From what I saw from another commenter and as someone who is Chinese and knows about the Chinese culture, foot binding was a practice where the women from young age bind their feet up so they have smaller feet, not tight butts. Smaller feet in China was a sign of beauty back then. No clue where you got this from I searched it up and nowhere did I see the result you gave.
Where in the world did you get your dubious footbinding lore? ChatGPT!? It was made to make their feet petite (beauty ideal), their steps small, and, to an extent, to keep the women from running away. It was an incredibly potent status symbol, and if you belonged to the upper class and didn't have bound feet, you could pretty much kiss your marriage prospects goodbye.
@@alexbennet4195 Take this Chinese academic paper and this Chinese language UN document, run them through the nearest Chinese native speaker you know: www.historychina.net/qsyj/ztyj/sxwh/2005-08-29/24992.shtml documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/g02/104/27/pdf/g0210427.pdf
I would say that the resolution of the love triangle wasn't contrived for me. 1. taking multiple lovers is what the real empress wu did, even in a deeply misogynistic society that hated her for it. Its still a fair criticism, but they were using the context around the book with. 2. I read into enough meaningful glances to see the bisexual part of it coming. Also bi people still exist and have relationships even in ancient times.
Eh, I knew from the start that it was leading to a love triangle and the mentions that the two guys were bisexual were obvious enough, but it still came off as too sudden and without proper setup. It felt like it'd been tacked onto the end just to fill a promise.
idk about contrived but there is not a lot of build up and the payoff is meh… it was rushed to fulfill that promise and to make it stand out. that resolution should’ve been held off until later books in the series, if iron widow was always intended to be a series
Plus the author had included a scene where the boys had their moment but it had to be removed bc of the page limit I think. The gifted artworks show that potential scene, still sad that it was deleted tho
Correction: Foot binding was to make their legs petite and appeal more to the norms of their society. It’s not to make their 🐱 tighter. The belief came from an old mythology about some princess. So they adopted it into their culture… not deliberately. It was thought of like an extreme makeup
@@Drawperfectcircles I have only heard/ read in fiction about the version you are describing. What are the sources for this wild other version mentioned in the video!?
@@Asummersdaydreamer14 like I said… I DONT KNOW EITHER!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t know who told him, what inspired his version! I don’t know anything anymore. Maybe an Alien descended to share its knowledge, maybe he received divine divination, I can never be sure… I can…cannnottt. Read this comically. I’m just being weird here. But fr though, how did he come to that conclusion?
@@Drawperfectcircles lol it is perplexing though I glanced at the first Google result for foot binding, and one sentence on the foot binding Wikipedia page matches. It had one citation linked to the third edition of a psychology book about different forms of self-harm/ mutilation originally published in 1987. I might be a little uncharitable of being suspicious of some psychology writer named Armando from the 1980s who does not appear to have a speciality in Chinese history/ anthropology or whatever making such a wild claim about a cultural practice that is one of many he is covering. He listed some citations, but i am too lazy to see if it matches those with 🐱 claim. Sorry for the rambling on my end; hope you are reading something fun
I like when the character is shitty and the author is honest about it. I have been reading a certain author’s books lately and she definitely justifies her characters’ shitty behavior.
@@IamnowscaredofTwitter no. It’s T Kingfisher. It’s not even that she has characters who are assholes and don’t care, so much as it is making them “tortured and hurt” is a sorry substitute for development. There’s just a smidge less misogyny. It’s easy to tell when someone has lost someone and when someone knows losing someone hurts. I could be making a lot of assumptions, but that’s how her and Colleen’s stories feel. Plus quantity over quality.
Read in other lands by Sarah Reese Brennan, the main character is such a little piece of shit but I love him because it's explained well as to why he reacts that way Actual line from Elliott Schafer: "Please stop breathing your IQ lowering air in my direction"
i mostly agree with this video, except for the points about the qi manipulation and zetian's brother. the chrysalis engineers didn't really make a "difficult decision," so much as they came across a bullet hole, and their bright idea was to smack a band-aid on it. instead of looking for an actual solution to the excessive amounts of qi their machines required to operate - like, you know, is their actual job - they decided their female pilots weren't worth the trouble and sacrificed thousands of them en masse. zetian's anger at that situation wasn't just because she is a woman, but because it was the most blatant display of the fundamental dehumanization of women in her society. i actually thought it was one of the better reveals in the book. and zetian killing her brother... yeah, it was a bit much, but we really have no reason to believe it was anything more complex than zetian destroying the perpetrators of her abuse. there was definitely a missed opportunity for some "golden child & scapegoat" sibling dynamics there, but zetian's entire family was incredibly one note, so it's not much of a surprise. if there was a sibling in this story who actually deserved a little more nuance, it would be zetian's older sister, who (despite being the catalyst of her character arc and the entire plot of the story) doesn't even get a name lol.
The sister IS named but I had to dig through the internet a bit to even find that out, which speaks to how well all the characters stand out from one another
@@lizabethhampton4537 yeah, you're actually right- it's ruyi. i think i forgot because zetian almost exclusively refers to her as "big sister". i think it's supposed to be like her using an honorific, but yeah, it definitely doesn't help differentiating anyone.
Didn't read the book but assuming they are under time constraints to make such mechs it's possible they just didn't have the time to make something safer for the first times and thought not innovating after that is a problem. Making sure you can control with pilot dies makes sense if you can't go around such limitation, making sure the more experienced one survives is fairly crucial after all, arbitrarily choosing that based on gender less so
@@wikimody5013 i went back to check and make sure i had my facts straight, and it's stated that the military has been producing chrysalises for at least 200 years by the time iron widow starts. ample time to solve that issue, imo. and it's made pretty clear female pilots wouldn't have to die if they were actually paired with equally powerful male counterparts, instead of being deliberately placed with male pilots who greatly exceed their power levels every time.
@@ComedyPlastic Wu Zetian is the only Empress of all China who was considered legitimate. Not just a concubine ruling in the name of another, or a queen ruling in the place of her son. The actual Empress of China. Also she's rumored to have murdered her kids on her way to the throne.
@@ComedyPlasticWu Zetian was an empress of China. She obtained power through all of the above methods and I believe the author of Iron Widow has explicitly said the character is heavily based on/inspired by the historic Chinese empress. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Zetian That’s her Wikipedia page if you’re interested.
@@ComedyPlastic Wu Zetian was a real historical person, the only female emperor of China. Pretty sure this series is loosely based on her life, obviously with a lot of liberties taken and in a sci-fi/fantasy setting
I really enjoy Xiran Jay Zhao's videos (as well as yours) but I haven't read the book, so I'm interested to hear your thoughts. I've heard mixed opinions on it so far. Obvi being cool on YT doesn't automatically make you a fantastic writer lol
it's over-hyped severely. I couldn't finish it because I was getting way too mad & I kept finding myself unintentionally in editor mode, making corrections & rewrites instead of just reading. I can appreciate the representation, especially on the disability side of things, but man. I have things to say about it. biggest flaws, summarized: the mechs (the whole premise of the series) barely show up, the author is constantly repeating & re-explaining unimportant information while leaving critical information out, the characterization is all over the place with little to no transition or real character development, it is *way. too. long.* for literally no reason (tying back in to the second point of telling us shit that doesn't matter all the time. were they paid by the word & trying to milk it??). it's cool that people enjoyed Iron Widow, but I could not get past the mediocre at best writing. it isn't a style choice, it straight up reads like an unedited, unbeta-ed, first draft fanfiction (I'm allowed to say this, I write both original works & fanfic lol) that otherwise could have been good if the author just got over their fear of seeing their own art. it distracts from the plot, is noticeable immediately, & it is prevalent throughout the entire book, not just certain parts that may be the author's weak points. it's just--the whole damn book. maybe it's just because I'm a "get to the point" kind of writer, but you do not need two pages explaining an irrelevant piece of scenery that will never come up again ever instead of, ya know, describing what the *people* or rooms look like or something. I've written very long pieces (100k) that still *get to the point* so it's not the length that's the issue. I see that other comment about it being not bad for a first book, but this doesn't feel like a first published book, it feels like a first book period. the book is fine if you're obsessed with the tropes it uses, but a novel should not fully rely on tropes to do the heavy lifting. it needs *A LOT* of editing & should not have been published as is. maybe I'm being too harsh (it's definitely not personal) but like. every more recently popular book I've been told to read always has major, fundamental issues that go ignored because [insert ao3 tags here] & I'm tired of being nice about it. I have standards.
