A review by dododenise
Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao

slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

It pains me how much I did not enjoy this book. I wanted to like it so bad. Iron Widow is one of my favourite books. Yet, this book tested my patience. I did not have a lot of time to read but even then it took me way too long to get through it. While I was in the middle of reading it felt fine, yet I kept getting distracted anyway. This just got worse and worse as I went on. I started with good hopes, willing to give it a try after hearing about mixed reviews before. But my enjoyment slipped away the longer I read. In the end, it wasn’t enough to capture my interest. 

I would love to give this book a higher rating, yet I had way too many issues with it to justify that. I really really hope that this is a case of second book syndrome and that the next book will be better. 

I made some notes while reading so I will list them here, as they summarise my thoughts quite well:

  • There are basically no interesting characters with interesting character moments. I do not care for most of them. The few character moments we are given did very little for me. 

  • The politics are explained over and over like it’s being explained to a young teenager. There is no elegance in approaching politics as the main theme. The uninspired political discussion were no fun and just kept on going. 

  • There would’ve been more interesting parts to write about. Yet it repeats the same boring stuff over and over. 

  • Iron widow should’ve been longer, heavenly tyrant should’ve been shorter. 

  • It makes no sense that it is young adult book. The brutality, and how explicitly it is described, comes close to adult. The sex scenes in my opinion already go further than what should be in a young adult novel. Perhaps the author would feel more free to explore the complexities of the political themes when it was an adult book instead of this superficial inelegant mess. 

  • Not a fan of Qin Zheng. He just annoyed me and I did not care about him or the whole toxic relationship between him and Zetian. 

  • I don’t think I like how their toxic relationship is portrayed. I do not think young readers will catch on to how toxic and unhealthy it really is. I see a lot of potential for them romanticising it (it has happened so many times before…)

What I enjoyed: 
  • Wan’er and taiping

Shimin’s (second) death felt empty, lazy, and undeserved. It makes no sense to me, and had little emotional impact. And now he is again in this “maybe he’s dead maybe he’s alive who even knows” state that we were in at the end of book 1. It feels lazy and is so unsatisfying to me as a reader.

The medians make very little logical sense so far. The whole final showdown was just so odd. What was there literally no one but five people?? Perhaps this will all make more sense later but for now I find this a befuddling ending.

What I liked: 
Zetian calling the baby qin zheng and yizhi’s baby. Idk it’s my petty humour I guess but it made me smirk every time.

So yes, it’s fair to say I’m very disappointed. 
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