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A review by karis321
Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao
1.0
I feel like I should've seen this coming, given the fact I've followed Zhao far before their debut published. From their struggles against the publishing industry to their advocacy/aid for Palestinians (Free Palestine), Zhao has become quite a force on social media. Despite my low opinion on Iron Widow, I let Zhao's actions speak for their character and was more willing to give leeway, especially because they were implying Zetian's actions would face consequences in this book.
If anything, it really feels like Zhao was punishing their readers, because this book is an excruciating long mess that breaks more than fixes.
I really wonder how much of the past four years, specifically after October 2023, have influenced Zhao so much that they could not write the book without using their characters as mouthpieces for their political and philosophical rants. I had problems with a lot of the elements from the first book, from its depiction of feminism to the handling of the poly romance, but at least that was interesting. The rants and lessons of laborism, worker's rights, conversion to communism, went on and on, over and over again as if Zhao themself wasn't sure you heard them the first ten times. This is why the book is 500+ pages, because these rants would take forever to get through. I don't disagree with what's being said at all. In fact, I think the majority of the people reading this would agree with Zhao, so why is Zhao talking down at us as if they wouldn't? I hate books that are so transparent in its message but don't trust the readers enough to understand. That's when the show-don't-tell writing gets utterly exhausting.
In my Iron Widow review, I thought Zhao would doubt down on Zetian and up the ante on her rage-based personality, but, if anything, Zetian regressed and it made her kind of worse? She is horrified by the mass murder she committed in the first book and questions every decision she makes as Huaxia's new empress. She still rages at things, but that rarely drives her to do action; when it does, it's usually her running to Qin Zheng to ask him if he can fix it. It's framed as her being afraid of her new partner and of the public's scrutiny because she's the hARloT (Yes, she is unironically called that) who mass murdered their previous government, but the Zetian of IW wouldn't of cared and would've plowed through those obstacles instantly. The Zetian of HT is an entirely new character who has less agency than her previous incarnation. She doesn't even have her partners to bounce off of, because one is MIA for the majority of the story and the other is shoved in the background and is directly complicit in SA with Qin Zheng (More about that later).
Zhao did give attempt "good" relationships with other women, but they're surface level and, at times, make her seem worse. One is her assistant who is often the character used for Zhao's rants and helps Zetian with court politics, another is Yizhi's masc lesbian sister who flaunts her privilege to do so, Zetian's dead sister (She does have a name this time: Ruyi) comes back as a dream ghost who tries to convince Zetian to let women choose if they wanna be fighters or mothers before she is promptly ignored and never addressed again, and the aforementioned new women fighter pilots who are only given one intro and fight scene and that's it. The men, when they aren't sexist, patriarchal douchebags, are used to send the wrong messages, like Zetian being outraged over women being SA'ed and discarded pilots but not having the same energy for the men in this book who go through the exact same. She literally goes through the trouble of getting another prisoner male co-pilot because Qin Zheng was out of commission (He's stuck behind glass for most of the first half), but the guy gets castrated for no good reason (i.e., Qin Zheng is a possessive prick) and dies the exact same why her sister did! Zetian's devolution to being a horrible feminist is astounding, really, and to make her an empress who loses the willpower to lead is the cherry on top.
And the ""romance"" with Qin Zheng, who is essentially the main antagonist, it's just - so, so bad. Like I said, Zetian is afraid he'll kill her, which he constantly threatens to do, and decides to use her "feminine charm" in order to "manipulate" him. The book tries so hard to frame it as her decision, that's she's choosing all of this, but the book also makes it clear that she is still Qin Zheng's prisoner. She cannot do or say anything without going through him first, which eventually leads to Qin Zheng coercing her into sex (i.e., sexual assault). Again, the book tries really hard to frame this as Zetian using sex as a tool to get her way with the emperor, very girlboss of her, but it's not true! I know enemies-to-lovers is the thing right now in fiction, but so many of those same books have also fall into "the romance is actually wrong and rapey" hole this book plunged straight down into. How did this get published at a YA book?? This is not how toxic romances should be done in a book which is (theoretically) aimed at kids twelves and up! Their relationship would have been so much better if it was about Zetian and Qin Zheng attempting to psychologically one up the other as rulers, but no! WE HAD TO GET THIS!
Even if you somehow argue your way out by saying that wasn't SA, you cannot argue with the fact Qin Zheng stealing Zetian's eggs in order to inseminate them for a surrogate to carry isn't. The book even has the balls to lecture Zetian for her wanting to get rid o the pregnancy, stating that the surrogate had the right to carry the baby or not. YOU TOOK HER RIGHTS FIRST! And yes, this is the SA Yizhi is complicit in, which makes no sense because, as her previous partner, he is well aware how terrified Zetian was of pregnancy/reproducing. Plus, he's a victim of SA himself. He tries to explain himself near the end by saying he had to go along with the emperor's plan, but he did try to sabotage by messing with the insemination process, which may or may not have worked. Even so, it does erase the fact Yizhi helped Zetian's captor rip away Zetian's autonomy repeatedly. The Yizhi character assassination in this book is just so bad. It only made me more glad Shimin's character was gone so his wasn't buried further into the ground like his boyfriend.
Even with how much this book has mentally drained me, and how much I hate the fact Zhao extended this to a trilogy despite the initial one that it was a duology, I have to read the next book. I have to see how it ends, if the train wreck will explode more than it already has. We probably won't get it til, like, 2029, but I'm planning to be alive and literate.