@@pa-pa-plasmafor a "get to the point" kind of writer, you certainly rambled on for a loooooong time about things that could have been ultimately summed up as "just not my personal preference."
my sort-of "issue" with the book is exactly that it feels like a trimmed version of a longer book, instead of one that's "naturally" written to be a short story
Books like this are part of the reason I don't use any sort of numbered or graded rating system. A lot of reviewers give books a score from 1-10 or a grade from A-F, but I feel that simplifies things too much. I would have no idea where to put "Iron Widow" on a scale like that because some parts of it are great and others are bad or confusing. Good things and bad things in a book don't cancel each other out, they exist side-by-side and mix together in complex ways.
I think one of the biggest things to understand is who the main character is based on. I will admit that Chinese history isn’t something I am too well versed in, but the main character is named after Empress Wu ZeTian. She was a concubine of an emperor who would marry his heir after he died. As consort she already had a lot of power, but she would basically rule China for half a century through directly herself or her husband and children. She was very cunning and morally grey which is why the book character is also similar
I find your issues with the 'love triangle' kinda funny as a polyamorous person. I don't think it ever was one to begin with. It's been a while since I read the book, but I don't recall there ever being any tensions indicting one. In fact, I remember her childhood best friend acting like a dork when he first meets the pilot guy lol.
Absolutely, even if I hadn't gone in knowing the Triangle was guaranteed, it was hinted at consistently as a possibility. Also loved "The triangle is the strongest shape!"
Wow, i haven't watched you're videos in a minute and you look amazing what a glow up. Looking great man, and a always liked your videos so let's see it
@@20000dino he literally had surgery to correct his underbite, it's no secret, my professional guess is he underwent a Bilateral Sagittal Split Osteotomy (BSSO), as that's the procedure we'd likely use at the clinic I work at. Go back a few years to when James was in treatment if you'd like, you can see his braces and he even made a video about needing a short break after the surgery since talking would be difficult at first after the surgery. The video is titled "Health update: Jaw surgery and stuff" ua-cam.com/video/ojeLxKybluE/v-deo.htmlsi=yKEvoZMYZVs1Hpjz
@@probablythedm1669 My bad, I didn't know that. Still, I don't find that most of his glow up was thanks to his jaw but to a few other other factors. One was styling himself better (more specifically his hair and facial hair). Taking his braces off helped as well. And before people come for me, I myself wore braces for 4 years and they made me look ugly. Braces don't look good on everybody,´- especially if you already wear glasses (like I do), making your face look too busy, as was the case with him. Additionally, his old glasses did not look good on him, so moving towards contact lenses made for a big improvement (though using a pair of glasses that better suited him would also do the job).
Finally someone with almost exactly my opinions on Iron Widow. I agree that the first part and the climax are great and the middle is directionless. I mean (disclaimer all name spellings are guesses bc i listened to the audiobook) Zetian flip flops between not caring if she dies and deciding she wants to live. If thats not a sign shes got no goal idk what is. I will say the love triangle didn't come out of nowhere for me, there were enough hints that Yizhi was bisexual. That said I think it moved way too fast at the end. Shimin was not ready for that kind of relationship, character arc-wise.
It's almost as if being raised in a world that systematically oppresses you can have you flipflopping on your will to live in it. A world that raises you for slaughter, it takes time to gain the courage and will to live in spite of what you've been told is your role. And of course Zetian seems like she doesn't have a goal sometimes, she accomplished her goal early on and needed to find a new one after unexpectedly surviving the first.
I've been meaning to read the Iron Widow for a while because I like Xiran Jay Zhao. I don't mind cliches and overdone troupes in literature, but the writing style is definitely a big factor for me, so I'll keep that in mind if I read it. Speaking of which, if you want a well written Chinese, female anti-hero, I strongly suggest Jing Wei Qing Shan (Clear and Muddy Loss of Love) by author Please Don't Laugh. It's translation is available online, and it is genuinely one of the best works of fiction dealing with an anti-hero that I've come across.
25:47 There's an India-inspired settlement taking the role of historical India, and for obligatory Journey To The West reference. It's never visited, just that Monkey wrote about it and it's possibly the only other one left.
The prose of this book killed me. I watch(ed) XJZ's vids so I have an idea of what kind of prose they were going for but esp in the beginning it was just slightly stilted enough to drive me insane.
i hope james reads the locked tomb someday. it's not ya though but i think it'd like to see him go over the wordbuilding, it also got one of the most weird magic systems I've ever seen with the necromancy stuff
@@marocat4749no, not really. The protagonists are young adults but the narrative isn't YA at all. The first book is maybe kinda YA, in some aspects, but beyond that? Not at all lmaoo
I recently read TLT for the first time and one of my main thoughts is that a few things, but especially the gender aspects, were essentially a better version of Iron Widow
James, a lot of youtubers get traditionally published and their books are still garbage. It's actually kind of an issue, people get published for the audience they have and not for their talent. Large book tubers and or just content creators get publishing deals. Even those that don't actually read or write have books published written by ghost writers. Many publishers figure the built in audience guaratenees sales and care little for the quality. But it also depends on how large you are, how many views you get etc. I mean, it's not hard for someone like Daniel Greene to get published. Esp not after he releases a self published work and it sells .. so he can show the publishers, hey look "my book sold pretty well and it's not even traditionally published". Also, let's be real here. Getting published is also part chance, luck, writing the right genre at the right time, being the right person at the right time or knowing the right people. E.g. Brandon Sanderson managed to get published because he met some editor or agent from a publisher at some event and they became friends. Then he used his influence and success to get his friend Dan Wells published. (might have been the other way around, I don't remember).
i read this book and i genuinely enjoyed it, but i honestly don't know if i want to continue with the next book(s). i like the concept but i feel xiran jay zhao was too... blunt?? with how they make the points? i just feel like i kept being hit over the head with the shittiness of the society and all that. i do agree about your points about how another draft probably would have smoothed things over and how xiran has potential. i'll probably revisit their works again in the future when they've had time to hone their skills more. i might revisit iron widow and the subsequent sequels later as well. for now, i would rather look for works that are more subtle in their messaging. i do love how the two guys are just smitten and follow zetian's lead though. like i get it's weird consodering the society but i like how they just see a strong woman and shake hands going "yeah she can step on us actually"
I haven't read Iron Widow, and I don't plan on reading it. (It's not my cup of tea with the science fiction aspect) The anime of Darling in the Franxx falling off mid plot was the reason they wrote this, which is hilarious honestly. Sometimes, writing things out of spite leads us to this. Aside from not reading their books, I think the author is pretty cool, though, especially for their casual attitude. I saw a video of them, where they used the same picture as their UA-cam pfp for the "about the author" (it was a cow jumpsuit) and using their platform for good causes/bad situations in the industry. Which is why I like their content, and I think they're funny for making memes about their own book & breaking trope stereotypes, apparently.
as another fellow who liked the first half of darling in the franxx (in theory), i'm perfectly happy with just darling in the franxx but not taking 3 left turns onto batshit insanity street in the second half
I think you were a lot more generous to this book than I would have been. Iron Widow read more like a hasty plot synopsis for a streaming show than a novel. I watched the author's UA-cam videos before I read their book and have to wonder if they watched their own stuff. The main character, who bears absolutely no resemblance to her badass namesake, is just a disabled 21st Century Canadian girl and not a part of the world that the author presents. You touched on it a bit but the "21st Century"-ness of it all was a big problem for every character. If the story was rooted in a little more history then this book could have been really solid. I also thought that we should have had a lot more "girls" in the story, beyond ones that she betrays or avenges. The messages ring kind of hollow when most women in the story are the protagonist and plot devices. We need to see what someone who's not special looks like with foot binding or how different Qi actually manifests in mundane humanity. We don't get to understand the alternative life that the protagonist would have lived because it's only talked about not shown. Too much magic system wankery and not enough actual world building. I also didn't think the resolution to the live triangle was pulled off well. Like you said, props for trying but we need more development before "a triangle is the strongest shape" can seem earned. The real Empress Wu had a crazy love life, again, shame it didn't get used as inspiration. Great video, agreed that this is a better than average "UA-camr book". Just didn't have enough meat for me.
I totally agree with the lack of female characters bit. There are only two other women who have any significance, and one fits the bill of being a stereotypical “bitch” character. Zetian’s elder sister gets fridged, and I feel like Yizhi easily could have been a female character and served the narrative equally well. I actually made a note that the first other female character of note appears on page 200. Ah, well. It wasn’t written for me, and that’s all right.
If you're talking mecha novels there's always The Mech Touch, though it is very long 14+ mil words, it focuses a lot on the mech design stuff, and eventually starts going into a cultivation/xiania science fantasy setting but I do like all those parts of it.
@@fred101j7 I read some of it, just not very much compared to how ungodly long it is. It was on webnovel, so I couldn't read too much without it getting paywalled.
