Check out the book here: bookshop.org/a/89948/9780735269958 Late back Neon Ghosts here: neon-ghosts-a-witchs-sin.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders

Daniel- blink three times if the Hugo Awards people tried to take you out, leaving you horribly crippled in the wrist, and are now standing behind the camera threatening you.

@sabinopereira1631

5 ай бұрын

😉

@sabinopereira1631

5 ай бұрын

😉

@sabinopereira1631

5 ай бұрын

😉

@katieamarsh

5 ай бұрын

😂😂😂

@DanielGreeneReviews

5 ай бұрын

All I can say is I deff blinked at least 3 times this video.

"If I get anything wrong, it's not for a lack of trying; it's due to an abundance of stupidity." I'm going to have to use that haha

@nancywolf1467

5 ай бұрын

IKR! I wrote it down 😆 my boss is gonna hear a spin on that … I’m sure.

If i remember correctly wu zetian was based on the actual only chinese empress, so her not being moraly perfect fits perfect

@gizemunver6188

5 ай бұрын

yes! she is based on the only empress/(female emperor since empress was only used for consorts not rulers) who ruled by herself legally! its all very cool the author has a two part history on their youtube @xirianjayzhao

@Lorenzogino

5 ай бұрын

based on and directly named after, which for me just added to the clunkiness of the novel. like a highschool movie that awkwardly bases all its characters on Arthurian characters.

@TF_NowWithExtraCharacters

5 ай бұрын

@@Lorenzogino personally I didn't have an issue with that, for me it felt more like "named after a famous historical person, turned out to have a really similar personality". Though to be fair, if the other characters were all also named after the people in the historical figure's life, it would feel a lot more awkward.

@GaleForceKaif

4 ай бұрын

@@Lorenzogino That's a really big thing in Chinese media though, basing stories off of and naming characters directly after actual historical figures. Given Xiran's background, it's silly to hold that against them.

@6Euphoria6

4 ай бұрын

Considering XiRan must have read a lot of Chinese novel with the storytelling style of this book. A LOT of Cnovels features morally gray mcs. Being morally perfect or like a hero isnt actually the most important thing on their list. (You can tell by the fact some even question why some Marvel heroes dont use their powers for revenge)

"As a bi, thank you" loves him for that

I read Iron Widow right as it came out and gave it 5 stars even though I did believe that it was far from perfect because it was the book that would have loved to have as a teenager myself. Most of my issues with the book were related to its prose indeed feeling very much like a debut author whose still finetuning their craft. I do seem to remember that the prose in Zachary Ying was already better and it is something that they will grow into more and more with each published book. Which means that I was hella excited for Heavenly Tyrant though the delay for me mostly shows why I'm such a fan of Xiran in the first place. Final note: yes, please more bi fantasy books, and actual love triangles instead of just straight love corners

@JPWrites

5 ай бұрын

I was the same - I didn't think it was perfect (there was some awkward prose and I didn't know why Wu Zetian had such radical views when being raised in the same society as all of the other women who fall in line), but I loved how emotive and unhinged it was, and ended up giving it five stars. I couldn't put it down! Plus, polyamory instead of love triangles ftw!

@conservativecarnage3783

4 ай бұрын

This is the fucking problem why would you rate something 5 stars if it wasn't come on man. I get you gave your reason but that reason is ridiculous it's like giving a book 5 stares because it has a white character or a black character or a gay character. When you give something 5 stars when it isn't 5 stars or doesn't deserve it it overstimulates the market with 5 star books even if all of those books don't deserve it by your very own admission. Do better.

@Nijenor

4 ай бұрын

Because there are several ways something can be a 5 star. Some books I couldn't say were an enjoyable read but still amazingly good. Others were not good but the most amazing time I had reading in a year. If something needs to be perfect across the board to be a 5 star then I'd never give out a 5 star because there will always be issues to be had. This was a 5 star debut to me. It is a book I am still hyped about years after first reading it and I reread it within the year loving it as much. The fact that the some aspects of the execution were very much that of a debut doesn't mean that it cannot be 5 stars.

