that one guy did something Unforgivable even if the person he did it to had it coming)
• (also in fairness to her she has literally zero reason to be nice to almost anyone)
• she is mostly very clear that she knows exactly how awful the things she's doing are (except I think there's some rationalization/self-deception/unreliable narration regarding her final decision about her family)
• the ending really and truly took my expectations and defenestrated them but in retrospect I should have seen it coming after That Thing She Did.
• I mean I know how this kind of story goes, she overthrows the oppressive system and then goes off to live a peaceful life?
• hahahahahahaha.
• Zhao's next book is not the sequel to this but it sounds like a second book will be forthcoming in the foreseeable future
• which is good because we left Zetian metaphorically hanging from a metaphorical cliff.
• that said I feel like I need to reread it with the expectations laying shattered on the ground, I think I'll appreciate it more.