I just started watching the video, but, as someone who regularly reads chinese webnovels, I have to say as soon as you mentioned fighting an alien race on mechas I immediately thought of all the zergs novels lol. It’s basically a genre in itself, in which there’s an insect alien race called zergs who are the enemy, in some cases the novels are from the zergs perspective. It’s sci-fi with mechas and stuff, sometimes fantasy mixed in.
@ Maybe, I couldn’t tell for sure, almost everything is inspired by something else. What I meant with my comment is that the concept in Iron Widow wasn’t new or original to me. And since the author is chinese I immediately thought of the zergs.
great review. It would be fun if you now started reviewing more chinese novels, especially someWuxia or Danmei stuff (my personal favorite is Shisis Lillte Mushroom)
I was kinda disappointed by the bad boy's backstory. I thought it was quite impressive that they'd written an mc so flawed that i had no problem shipping her with an unrepentant criminal. Giving him a "tragic" backstory (and such a cheap one - the girl having to be a crush to be seen as a person) felt like back paddling to me
But this is a through and through cruel society. I would assume that a large portion of people who grow up in that society has some kind of tragic, cruel back story of one kind or another that explains why the whole place is mainly populated by traumatised a---holes.
@@petrairene true, yeah. I guess my issue is less that he has a tragic backstory and more that it took the character from a good person that did something horrible to one that did something understandable. I guess I liked the idea of him being irredeemable in some way because i hadn't seen that in a love interest before
I've been really hesitant about giving this book a chance because of its rather classic YA look, but hearing your review has really changed my mind. been a long time viewer and hearing you praise a book like this feels very new lol, so I'll probably give it a shot. great video again btw!!!!
James, if you liked this book you need to play the game Nine Sols. Very similar structure of a Chinese-inspired sci-fi revenge story with a morally dubious protagonist. The game’s story is surprisingly excellent in its themes of ambition gone wrong and accepting your own mortality, doubly so if you understand the references to Taoism that the game makes. I know you’re not a game review channel but I’d definitely like to see you analyze the game’s narrative.
Liked hearing your review! I read this book as well and had mixed feelings and I agreed a lot with what you said, I was definitely really pulled in by the first 100 pages as well and then no so sure about the rest
I thought killing off the brother was fine. He didn’t directly abuse her, but was nonetheless complicit by doing nothing. That was my interpretation, but the book didn’t make it very clear due to the lack of descriptions. Edit: should’ve been more specific. He was complicit in the eyes of his revenge driven sister and this represents her hatred incurring collateral damage.
re: the polyamorous thing, as a polyam person, sometimes there literally is just nothing seen as a problem like sometimes its just not seen as a problem by anyone involved, its just a natural solution (solution being a loose term because sometimes its just not preceived as a problem in thef irst palce)
I'm writing my debut novel, "Interview with the Monster", which is based on Mary Shelly's Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus. There is animal-human hybrids in the story -- the narrator is one of these creatures, but the main plot revolves around the mad scientist and his creation.
That scene with Yizhi’s dad threatening Xeitian made noooo sense like why would he tell her he’ll use this for blackmail BEFORE filming? Why would he tell her at all? And what motive would she have to comply? Such an odd scene 😂 In the audiobook, Hundun is pronounced like WHin-dew-in? Like the Wh of someone pronouncing cool Whip obnoxiously- win-dew-in. Or wind-win with with a thick wh on the front of wind
on top of that, Yizhi hates his dad and likes Zetian, so even if the video gets released, Yizhi has no reason to turn on Zetian, so she has nothing to be afraid of?
The pacing was definitely off for me, and our main girl changed too much in personality too quickly for me to even remotely believe it .. and the actual plot developments weren’t really for me .. but I looved the descriptions of the chrysalises and most battles! I think it definitely was too short for the amount of plot - even this book may have needed to be split in two to not .. run through everything. The ideas are solid and the worldbuilding is okay, it is really a pretty decent debut, I’m just sorry for people who looove this kinda plot / characters that it basically rushes into and past most of it.
the author did struggle with a word count limit imposed by the publisher and wasn't fully sure there'd be a second book as far as I can tell so that might explain some of the issues.
@@colour-instinct i should’ve remembered that! Yeah, absolutely would explain it, and that’s just a bit .. saddening … when thinking about the state of publishing today
people often bring up how Xiran had to cut down to the word limit to explain this, but I feel it's exactly part of the flaw - it reads like a long story with parts cut off, rather than a story that's "organically" written to be short.
@@diethylmalonate That's a really good point. there were a lot of characters that didn't get enough development (the sister that died didn't even get a name). Maybe it should have been broken up into more books instead? but that gets into the fact that she didn't know if there'd be a sequel.
have to disagree with your take on wu zetian. i found her to be extremely annoying. she's such an edgelord and she is always magically correct all the time. the narrative never makes her truly have a moment of self-doubt or questioning. she thinks for five seconds "maybe I'm wrong" and immediately goes "no it's the children who are wrong". there is an idea here at the core that's interesting, but the writing skill does not match the story. the world-building is not well thought out, that butterfly metaphor was so painfully on the nose i cringed, and all the other characters are paper thin they are so lacking in dimension. her family is cartoonishly evil and her precious sister that dies? the catalyst for this whole mess? does zetian ever really think about her? idk everything in this book is barely a foot deep, but then again what am i expecting of a ya novel? (also why name these characters after historical figures and not do anything with that? i thought zetian would be a clever and politically-minded character that uses her smarts to obtain power like the real zetian did to become a female emperor but instead shes an angry dumbass)
I always see people claim the best way to resolve a love triangle is to turn it into polyamory but I've never seen this done in a satisfying way. Like the few times I've seen it attempted it was incredibly awkward/forced and just became sort of boring and indulgent. Like I guess polyamory is magic and people never struggle in these relationships.
I tried to listen to an audiobook of this one but couldn’t get into it so now I have the written version because I feel it’s the type of book you need to read or understand
I've been thinking about reading the book for some time now. I can now make a more informed decision, thank you for the review! *proceeds to thinking whether to start the book or not*
@Kagomai15 oh, thank you! Strange question, if you indulge me. How is the language difficulty? I mean are there a lot of long complex sentences? And is it leaning more towards simpler words or more "advanced" vocabulary? I'm asking because I'm always on a look out for books for my ESL teenage students, and was hoping I could recommend it to them if it sticks to simpler choices, language-wise
@lanaalba8392 I think it does lean towards simpler language but definitely heed the content warnings at the beginning. Chapter two does describe the event of Zetian's grandmother and aunts breaking her feet when she was very young, and she deals with the consequences of this forever. Honestly, it's a brutal world, but I think teens can handle it, just be prepared to discuss abuse in the name of beauty standards and the concept of basically selling a family member for the chance at escaping one shitty situation to replace it with a lifestyle that is just as terrible but in different related ways. Honestly, I finished the book really wanting to write an essay about all the themes it touches on.
@Kagomai15 Thank you very much for your thoughtful response! Now, I definitely need to check it out and consider adding it to my students' reading lists. I think these topics are both important and engaging, and when students feel they learn something THROUGH language, I can sneakily teach them a thing or two about modal verbs and Past Perfect Tense 😋
@lanaalba8392 Honestly, you got me really reflecting on my goals in life because I used to want to be a teacher but gave up after not liking peer tutoring a language in high school. Thanks for the spark of dream chasing.
Okay. I was looking for books with polyamorous relationships since I've been wanting to write one and this book came up. You posted this within minutes of me finding it
Wasn't a fan of this book, I go in for really developed worldbuilding, character development, and magic systems and/or political conflicts which this book totally lacked. This author lost me when she leaned in to the Bury Your Gays troupe at the end, really didn't see that coming. Also the first 100 pages was rough. You, James, mention that the guys being ok with a polycule relationship in a world where women are treated as property is far fatched, which I agree with, but would also point out that Wu Xiatian (?) is also the only women in this entire universe who fights for women's rights, not her grandmother, mother, or sister, Xiatian just popped out the womb fighting. It would've been helpful if we ever saw Xiatian's older sister protect her from her parents or question why women were treated as cattle. But Big Sister (did she even have a name?) was just a prop, her life and her experiences were so insignificant that we didn't even see what happened to her or learn why she was killed before ever going into battle. I had such high hopes for this book but it totally let me down.
4:22 I don't believe you so I did look it up and thge evidence is...less than compelling. I found one paper from 2007 about this but it was paywalled so couldn't actually see the data. what I could read, though, didn't hint at anything conclusive. other papers citing this one didn't mention tightening vaginal/pelvic muscles (from what I could read behind paywall but did look at the link between foot stimulation and genital stimulation. so nothing to suggest it would make sex better for the men. sorry, dude, but I think you might be misinformed on this one and should probs do some more research yourself. edit: but would love if you could share your sources so we know where you found this info!!
i didn't like it either!! so much of the plot points were shoehorned in, such as the random rich guy childhood friend??? very deus ex machina. also there was waaay too much going on way too quickly. also there are no healthy female friendships at all. for how "feminist" it is, there is a really huge emphasis on romance. why are all the other female characters evil except for the main character? idk i think the book just rubbed me the wrong way.
