David Bremner reviewed Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Science fiction and East Asian myth combine in this dazzling retelling of the rise of …
Solid adventure, some thought provoking aspects
4 stars
I found my self making time to listen to this audiobook by doing things like taking the dog for extra walks. So that in itself is a pretty good review.
The protagonist is an interesting character, who is quite relatable. I'm not sure I would make some of the choices she does, but I haven't lived her life either.
From a genre point of view, it was (for me) closer to fantasy than "hard" science fiction. That might depend on how familar one was with traditional Chinese Chi theory. I'm not even familiar enough to say how close the book is to tradition.
Some of the twists are not quite as surprising as the author might have intended. It is very much set up for a sequel, which I understand the author needs to make some more money to write. So I hope my USD13 helps (or whatever small share …
I found my self making time to listen to this audiobook by doing things like taking the dog for extra walks. So that in itself is a pretty good review.
The protagonist is an interesting character, who is quite relatable. I'm not sure I would make some of the choices she does, but I haven't lived her life either.
From a genre point of view, it was (for me) closer to fantasy than "hard" science fiction. That might depend on how familar one was with traditional Chinese Chi theory. I'm not even familiar enough to say how close the book is to tradition.
Some of the twists are not quite as surprising as the author might have intended. It is very much set up for a sequel, which I understand the author needs to make some more money to write. So I hope my USD13 helps (or whatever small share the author actually gets).