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Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Iron Widow
3/5. In far future fantasy/scifi inspired by Chinese history, a young woman enlists, knowing it will mean her death at the hands of her male co-pilot, for the purpose of killing the pilot who murdered her sister.
Like most YA these days, this one has a lot going on, including: mecha vs. alien fights, a love triangle turned poly triad, a deeply unjust and misogynist society that makes our heroine incoherently furious, family drama, celebrity culture, chronic pain, tormented boys and nice boys, and a whole lot of plot twists.
It has enjoyable elements – the heroine's fury is deep and genuine and unrelenting, which I appreciate, and while I have no investment in the triad emotionally, I like that it exists. But overall, the YA is too strong in this one for me. Am I the only one who thinks YA has been getting less and less interesting for the past decade? Which makes me sad, because there's a lot of cultural and sexual diversity in YA these days, and I'd like to enjoy it more. But it's all so *gestures* pitched at an emotional eleven at all times, with paper thin worldbuilding. Now I'm trying to remember if Hunger Games really was that much better, or if it's just that we've all read too much of this now.
Content notes: Violence of many sorts, misogyny, footbinding, forced addiction, torture.
3/5. In far future fantasy/scifi inspired by Chinese history, a young woman enlists, knowing it will mean her death at the hands of her male co-pilot, for the purpose of killing the pilot who murdered her sister.
Like most YA these days, this one has a lot going on, including: mecha vs. alien fights, a love triangle turned poly triad, a deeply unjust and misogynist society that makes our heroine incoherently furious, family drama, celebrity culture, chronic pain, tormented boys and nice boys, and a whole lot of plot twists.
It has enjoyable elements – the heroine's fury is deep and genuine and unrelenting, which I appreciate, and while I have no investment in the triad emotionally, I like that it exists. But overall, the YA is too strong in this one for me. Am I the only one who thinks YA has been getting less and less interesting for the past decade? Which makes me sad, because there's a lot of cultural and sexual diversity in YA these days, and I'd like to enjoy it more. But it's all so *gestures* pitched at an emotional eleven at all times, with paper thin worldbuilding. Now I'm trying to remember if Hunger Games really was that much better, or if it's just that we've all read too much of this now.
Content notes: Violence of many sorts, misogyny, footbinding, forced addiction, torture.