@evewhoo

Ай бұрын

It's so funny how they told you to "do better" like they're your parent or teacher or something LOL 5 star books themselves aren't perfect in every single aspect. Nothing is. And your rules for what's worthy of 5 stars is different from someone else's rules. 5 stars is not absolute perfection, and there can be room for leniancy if a reviewer wishes. Bonus points if you give a 5 star review but still give your honest critique in the written review.

@sunnydays07

Ай бұрын

@@conservativecarnage3783…did they say it was because of those traits that they rated it five stars? No? You just read it in what is essentially a comments footnotes and based your whole argument on that? I know there’s conservative in your name but damn. Anyways, I just read the first part as a teenager, and let me say this feels phenomenal. I have felt rage on account of injustice but never has it been explained as well as it this book. I was hooked, and could imagine the psychosis Zetian goes through in the chrysalis with Yang Guang.

Iron Widow (and others) is why I wish traditional publishing accepted New Adult as an age group/target audience

@kohakuaiko

5 ай бұрын

Yes, because much of the genre absolutely does not need to be marketed to minors. Nor do adults deserve to be belittled for reading it.

@AHealthyDoseofFran

5 ай бұрын

@@kohakuaiko preach

@ahmadazem4167

5 ай бұрын

thats literallly young adult, YA

@mittag983

5 ай бұрын

​@@ahmadazem4167Nah it isn't young adult is for 12-19 year olds

@kneau

5 ай бұрын

⁠​⁠@@mittag983incorrect. Though _many_ preteens read, purchase and are even gifted YA books -- young adults, are defined as individuals aged approximately 18-26 and the genre is meant to focus primarily on this age range.

I really really love that you are doing more book reviews again. You are good at book reviews and author interviews!! I have this on my tbr but haven’t gotten around to it.

I really liked this book. Since it came out, what stayed with me the most was their description of lotus feet and how horrible it is to make someone go through the rest of their life with forever broken and actively festering feet I think is perfectly accurate to use the word "rage" to describe the narrative. Because it's very easy to tell how angry the author is when describing these issues. Maybe I didn't have that much of a problem with that because English is not my first language, so I already had to take more time to absorb and comprehend everything

@trekie140

5 ай бұрын

I had a similar reaction, but it actually got me to drop the book because the description was too visceral and disgusting. I already knew about the horrific practice, but to actually hear how it happens and what consequences it has every day for the rest of their life.......I just couldn’t stomach it. When I tried to keep reading, I felt so uncomfortable that my blood ran cold on every page!

@jaes1346

5 ай бұрын

Rage is absolutely the right word to describe the through line as well as voice of the book.

Author from China, which has a history of families killing their female children because boys are seen as more valuable, who has a channel mostly dedicated to explaining Chinese culture to people, writes a story where the main character is based on a Chinese empress about women being sacrificed in order to protect men, with tons of Chinese references scattered in.... Daniel Greene: "reflects not only America's patriarchy"

@missallisnow

5 ай бұрын

Gotta do some damage control after his Hugo awards video 😅

Highlighting the "everyone is bi" aspect, I also really enjoyed the polyamorous/throuple dynamic. This is something that I rarely done in Science Fiction or Fantasy, and even more rare to see it done well.

I wonder how much of the pacing decisions were influenced by the possibility that the book sequels weren't guaranteed. It sounds like the road to publishing even the first book was paved with difficulty with US publishers rejecting the book, and given everything going on with Heavenly Tyrant, I don't blame them for treating Iron Widow as their only chance to tell the story of Wu Zetian's rise to power.

@Abyrae

5 ай бұрын

Xiran has gone on record that they had to cut a lot of content for Iron Widow to meet their publisher's requirements. Something like having to cut around 150 or 200 pages if I recall correctly. Xiran has said they might be able to include some of that cut content in Heavenly Tyrant as flashbacks, but if these scenes didn't have to be removed in the first place, maybe the pacing would have been much better. Plus, it might have helped Daniel scratch that slowburn itch of his. 😂

@AlexWolfe-gh7py

5 ай бұрын

According to publisher's marketplace it was sold in a two book deal as a duology, so I think Heavenly Tyrant was always a guarantee.

I could see the cracks but that didn't stop me from thoroughly enjoying Iron Widow when I read it. If this is how their storytelling looks in their early books, I can't wait to see what Xiran Jay Zhao writes with more experience under their belt.

I kinda like the microphone stand more. It feels like you can be more expressive with both hands free. But I'm also averse to change, so it might just be an instinctual reaction.