I feel like you should have researched the historical and cultural contexts that likely went into writing this book a bit more seriously. I mean, the author herself is on UA-cam and makes videos about China's history and culture... 😅
Take this Chinese academic paper and this Chinese language UN document, run them through the nearest Chinese native speaker you know: www.historychina.net/qsyj/ztyj/sxwh/2005-08-29/24992.shtml documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/g02/104/27/pdf/g0210427.pdf
The love triangle-turned-polycule reminds me of something from me and my boyfriend's shared TES IV: Oblivion AU. Both of our characters had some sort of relationship with Martin Septim before the events of the game; his character, Amyra, the Hero of Kvatch, knew him as a child before they became separated, only to meet once again as adults. My character, Voka, knew him as an adult, in the Mage's Guild, only to have a falling out and meet once again later. Both Voka and Amyra have feelings for Martin in different ways, but the two of them are strangers to each other. As the story goes on, they do become friends, but nothing more. After Martin passes away, Amyra learns she is pregnant with his child, and Voka stays to help take care of the child even though she wasn't his. Once she goes missing as well, Voka and Amyra just slowly drift apart and never really speak again. Two people who loved the same man, who could've been more than friends but could never cross that barrier. When we first merged our stories, we both had the idea to make it a polycule in the end, but it literally never worked out no matter how many times we tried to make it work. Amyra and Voka have such different personalities.
From what I've seen of her content she intentionally leans into the conventions of the genre such as the love triangle and the fanficcy elements, apparently that's how actual historical fiction is in their culture, they expect such 'spicing up'. I think its a little too much just Pacific Rim But What If Also Its A Handmaids Tale for my tastes, and that two robot-fight structure is taken right out of Robot Jox, although they had a movie and a low budget to consider, not sure why anyone would do that in a book form
I think that the author used the book to express some of her own disgust with the more cruel aspects of her native Chinese culture that she herself fell prey to.
Exactly my thoughts. I find that the game "1000xResist" (coincidentally written by descendants of asian immigrants) did a lot better at showing what generational trauma does to a person and how sometimes they simply cannot help but perpetuate the same pain they themselves experienced. That is...ostensibly, the plot (though I'm leaving a hell of a lot of DEEPEST LORE out). There are a lot of points where 1000xResist is equally on-the-nose with the nature of trauma as Iron Widow was, but the tone was significantly less judgmental overall I think. Maybe its just the difference between a game's ability to let the player's interact with the narrative vs traditional novels, but I appreciate it when a story lays the pieces out one-by-one and then let's me decide for myself rather than constantly slam me with scenes of "look how bad this is? isn't this bad? isn't this JUST like how bad it is real life?".
@@DeltafangEX But some societies are extremely shitty. If an Afghan woman today wrote a novel about life in Taliban Afghanistan, it would be riddled with descriptions of injustices and cruelty.
@@petrairene More likely than not, yes. But that's still an assumption either way. You'd likely find just as many books unironically extolling the virtues of a society entirely bent to the subjugation of the author's class/race/cache/whathave you at any local library though. On another note, I feel we're finding trouble separating people themselves from their cultures. The author is about as far away from that point in her family's history as I am from the slaves I know were in my family tree. It's just my personal opinion, but I don't think it makes for very good fiction when its clearly the focus over the fiction itself. This could have just as easily been a mecha Wuxia story OR a historical fiction story and it would have been a lot less muddled either way. I don't think its the worst thing in the world or that it shouldn't exists or anything like that - just that it would have been better served focusing on one or another,
Huh, the main character is named after the only female emperor in Chinese history and her love interest the most renowned and successful emperor of the same dynasty
@@charlieni645 historically, Zetian was more a concubine to Shimin than a wife (she was 14 when she started, and he was 40. yeah.). It was through eventually getting with Shimin's son that she rose to power. The author probably didn't want the main character to have dated both a father and his son, and changed it lol
I agree with a lot of this, but heavily disagree with the idea that the military choosing to sacrifice girIs each time instead of making it a toss up was a "difficult choice that they had to make". The only reason they wouldnt leave it as a toss up is if they values the lives of one gender more than the other, which is findementallyeviI. The objectively morally correct choice is to leave it as a toss up, and find other ways to encourage people to volunteer.
i definitely recommend iron widow! the thing that hooked me was that it is a loose retelling of how the only female chinese emperor came to power. i love the weird mishmash of historical and science fiction.
From what I saw from another commenter and as someone who is Chinese and knows about the Chinese culture, foot binding was a practice where the women from young age bind their feet up so they have smaller feet, not tight butts. Smaller feet in China was a sign of beauty back then. No clue where you got this from I searched it up and nowhere did I see the result you gave.
UA-cam ate the link, got a title for you: 从科学话语到国家控制--“缠足”美丑与身体政治 by 杨念群, it's contested but it absolutely is believed
Where in the world did you get your dubious footbinding lore? ChatGPT!? It was made to make their feet petite (beauty ideal), their steps small, and, to an extent, to keep the women from running away. It was an incredibly potent status symbol, and if you belonged to the upper class and didn't have bound feet, you could pretty much kiss your marriage prospects goodbye.
That’s so horrifying damn
@@alexbennet4195
Take this Chinese academic paper and this Chinese language UN document, run them through the nearest Chinese native speaker you know: www.historychina.net/qsyj/ztyj/sxwh/2005-08-29/24992.shtml
documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/g02/104/27/pdf/g0210427.pdf
UA-cam ate the link, got a title for you: 从科学话语到国家控制--“缠足”美丑与身体政治 by 杨念群
Save me, morally dubious woman. Morally dubious woman save me...
I would say that the resolution of the love triangle wasn't contrived for me. 1. taking multiple lovers is what the real empress wu did, even in a deeply misogynistic society that hated her for it. Its still a fair criticism, but they were using the context around the book with. 2. I read into enough meaningful glances to see the bisexual part of it coming. Also bi people still exist and have relationships even in ancient times.
Eh, I knew from the start that it was leading to a love triangle and the mentions that the two guys were bisexual were obvious enough, but it still came off as too sudden and without proper setup. It felt like it'd been tacked onto the end just to fill a promise.
She might have had multiple lovers but wasn't that after she became empress? And also the lovers were into each other?
idk about contrived but there is not a lot of build up and the payoff is meh… it was rushed to fulfill that promise and to make it stand out. that resolution should’ve been held off until later books in the series, if iron widow was always intended to be a series
Plus the author had included a scene where the boys had their moment but it had to be removed bc of the page limit I think. The gifted artworks show that potential scene, still sad that it was deleted tho
modern ideas of bisexuality as an identity did not exist until around 200 years ago
Correction: Foot binding was to make their legs petite and appeal more to the norms of their society. It’s not to make their 🐱 tighter. The belief came from an old mythology about some princess. So they adopted it into their culture… not deliberately.
It was thought of like an extreme makeup
I had never ever heard the version that James said... concerning
@@sophiethepegasus same bro. I’ve never heard it either, where did he even get that from?!
@@Drawperfectcircles I have only heard/ read in fiction about the version you are describing. What are the sources for this wild other version mentioned in the video!?
@@Asummersdaydreamer14 like I said… I DONT KNOW EITHER!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t know who told him, what inspired his version! I don’t know anything anymore. Maybe an Alien descended to share its knowledge, maybe he received divine divination, I can never be sure… I can…cannnottt.
Read this comically. I’m just being weird here. But fr though, how did he come to that conclusion?
@@Drawperfectcircles lol it is perplexing though
I glanced at the first Google result for foot binding, and one sentence on the foot binding Wikipedia page matches. It had one citation linked to the third edition of a psychology book about different forms of self-harm/ mutilation originally published in 1987.
I might be a little uncharitable of being suspicious of some psychology writer named Armando from the 1980s who does not appear to have a speciality in Chinese history/ anthropology or whatever making such a wild claim about a cultural practice that is one of many he is covering. He listed some citations, but i am too lazy to see if it matches those with 🐱 claim. Sorry for the rambling on my end; hope you are reading something fun
I like when the character is shitty and the author is honest about it. I have been reading a certain author’s books lately and she definitely justifies her characters’ shitty behavior.
Is it Colleen Hoover?
