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A review by luluwoohoo
Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao
☀️☀️
A long awaited sequel that abandons the most captivating elements from book one in favour of a new disappointing end game.
As a highly anticipated book for me, I hoped for more of the things that made Iron Widow memorable: giant robot battles, authentic female rage, a legitimate love triangle. Instead, Zhao delivered a long, drawn out political takeover manifesto that abandoned all of the adventure and romance in favour of a new tone. This shift wouldn't necessarily have been bad, but the execution is lacking for me in several ways.
The pacing was an issue for me in the beginning, with the minimal plot being spread thin amongst repetitive scenes of the lower classes rising up against oppressors. These scenes were overall very one-dimensional and could have been edited significantly to have better effect. Conversely, the rest of the book had too much content that was rushed over or brushed off without proper exploration, for which the character arcs all suffered. Qin Zheng was interesting but ultimately disappointing; Yizhi was warped beyond recognition and underutilized; Shimin was non existent; Zetian ceased being a "good for her" character and became unlikeable and unreliable.
The worst aspect for me was the writing itself. Zhao's action writing style was difficult for me in Iron Widow but it seemed to be all throughout this book, alongside some terrible out of context language choices like "bloke" and "bugger". I also found the presence of so many modern concepts like jelly shots and menstrual cups too jarring in context to ever find this well conceived worldbuilding.
Honestly I think Zhao lost the plot with this book. There was little good left from book 1, and most of the new additions did nothing to forge a strong or interesting message. Instead we had a ham fisted and unedited narrative that left me disappointed. I don't have an interest in finishing off the trilogy after this instalment.
"Since when did we as a species abide by good sense? Why do cowardly men strike their wives after a reprimand at work? Why do mothers scream at their children after a beating from their husbands? Those unable to conquer their misfortunes take their fury out on more convenient targets."
☀️☀️
A long awaited sequel that abandons the most captivating elements from book one in favour of a new disappointing end game.
As a highly anticipated book for me, I hoped for more of the things that made Iron Widow memorable: giant robot battles, authentic female rage, a legitimate love triangle. Instead, Zhao delivered a long, drawn out political takeover manifesto that abandoned all of the adventure and romance in favour of a new tone. This shift wouldn't necessarily have been bad, but the execution is lacking for me in several ways.
The pacing was an issue for me in the beginning, with the minimal plot being spread thin amongst repetitive scenes of the lower classes rising up against oppressors. These scenes were overall very one-dimensional and could have been edited significantly to have better effect. Conversely, the rest of the book had too much content that was rushed over or brushed off without proper exploration, for which the character arcs all suffered. Qin Zheng was interesting but ultimately disappointing; Yizhi was warped beyond recognition and underutilized; Shimin was non existent; Zetian ceased being a "good for her" character and became unlikeable and unreliable.
The worst aspect for me was the writing itself. Zhao's action writing style was difficult for me in Iron Widow but it seemed to be all throughout this book, alongside some terrible out of context language choices like "bloke" and "bugger". I also found the presence of so many modern concepts like jelly shots and menstrual cups too jarring in context to ever find this well conceived worldbuilding.
Honestly I think Zhao lost the plot with this book. There was little good left from book 1, and most of the new additions did nothing to forge a strong or interesting message. Instead we had a ham fisted and unedited narrative that left me disappointed. I don't have an interest in finishing off the trilogy after this instalment.
"Since when did we as a species abide by good sense? Why do cowardly men strike their wives after a reprimand at work? Why do mothers scream at their children after a beating from their husbands? Those unable to conquer their misfortunes take their fury out on more convenient targets."