Iron Widow
Zeitan is intent on getting revenge on the Chrysalis pilot that killed her sister. After succeeding, her list of people and groups to get revenge on slowly grows.
Zeitan falls in love?… I’m not sure if love is actually present, but as presented on the page, a love triangle forms between her, her pilot, and her friend. That is, she falls for each of them, they fall for each other, and each of them fall for her.
But what gets me is that I’m having a hard time thinking of something I liked. The world is superficial. The characters are flimsy and shallow. There is little substance, little depth to be had.
I didn’t enjoy that the entire premise for Zeitan is that she isn’t like other girls. That’s nearly the full extent of her character. I also didn’t enjoy that the book seems more of a vehicle for the author’s profound thoughts, dropped regularly, on everything from cherishing and inspiring someone, to pregnancy and slavery.
Perhaps most frustrating is that Zhao clearly cares about what they are writing and why, they’re anger is tangible and real. But that anger, that drive doesn’t make the story real
I felt that it over promised and under delivered.