@@IamnowscaredofTwitter no. It’s T Kingfisher. It’s not even that she has characters who are assholes and don’t care, so much as it is making them “tortured and hurt” is a sorry substitute for development. There’s just a smidge less misogyny. It’s easy to tell when someone has lost someone and when someone knows losing someone hurts. I could be making a lot of assumptions, but that’s how her and Colleen’s stories feel. Plus quantity over quality.
@@AllisonMiller30 aii this is putting me off Kingfisher now
@mikanchan322 I liked her for a while, but she embodies the phrase “this feels like a first draft.”
Read in other lands by Sarah Reese Brennan, the main character is such a little piece of shit but I love him because it's explained well as to why he reacts that way
Actual line from Elliott Schafer: "Please stop breathing your IQ lowering air in my direction"
By being confusing as fuck iron widow is the most authentic mecha Novel written in eona
i mostly agree with this video, except for the points about the qi manipulation and zetian's brother. the chrysalis engineers didn't really make a "difficult decision," so much as they came across a bullet hole, and their bright idea was to smack a band-aid on it. instead of looking for an actual solution to the excessive amounts of qi their machines required to operate - like, you know, is their actual job - they decided their female pilots weren't worth the trouble and sacrificed thousands of them en masse. zetian's anger at that situation wasn't just because she is a woman, but because it was the most blatant display of the fundamental dehumanization of women in her society. i actually thought it was one of the better reveals in the book.
and zetian killing her brother... yeah, it was a bit much, but we really have no reason to believe it was anything more complex than zetian destroying the perpetrators of her abuse. there was definitely a missed opportunity for some "golden child & scapegoat" sibling dynamics there, but zetian's entire family was incredibly one note, so it's not much of a surprise. if there was a sibling in this story who actually deserved a little more nuance, it would be zetian's older sister, who (despite being the catalyst of her character arc and the entire plot of the story) doesn't even get a name lol.
The sister IS named but I had to dig through the internet a bit to even find that out, which speaks to how well all the characters stand out from one another
@@lizabethhampton4537 yeah, you're actually right- it's ruyi. i think i forgot because zetian almost exclusively refers to her as "big sister". i think it's supposed to be like her using an honorific, but yeah, it definitely doesn't help differentiating anyone.
Didn't read the book but assuming they are under time constraints to make such mechs it's possible they just didn't have the time to make something safer for the first times and thought not innovating after that is a problem. Making sure you can control with pilot dies makes sense if you can't go around such limitation, making sure the more experienced one survives is fairly crucial after all, arbitrarily choosing that based on gender less so
@@wikimody5013 i went back to check and make sure i had my facts straight, and it's stated that the military has been producing chrysalises for at least 200 years by the time iron widow starts. ample time to solve that issue, imo. and it's made pretty clear female pilots wouldn't have to die if they were actually paired with equally powerful male counterparts, instead of being deliberately placed with male pilots who greatly exceed their power levels every time.
@@isekaicore Again didn't read the book I was answering based on knowledge from comments and review
as a history buff the second i heard the name we zetian i imediately knew this was going to got weird, fratricidal, and have far too much intrigue
What does the name signify?
@@ComedyPlastic Wu Zetian is the only Empress of all China who was considered legitimate. Not just a concubine ruling in the name of another, or a queen ruling in the place of her son.
The actual Empress of China.
Also she's rumored to have murdered her kids on her way to the throne.
@@ComedyPlasticWu Zetian was an empress of China. She obtained power through all of the above methods and I believe the author of Iron Widow has explicitly said the character is heavily based on/inspired by the historic Chinese empress.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Zetian
That’s her Wikipedia page if you’re interested.
@@ComedyPlastic Wu Zetian was a real historical person, the only female emperor of China. Pretty sure this series is loosely based on her life, obviously with a lot of liberties taken and in a sci-fi/fantasy setting
I myself am intrigued. Wu Zetian was a very interesting person.
I really enjoy Xiran Jay Zhao's videos (as well as yours) but I haven't read the book, so I'm interested to hear your thoughts. I've heard mixed opinions on it so far. Obvi being cool on YT doesn't automatically make you a fantastic writer lol
Her about the bisexual minumum han emporers is fun
For a first book it's not too bad.
I personally really enjoyed it! Its a good book! Doesnt have to be pertect, but its fun
it's over-hyped severely. I couldn't finish it because I was getting way too mad & I kept finding myself unintentionally in editor mode, making corrections & rewrites instead of just reading. I can appreciate the representation, especially on the disability side of things, but man. I have things to say about it.
biggest flaws, summarized: the mechs (the whole premise of the series) barely show up, the author is constantly repeating & re-explaining unimportant information while leaving critical information out, the characterization is all over the place with little to no transition or real character development, it is *way. too. long.* for literally no reason (tying back in to the second point of telling us shit that doesn't matter all the time. were they paid by the word & trying to milk it??).
it's cool that people enjoyed Iron Widow, but I could not get past the mediocre at best writing. it isn't a style choice, it straight up reads like an unedited, unbeta-ed, first draft fanfiction (I'm allowed to say this, I write both original works & fanfic lol) that otherwise could have been good if the author just got over their fear of seeing their own art. it distracts from the plot, is noticeable immediately, & it is prevalent throughout the entire book, not just certain parts that may be the author's weak points. it's just--the whole damn book.
maybe it's just because I'm a "get to the point" kind of writer, but you do not need two pages explaining an irrelevant piece of scenery that will never come up again ever instead of, ya know, describing what the *people* or rooms look like or something. I've written very long pieces (100k) that still *get to the point* so it's not the length that's the issue. I see that other comment about it being not bad for a first book, but this doesn't feel like a first published book, it feels like a first book period. the book is fine if you're obsessed with the tropes it uses, but a novel should not fully rely on tropes to do the heavy lifting. it needs *A LOT* of editing & should not have been published as is.
maybe I'm being too harsh (it's definitely not personal) but like. every more recently popular book I've been told to read always has major, fundamental issues that go ignored because [insert ao3 tags here] & I'm tired of being nice about it. I have standards.
@@pa-pa-plasmafor a "get to the point" kind of writer, you certainly rambled on for a loooooong time about things that could have been ultimately summed up as "just not my personal preference."
I read Iron widow and now that you bring it up. It is a book full of very jarring ideas. but it is still a solid read
I would pay him money to make a video about R. F Kuang's The Poppy War
you can its one of his pateron tiers and crazy cheap considering how much time it takes to read a book then make a video about it
RAAHHH RF KUANG AND POPPY WAR MENTIONED WTF IS A MENTALLY SANE AND NON-TRAUMATIZED CHARACTER 🗣️ 🗣️🔥🔥
@greenicedtea2 average R F Kuang protag fan
What are ur thoughts on it? I’ve only heard good things but it’s so big and I’m scared of big books lol
@@TheKeeperofChaoswhat does protag mean
They had to trim the manuscript to reach the word limit imposed by the publisher, so maybe that is why there are not that many details
my sort-of "issue" with the book is exactly that it feels like a trimmed version of a longer book, instead of one that's "naturally" written to be a short story
maybe it’s a difference in ways of rating but a muddled book with flashes of brilliance sounds like a good book to me.
Books like this are part of the reason I don't use any sort of numbered or graded rating system. A lot of reviewers give books a score from 1-10 or a grade from A-F, but I feel that simplifies things too much. I would have no idea where to put "Iron Widow" on a scale like that because some parts of it are great and others are bad or confusing.
Good things and bad things in a book don't cancel each other out, they exist side-by-side and mix together in complex ways.
Sounds like a waste of time I could be using to read a better book
Depends how long it is for me. Muddled with flashes of brilliance only works if it's a short read.
“You can’t shoot me; I’m rich!” -Yizhi, page 195
It was then he realized, they can, in fact, shoot him
@@YinYangAngel55 yizhi's a dude. in the book and in history.
@@oofrip666 my bad, audiobook listener who did not remember the distinction at the time.
One thing about me? I LOVE me a lil “it’s actually earth!” Or “humans aren’t native to this world” twist! 😂😂 I’ll eat it up every time
I think one of the biggest things to understand is who the main character is based on. I will admit that Chinese history isn’t something I am too well versed in, but the main character is named after Empress Wu ZeTian. She was a concubine of an emperor who would marry his heir after he died. As consort she already had a lot of power, but she would basically rule China for half a century through directly herself or her husband and children. She was very cunning and morally grey which is why the book character is also similar
I find your issues with the 'love triangle' kinda funny as a polyamorous person. I don't think it ever was one to begin with. It's been a while since I read the book, but I don't recall there ever being any tensions indicting one. In fact, I remember her childhood best friend acting like a dork when he first meets the pilot guy lol.
Absolutely, even if I hadn't gone in knowing the Triangle was guaranteed, it was hinted at consistently as a possibility. Also loved "The triangle is the strongest shape!"