God, and this is my first one-star read of the year. I can only hope I can only go up from here.
1/21/25 Edit: So, I just finished listening to the audiobook, and I have thoughts. But I'm tired and really don't feel like getting into all that right now. RTC.
If anything, it really feels like Zhao was punishing their readers, because this book is an excruciating long mess that breaks more than fixes.
I really wonder how much of the past four years, specifically after October 2023, have influenced Zhao so much that they could not write the book without using their characters as mouthpieces for their political and philosophical rants. I had problems with a lot of the elements from the first book, from its depiction of feminism to the handling of the poly romance, but at least that was interesting. The rants and lessons of laborism, worker's rights, conversion to communism, went on and on, over and over again as if Zhao themself wasn't sure you heard them the first ten times. This is why the book is 500+ pages, because these rants would take forever to get through. I don't disagree with what's being said at all. In fact, I think the majority of the people reading this would agree with Zhao, so why is Zhao talking down at us as if they wouldn't? I hate books that are so transparent in its message but don't trust the readers enough to understand. That's when the show-don't-tell writing gets utterly exhausting.
In my Iron Widow review, I thought Zhao would doubt down on Zetian and up the ante on her rage-based personality, but, if anything, Zetian regressed and it made her kind of worse? She is horrified by the mass murder she committed in the first book and questions every decision she makes as Huaxia's new empress. She still rages at things, but that rarely drives her to do action; when it does, it's usually her running to Qin Zheng to ask him if he can fix it. It's framed as her being afraid of her new partner and of the public's scrutiny because she's the hARloT (Yes, she is unironically called that) who mass murdered their previous government, but the Zetian of IW wouldn't of cared and would've plowed through those obstacles instantly. The Zetian of HT is an entirely new character who has less agency than her previous incarnation. She doesn't even have her partners to bounce off of, because one is MIA for the majority of the story and the other is shoved in the background and is directly complicit in SA with Qin Zheng (More about that later).
Zhao did give attempt "good" relationships with other women, but they're surface level and, at times, make her seem worse. One is her assistant who is often the character used for Zhao's rants and helps Zetian with court politics, another is Yizhi's masc lesbian sister who flaunts her privilege to do so, Zetian's dead sister (She does have a name this time: Ruyi) comes back as a dream ghost who tries to convince Zetian to let women choose if they wanna be fighters or mothers before she is promptly ignored and never addressed again, and the aforementioned new women fighter pilots who are only given one intro and fight scene and that's it. The men, when they aren't sexist, patriarchal douchebags, are used to send the wrong messages, like Zetian being outraged over women being SA'ed and discarded pilots but not having the same energy for the men in this book who go through the exact same. She literally goes through the trouble of getting another prisoner male co-pilot because Qin Zheng was out of commission (He's stuck behind glass for most of the first half), but the guy gets castrated for no good reason (i.e., Qin Zheng is a possessive prick) and dies the exact same why her sister did! Zetian's devolution to being a horrible feminist is astounding, really, and to make her an empress who loses the willpower to lead is the cherry on top.
And the ""romance"" with Qin Zheng, who is essentially the main antagonist, it's just - so, so bad. Like I said, Zetian is afraid he'll kill her, which he constantly threatens to do, and decides to use her "feminine charm" in order to "manipulate" him. The book tries so hard to frame it as her decision, that's she's choosing all of this, but the book also makes it clear that she is still Qin Zheng's prisoner. She cannot do or say anything without going through him first, which eventually leads to Qin Zheng coercing her into sex (i.e., sexual assault). Again, the book tries really hard to frame this as Zetian using sex as a tool to get her way with the emperor, very girlboss of her, but it's not true! I know enemies-to-lovers is the thing right now in fiction, but so many of those same books have also fall into "the romance is actually wrong and rapey" hole this book plunged straight down into. How did this get published at a YA book?? This is not how toxic romances should be done in a book which is (theoretically) aimed at kids twelves and up! Their relationship would have been so much better if it was about Zetian and Qin Zheng attempting to psychologically one up the other as rulers, but no! WE HAD TO GET THIS!
Even if you somehow argue your way out by saying that wasn't SA, you cannot argue with the fact Qin Zheng stealing Zetian's eggs in order to inseminate them for a surrogate to carry isn't. The book even has the balls to lecture Zetian for her wanting to get rid o the pregnancy, stating that the surrogate had the right to carry the baby or not. YOU TOOK HER RIGHTS FIRST! And yes, this is the SA Yizhi is complicit in, which makes no sense because, as her previous partner, he is well aware how terrified Zetian was of pregnancy/reproducing. Plus, he's a victim of SA himself. He tries to explain himself near the end by saying he had to go along with the emperor's plan, but he did try to sabotage by messing with the insemination process, which may or may not have worked. Even so, it does erase the fact Yizhi helped Zetian's captor rip away Zetian's autonomy repeatedly. The Yizhi character assassination in this book is just so bad. It only made me more glad Shimin's character was gone so his wasn't buried further into the ground like his boyfriend.
Even with how much this book has mentally drained me, and how much I hate the fact Zhao extended this to a trilogy despite the initial one that it was a duology, I have to read the next book. I have to see how it ends, if the train wreck will explode more than it already has. We probably won't get it til, like, 2029, but I'm planning to be alive and literate.
God, and this is my first one-star read of the year. I can only hope I can only go up from here.
1/21/25 Edit: So, I just finished listening to the audiobook, and I have thoughts. But I'm tired and really don't feel like getting into all that right now. RTC.