Wow, i haven't watched you're videos in a minute and you look amazing what a glow up. Looking great man, and a always liked your videos so let's see it
I’ve been watching him for a few years. He got unexpectedly very attractive like 2 years ago 😅 He genuinely could be a model.
@@20000dino jaw-surgery will sometimes do that to you. 🤷
@@probablythedm1669 His jaw looks the same, I don't know what you're on about lmao.
@@20000dino he literally had surgery to correct his underbite, it's no secret, my professional guess is he underwent a Bilateral Sagittal Split Osteotomy (BSSO), as that's the procedure we'd likely use at the clinic I work at. Go back a few years to when James was in treatment if you'd like, you can see his braces and he even made a video about needing a short break after the surgery since talking would be difficult at first after the surgery. The video is titled "Health update: Jaw surgery and stuff" ua-cam.com/video/ojeLxKybluE/v-deo.htmlsi=yKEvoZMYZVs1Hpjz
@@probablythedm1669 My bad, I didn't know that. Still, I don't find that most of his glow up was thanks to his jaw but to a few other other factors.
One was styling himself better (more specifically his hair and facial hair).
Taking his braces off helped as well. And before people come for me, I myself wore braces for 4 years and they made me look ugly. Braces don't look good on everybody,´- especially if you already wear glasses (like I do), making your face look too busy, as was the case with him.
Additionally, his old glasses did not look good on him, so moving towards contact lenses made for a big improvement (though using a pair of glasses that better suited him would also do the job).
Finally someone with almost exactly my opinions on Iron Widow. I agree that the first part and the climax are great and the middle is directionless. I mean (disclaimer all name spellings are guesses bc i listened to the audiobook) Zetian flip flops between not caring if she dies and deciding she wants to live. If thats not a sign shes got no goal idk what is. I will say the love triangle didn't come out of nowhere for me, there were enough hints that Yizhi was bisexual. That said I think it moved way too fast at the end. Shimin was not ready for that kind of relationship, character arc-wise.
It's almost as if being raised in a world that systematically oppresses you can have you flipflopping on your will to live in it. A world that raises you for slaughter, it takes time to gain the courage and will to live in spite of what you've been told is your role. And of course Zetian seems like she doesn't have a goal sometimes, she accomplished her goal early on and needed to find a new one after unexpectedly surviving the first.
I've been meaning to read the Iron Widow for a while because I like Xiran Jay Zhao. I don't mind cliches and overdone troupes in literature, but the writing style is definitely a big factor for me, so I'll keep that in mind if I read it.
Speaking of which, if you want a well written Chinese, female anti-hero, I strongly suggest Jing Wei Qing Shan (Clear and Muddy Loss of Love) by author Please Don't Laugh. It's translation is available online, and it is genuinely one of the best works of fiction dealing with an anti-hero that I've come across.
JWQS MENTIONED
25:47 There's an India-inspired settlement taking the role of historical India, and for obligatory Journey To The West reference. It's never visited, just that Monkey wrote about it and it's possibly the only other one left.
The prose of this book killed me. I watch(ed) XJZ's vids so I have an idea of what kind of prose they were going for but esp in the beginning it was just slightly stilted enough to drive me insane.
Xiran talks very snappy and firm
I did not expect to see this book, on this channel
I hope James reads MDZS/Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation
I second this ! 👆🏻
i hope james reads the locked tomb someday. it's not ya though but i think it'd like to see him go over the wordbuilding, it also got one of the most weird magic systems I've ever seen with the necromancy stuff
Isnt it very YA.ey with the protagonists. or ajecent, given the tumbrl popularity
@@marocat4749 From only having listened to a bit of the audiobook for Gideon the Ninth, I'd say its not YA, but written for people who like YA.
@@marocat4749no, not really. The protagonists are young adults but the narrative isn't YA at all. The first book is maybe kinda YA, in some aspects, but beyond that? Not at all lmaoo
@@marocat4749Just because it's gay?
I recently read TLT for the first time and one of my main thoughts is that a few things, but especially the gender aspects, were essentially a better version of Iron Widow
James, a lot of youtubers get traditionally published and their books are still garbage. It's actually kind of an issue, people get published for the audience they have and not for their talent. Large book tubers and or just content creators get publishing deals. Even those that don't actually read or write have books published written by ghost writers. Many publishers figure the built in audience guaratenees sales and care little for the quality. But it also depends on how large you are, how many views you get etc. I mean, it's not hard for someone like Daniel Greene to get published. Esp not after he releases a self published work and it sells .. so he can show the publishers, hey look "my book sold pretty well and it's not even traditionally published".
Also, let's be real here. Getting published is also part chance, luck, writing the right genre at the right time, being the right person at the right time or knowing the right people. E.g. Brandon Sanderson managed to get published because he met some editor or agent from a publisher at some event and they became friends. Then he used his influence and success to get his friend Dan Wells published. (might have been the other way around, I don't remember).
Say it louder for the people in the back
i read this book and i genuinely enjoyed it, but i honestly don't know if i want to continue with the next book(s). i like the concept but i feel xiran jay zhao was too... blunt?? with how they make the points? i just feel like i kept being hit over the head with the shittiness of the society and all that.
i do agree about your points about how another draft probably would have smoothed things over and how xiran has potential. i'll probably revisit their works again in the future when they've had time to hone their skills more. i might revisit iron widow and the subsequent sequels later as well. for now, i would rather look for works that are more subtle in their messaging.
i do love how the two guys are just smitten and follow zetian's lead though. like i get it's weird consodering the society but i like how they just see a strong woman and shake hands going "yeah she can step on us actually"
I don't get to watch your channel very often but I always enjoy the videos. I'm loving the silly little clips interspersed throughout
I haven't read Iron Widow, and I don't plan on reading it. (It's not my cup of tea with the science fiction aspect)
The anime of Darling in the Franxx falling off mid plot was the reason they wrote this, which is hilarious honestly. Sometimes, writing things out of spite leads us to this. Aside from not reading their books, I think the author is pretty cool, though, especially for their casual attitude. I saw a video of them, where they used the same picture as their UA-cam pfp for the "about the author" (it was a cow jumpsuit) and using their platform for good causes/bad situations in the industry. Which is why I like their content, and I think they're funny for making memes about their own book & breaking trope stereotypes, apparently.
They/them*
Xiran goes by they/them
as another fellow who liked the first half of darling in the franxx (in theory), i'm perfectly happy with just darling in the franxx but not taking 3 left turns onto batshit insanity street in the second half
*They
How are you someone who watched their content yet don’t use their preferred pronouns, I don’t even watch them and I know they use they/them
My confusion over Iron Widow resolved when I realized the protagonist had the echoes of a traditional hero arc but she’s a villain.
I think you were a lot more generous to this book than I would have been. Iron Widow read more like a hasty plot synopsis for a streaming show than a novel. I watched the author's UA-cam videos before I read their book and have to wonder if they watched their own stuff. The main character, who bears absolutely no resemblance to her badass namesake, is just a disabled 21st Century Canadian girl and not a part of the world that the author presents. You touched on it a bit but the "21st Century"-ness of it all was a big problem for every character. If the story was rooted in a little more history then this book could have been really solid.
I also thought that we should have had a lot more "girls" in the story, beyond ones that she betrays or avenges. The messages ring kind of hollow when most women in the story are the protagonist and plot devices. We need to see what someone who's not special looks like with foot binding or how different Qi actually manifests in mundane humanity. We don't get to understand the alternative life that the protagonist would have lived because it's only talked about not shown. Too much magic system wankery and not enough actual world building.
I also didn't think the resolution to the live triangle was pulled off well. Like you said, props for trying but we need more development before "a triangle is the strongest shape" can seem earned. The real Empress Wu had a crazy love life, again, shame it didn't get used as inspiration.
Great video, agreed that this is a better than average "UA-camr book". Just didn't have enough meat for me.
I totally agree with the lack of female characters bit. There are only two other women who have any significance, and one fits the bill of being a stereotypical “bitch” character. Zetian’s elder sister gets fridged, and I feel like Yizhi easily could have been a female character and served the narrative equally well. I actually made a note that the first other female character of note appears on page 200. Ah, well. It wasn’t written for me, and that’s all right.
If you're talking mecha novels there's always The Mech Touch, though it is very long 14+ mil words, it focuses a lot on the mech design stuff, and eventually starts going into a cultivation/xiania science fantasy setting but I do like all those parts of it.
Oh shit, I know the Mech Touch!
@@crowravencorvenrow if you haven't read it give it a read, though it is for a very special type of person, that being mecha fans,
@@fred101j7 I read some of it, just not very much compared to how ungodly long it is. It was on webnovel, so I couldn't read too much without it getting paywalled.
I just started watching the video, but, as someone who regularly reads chinese webnovels, I have to say as soon as you mentioned fighting an alien race on mechas I immediately thought of all the zergs novels lol.
It’s basically a genre in itself, in which there’s an insect alien race called zergs who are the enemy, in some cases the novels are from the zergs perspective. It’s sci-fi with mechas and stuff, sometimes fantasy mixed in.
It all began with Orson Scott Card
@ Maybe, I couldn’t tell for sure, almost everything is inspired by something else. What I meant with my comment is that the concept in Iron Widow wasn’t new or original to me.
And since the author is chinese I immediately thought of the zergs.
4:34 I thought it was cuz small feet were considered more beautiful and feminine?
great review. It would be fun if you now started reviewing more chinese novels, especially someWuxia or Danmei stuff (my personal favorite is Shisis Lillte Mushroom)
My guy
@@myllosand5538 yes?
I was kinda disappointed by the bad boy's backstory. I thought it was quite impressive that they'd written an mc so flawed that i had no problem shipping her with an unrepentant criminal. Giving him a "tragic" backstory (and such a cheap one - the girl having to be a crush to be seen as a person) felt like back paddling to me
But this is a through and through cruel society. I would assume that a large portion of people who grow up in that society has some kind of tragic, cruel back story of one kind or another that explains why the whole place is mainly populated by traumatised a---holes.
@@petrairene true, yeah. I guess my issue is less that he has a tragic backstory and more that it took the character from a good person that did something horrible to one that did something understandable. I guess I liked the idea of him being irredeemable in some way because i hadn't seen that in a love interest before
I've been really hesitant about giving this book a chance because of its rather classic YA look, but hearing your review has really changed my mind. been a long time viewer and hearing you praise a book like this feels very new lol, so I'll probably give it a shot. great video again btw!!!!
James, if you liked this book you need to play the game Nine Sols. Very similar structure of a Chinese-inspired sci-fi revenge story with a morally dubious protagonist. The game’s story is surprisingly excellent in its themes of ambition gone wrong and accepting your own mortality, doubly so if you understand the references to Taoism that the game makes. I know you’re not a game review channel but I’d definitely like to see you analyze the game’s narrative.
Iron Widow is like nothing I've ever read before and I love it for that! I'm pumped for the next part
Sounds like Cool Motive, Still Murder: The Book
Okay?
10:24 great advice on prose.
Iron Widdow is such a SLAY! I loved every second of it!
not perfect, its kinda fine. have alot of problems but not to an insane degree
You have to respect an author whos books makes you wonder wtf you feel
Liked hearing your review! I read this book as well and had mixed feelings and I agreed a lot with what you said, I was definitely really pulled in by the first 100 pages as well and then no so sure about the rest
To be fair this book is born from frustration of Darling in tbe frax unused potencial
I thought killing off the brother was fine. He didn’t directly abuse her, but was nonetheless complicit by doing nothing. That was my interpretation, but the book didn’t make it very clear due to the lack of descriptions.
Edit: should’ve been more specific. He was complicit in the eyes of his revenge driven sister and this represents her hatred incurring collateral damage.
That seems like an extremely uncharitable interpretation of a character who is literally a child.
I’ve never been this early to a video before! Stopping everything I’m doing just to listen to a video essay on a sequel I’ve never read.
22:45 iirc this book took large amounts of inspiration from empress Wu who has been considered incredibly ruthless
Its such a mixed bag. I liked a lot of bits and hated so many others
re: the polyamorous thing, as a polyam person, sometimes there literally is just nothing seen as a problem
like sometimes its just not seen as a problem by anyone involved, its just a natural solution (solution being a loose term because sometimes its just not preceived as a problem in thef irst palce)
I'm writing my debut novel, "Interview with the Monster", which is based on Mary Shelly's Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus. There is animal-human hybrids in the story -- the narrator is one of these creatures, but the main plot revolves around the mad scientist and his creation.
I had such a good time reading this book right after it came out! I didn’t think too hard about it, though, so I likely did overlook some flaws 😂
Make a video about the other cliches you you're tired of seeing of but aren't that well known among the common peasants.
if you're interested in mecha, The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon is like Evangelion x Rain World
one of my fave books ever, argue with the wall
I really liked your retrospectives on kids books from our childhood i would really enjoy if you did on for the spy school series by staurt gibbs
That scene with Yizhi’s dad threatening Xeitian made noooo sense like why would he tell her he’ll use this for blackmail BEFORE filming? Why would he tell her at all? And what motive would she have to comply? Such an odd scene 😂
In the audiobook, Hundun is pronounced like WHin-dew-in? Like the Wh of someone pronouncing cool Whip obnoxiously- win-dew-in. Or wind-win with with a thick wh on the front of wind
on top of that, Yizhi hates his dad and likes Zetian, so even if the video gets released, Yizhi has no reason to turn on Zetian, so she has nothing to be afraid of?
I tried to read the first couple of paragraphs and I couldn’t get through it 😔 I felt bad but I just don’t think it was my cup of tea
The pacing was definitely off for me, and our main girl changed too much in personality too quickly for me to even remotely believe it .. and the actual plot developments weren’t really for me .. but I looved the descriptions of the chrysalises and most battles!
I think it definitely was too short for the amount of plot - even this book may have needed to be split in two to not .. run through everything.
The ideas are solid and the worldbuilding is okay, it is really a pretty decent debut, I’m just sorry for people who looove this kinda plot / characters that it basically rushes into and past most of it.
Underwriting definitely does it too, so does the inherently YA-accent
the author did struggle with a word count limit imposed by the publisher and wasn't fully sure there'd be a second book as far as I can tell so that might explain some of the issues.
@@colour-instinct i should’ve remembered that!
Yeah, absolutely would explain it, and that’s just a bit .. saddening … when thinking about the state of publishing today
people often bring up how Xiran had to cut down to the word limit to explain this, but I feel it's exactly part of the flaw - it reads like a long story with parts cut off, rather than a story that's "organically" written to be short.
@@diethylmalonate That's a really good point. there were a lot of characters that didn't get enough development (the sister that died didn't even get a name). Maybe it should have been broken up into more books instead? but that gets into the fact that she didn't know if there'd be a sequel.
I haven’t read the book yet but it has been on my wishlist but I really appreciate the review since you’re honest and being unbiased.
It's not very well-written, I don't understand why it was shilled so much.
have to disagree with your take on wu zetian. i found her to be extremely annoying. she's such an edgelord and she is always magically correct all the time. the narrative never makes her truly have a moment of self-doubt or questioning. she thinks for five seconds "maybe I'm wrong" and immediately goes "no it's the children who are wrong". there is an idea here at the core that's interesting, but the writing skill does not match the story. the world-building is not well thought out, that butterfly metaphor was so painfully on the nose i cringed, and all the other characters are paper thin they are so lacking in dimension. her family is cartoonishly evil and her precious sister that dies? the catalyst for this whole mess? does zetian ever really think about her? idk everything in this book is barely a foot deep, but then again what am i expecting of a ya novel?
(also why name these characters after historical figures and not do anything with that? i thought zetian would be a clever and politically-minded character that uses her smarts to obtain power like the real zetian did to become a female emperor but instead shes an angry dumbass)
The biggest issue for me was the prose, it's just not good. I'm not going to finish a book that just feels bad to read
I always see people claim the best way to resolve a love triangle is to turn it into polyamory but I've never seen this done in a satisfying way. Like the few times I've seen it attempted it was incredibly awkward/forced and just became sort of boring and indulgent. Like I guess polyamory is magic and people never struggle in these relationships.
I tried to listen to an audiobook of this one but couldn’t get into it so now I have the written version because I feel it’s the type of book you need to read or understand
Yeah i didn't like the reveal pile up at the end either. Would have been more impactful if they left a few of them for the sequel.
This book should have been written in third person, there's a lot of things that get poorly explained, like the trouple thing.
I've been thinking about reading the book for some time now. I can now make a more informed decision, thank you for the review! *proceeds to thinking whether to start the book or not*
I'd say read it. I had a great time with it.
@Kagomai15 oh, thank you! Strange question, if you indulge me. How is the language difficulty? I mean are there a lot of long complex sentences? And is it leaning more towards simpler words or more "advanced" vocabulary? I'm asking because I'm always on a look out for books for my ESL teenage students, and was hoping I could recommend it to them if it sticks to simpler choices, language-wise
@lanaalba8392 I think it does lean towards simpler language but definitely heed the content warnings at the beginning. Chapter two does describe the event of Zetian's grandmother and aunts breaking her feet when she was very young, and she deals with the consequences of this forever. Honestly, it's a brutal world, but I think teens can handle it, just be prepared to discuss abuse in the name of beauty standards and the concept of basically selling a family member for the chance at escaping one shitty situation to replace it with a lifestyle that is just as terrible but in different related ways. Honestly, I finished the book really wanting to write an essay about all the themes it touches on.
@Kagomai15 Thank you very much for your thoughtful response! Now, I definitely need to check it out and consider adding it to my students' reading lists. I think these topics are both important and engaging, and when students feel they learn something THROUGH language, I can sneakily teach them a thing or two about modal verbs and Past Perfect Tense 😋
@lanaalba8392 Honestly, you got me really reflecting on my goals in life because I used to want to be a teacher but gave up after not liking peer tutoring a language in high school. Thanks for the spark of dream chasing.
Okay. I was looking for books with polyamorous relationships since I've been wanting to write one and this book came up. You posted this within minutes of me finding it
Wasn't a fan of this book, I go in for really developed worldbuilding, character development, and magic systems and/or political conflicts which this book totally lacked. This author lost me when she leaned in to the Bury Your Gays troupe at the end, really didn't see that coming. Also the first 100 pages was rough. You, James, mention that the guys being ok with a polycule relationship in a world where women are treated as property is far fatched, which I agree with, but would also point out that Wu Xiatian (?) is also the only women in this entire universe who fights for women's rights, not her grandmother, mother, or sister, Xiatian just popped out the womb fighting. It would've been helpful if we ever saw Xiatian's older sister protect her from her parents or question why women were treated as cattle. But Big Sister (did she even have a name?) was just a prop, her life and her experiences were so insignificant that we didn't even see what happened to her or learn why she was killed before ever going into battle. I had such high hopes for this book but it totally let me down.
Did they reference The only female empeor?
Iron Widow is a futuristic retelling of the story of Wu Zetian, yes. Xiran also has a series of videos about Wu Xetian on their channel.
0:00 I’m here cuz I’ve been wanting to read this book forever
4:22 I don't believe you so I did look it up and thge evidence is...less than compelling. I found one paper from 2007 about this but it was paywalled so couldn't actually see the data. what I could read, though, didn't hint at anything conclusive. other papers citing this one didn't mention tightening vaginal/pelvic muscles (from what I could read behind paywall but did look at the link between foot stimulation and genital stimulation. so nothing to suggest it would make sex better for the men. sorry, dude, but I think you might be misinformed on this one and should probs do some more research yourself. edit: but would love if you could share your sources so we know where you found this info!!
i didn't like it either!! so much of the plot points were shoehorned in, such as the random rich guy childhood friend??? very deus ex machina. also there was waaay too much going on way too quickly. also there are no healthy female friendships at all. for how "feminist" it is, there is a really huge emphasis on romance. why are all the other female characters evil except for the main character? idk i think the book just rubbed me the wrong way.
It's better that her meeting her second husband/son-in-law through the imperial harem.
I feel like you should have researched the historical and cultural contexts that likely went into writing this book a bit more seriously. I mean, the author herself is on UA-cam and makes videos about China's history and culture... 😅
Take this Chinese academic paper and this Chinese language UN document, run them through the nearest Chinese native speaker you know: www.historychina.net/qsyj/ztyj/sxwh/2005-08-29/24992.shtml
documents.un.org/doc/undoc/gen/g02/104/27/pdf/g0210427.pdf
Do you who banned feet binding in China?
Hong Xiuquan, the leader of Taiping Rebellion.
Yeah I really liked the beginning but lost interest towards the middle when they got into the celebrity stuff.
The love triangle-turned-polycule reminds me of something from me and my boyfriend's shared TES IV: Oblivion AU. Both of our characters had some sort of relationship with Martin Septim before the events of the game; his character, Amyra, the Hero of Kvatch, knew him as a child before they became separated, only to meet once again as adults. My character, Voka, knew him as an adult, in the Mage's Guild, only to have a falling out and meet once again later.
Both Voka and Amyra have feelings for Martin in different ways, but the two of them are strangers to each other. As the story goes on, they do become friends, but nothing more. After Martin passes away, Amyra learns she is pregnant with his child, and Voka stays to help take care of the child even though she wasn't his. Once she goes missing as well, Voka and Amyra just slowly drift apart and never really speak again. Two people who loved the same man, who could've been more than friends but could never cross that barrier.
When we first merged our stories, we both had the idea to make it a polycule in the end, but it literally never worked out no matter how many times we tried to make it work. Amyra and Voka have such different personalities.
Damn, okay. I just sat back and didn't look at this for a minute or so after I posted it. Why did I write a damn novel in here.
@@rocketterrierI enjoyed reading it.
Enemies to lover is an annoying trope that needs to be less used. There are other forms of romantic tension
What do you propose instead?
@@waterlily3522forbidden love is one that used to be popular but has been underused lately in favor of enemies to lovers
From what I've seen of her content she intentionally leans into the conventions of the genre such as the love triangle and the fanficcy elements, apparently that's how actual historical fiction is in their culture, they expect such 'spicing up'. I think its a little too much just Pacific Rim But What If Also Its A Handmaids Tale for my tastes, and that two robot-fight structure is taken right out of Robot Jox, although they had a movie and a low budget to consider, not sure why anyone would do that in a book form
Furry Gundams, let's go!
...The Chrysalises are nothing like Gundams.
I have a feeling this is gonna make me upset given like what this book meant to me
Great Vid!
UA-cam on UA-cam, I love it
I think that the author used the book to express some of her own disgust with the more cruel aspects of her native Chinese culture that she herself fell prey to.
Exactly my thoughts. I find that the game "1000xResist" (coincidentally written by descendants of asian immigrants) did a lot better at showing what generational trauma does to a person and how sometimes they simply cannot help but perpetuate the same pain they themselves experienced. That is...ostensibly, the plot (though I'm leaving a hell of a lot of DEEPEST LORE out).
There are a lot of points where 1000xResist is equally on-the-nose with the nature of trauma as Iron Widow was, but the tone was significantly less judgmental overall I think. Maybe its just the difference between a game's ability to let the player's interact with the narrative vs traditional novels, but I appreciate it when a story lays the pieces out one-by-one and then let's me decide for myself rather than constantly slam me with scenes of "look how bad this is? isn't this bad? isn't this JUST like how bad it is real life?".
@@DeltafangEX But some societies are extremely shitty. If an Afghan woman today wrote a novel about life in Taliban Afghanistan, it would be riddled with descriptions of injustices and cruelty.
@@petrairene More likely than not, yes. But that's still an assumption either way. You'd likely find just as many books unironically extolling the virtues of a society entirely bent to the subjugation of the author's class/race/cache/whathave you at any local library though.
On another note, I feel we're finding trouble separating people themselves from their cultures. The author is about as far away from that point in her family's history as I am from the slaves I know were in my family tree. It's just my personal opinion, but I don't think it makes for very good fiction when its clearly the focus over the fiction itself. This could have just as easily been a mecha Wuxia story OR a historical fiction story and it would have been a lot less muddled either way.
I don't think its the worst thing in the world or that it shouldn't exists or anything like that - just that it would have been better served focusing on one or another,
*Their
It's not a good book. You can tell a youtuber wrote this after watching some anime
This is gonna be the opening for a lot of misery in the future. I can't tell you how, but I do know it is.
Have been unironically waiting for this book to be covered; I loved it.
I liked it. Was not the best book I read that year, but it was good enough I remembered it.
Huh, the main character is named after the only female emperor in Chinese history and her love interest the most renowned and successful emperor of the same dynasty
Hes her actual husband
@@MMMpowerhouse Ah, need to touch up my history.
@@charlieni645 historically, Zetian was more a concubine to Shimin than a wife (she was 14 when she started, and he was 40. yeah.). It was through eventually getting with Shimin's son that she rose to power. The author probably didn't want the main character to have dated both a father and his son, and changed it lol
I agree with a lot of this, but heavily disagree with the idea that the military choosing to sacrifice girIs each time instead of making it a toss up was a "difficult choice that they had to make". The only reason they wouldnt leave it as a toss up is if they values the lives of one gender more than the other, which is findementallyeviI.
The objectively morally correct choice is to leave it as a toss up, and find other ways to encourage people to volunteer.
i definitely recommend iron widow! the thing that hooked me was that it is a loose retelling of how the only female chinese emperor came to power. i love the weird mishmash of historical and science fiction.
Pixel buddy!! But as always a good video as well
james pls make a video on enders game !! (and the cognitive dissonance between what card wrote about in that book and the beliefs he holds himself)
You should read the raptor series by cj valin and jamie castle it is a horrifically bad superhero series I would love too see you review it
Speaking of YA, could you make video about Red Rising?
i watched this and another one of your videos and i think you should watch something that is not shounen ahsdjkas
Finally