@katieamarsh

5 ай бұрын

Me too, especially with Daniel as he is a wild gesturer.

@newgate-zerohour

5 ай бұрын

@@katieamarsh he does love to gesticulate

@dcdszgage2125

5 ай бұрын

Yes. Seems odd to hold a mic while sitting a desk. But doesn’t effect how much I love watching these book reviews!

@KnowingKhadija

5 ай бұрын

Agreed!

When I read this book, I had some criticisms of it, but I could also hear the dranatic movie music playing in my head at times. I had fun reading it and I would like to see this on screen

I think the "hello fellow kids stuff" (if I understand correctly what you are referring to) is just inspired by Chinese celebrity culture, from what I remember about what the author themselves and several others said about it over the years.

I read this over Christmas, blitzed through it in one evening. It's a shame the sequel has been delayed.

I wanted to like Iron Widow far more then I did... A lot of people I knew were touting it as being a feminist book but where it fell short for me was literally every single woman character in the book. Spoiler ahead I needed there to be at least one female character that was protrayed in a good light. The one woman that the main character gets along with ends up backstab them. The main character looked down on basicly all the other women in the book and none of them challanged that view she had of them and i felt like that was a short coming

@ArtoriasB

4 ай бұрын

Didn’t the girl betray her because the government was literally like “kill Wu Zetian or we kill your children”? But as for looking down on them, personally I never saw it as Zetian looking down on other woman , but rather her anger and frustration at the role they have to play, but she was usually pretty clear that the blame for it lies with the government. I mean there was that whole scene where she was angry at a pilot for getting pregnant and dooming who knew how many girls to die while she was benched, before quickly realizing that the girl might not have even had a choice and was not to blame.

This is pretty much how I felt about the book, too. A little clunky and super fast in places, but overall its the first YA since Hunger Games where my enjoyment outweighed my frustration (which was minimal anyway). I've been so looking forward to Heavenly Tyrant and hope the publisher gets its act together.

I made the mistake of going in to this one hoping for a more adult narrative - 100% my bad, but it did make the book a grind to get through and may have soured me on the series going forward. Blunt is a good description. Really impressive for a debut, though.

@KaiInMotion

5 ай бұрын

I think it's adult enough in that it's much more brutal than most YA and the main character is allowed to actually be morally complex without it always being justified, the author isn't jumping through hoops to make her easily likable and allows her to be borderline vicious on a level I genuinely appreciate.

@megk3392

5 ай бұрын

Those are more adult themes but Adult lit is about more than violence and a complex MC, and there are lots of great YA that check that. Not a dig on the genre or anyone who enjoyed it, it just wasn't what I should have picked up at the time @@KaiInMotion

4:02 tangential to the video, but I love that Midnight Mass is having this second renaissance, such a great show

Personally I’ve been hooked on this book since I read it in the fall. I was in a reading slump, hadn’t been able to read anything that didn’t feel like a chore. Started reading IW and it hooked its claws in me and i devoured it.

The best I can describe my feelings about this book is that it's a brutal adult novel written by an author with slightly below average YA writing skills. I wanted to love this book so bad, but the writing quality put me off big time. I also picked it up right after I finished the Poppy War trilogy, and I think that overshadowed my reading experience quite a bit. I'll still give the sequel a try should it ever come out.

@loupgarou95

4 ай бұрын

Yes, that's exactly my feeling. The prose was just, uh, not for me.

This book isn't perfect, but i like it a lot. Especially character work, the main 3 are fascinating.

I read Iron Widow about a week after finishing A Memory of Light last spring and enjoyed it a lot. The tonal shift going from WoT was wild and I was laughing my butt off talking to my sister about the differences in prolouges.

Daniel, you're holding the mic, where's the knife?

Your sweater/cardigan looks so beautiful! It suits you so well!

Excellent and well thought out review. I've read this book twice. The first time I didn't enjoy it, but enjoyed more upon reread. (I reread it because I kept thinking about it and wanted to give it another try)

Hope your severe hand injury clears up soon!

I saw the book in our bookstore recently and was on the fence about buying it. The synopsis seems interesting, and I do love watching the author's videos. Hopefully this will help decide

@callnight1441

5 ай бұрын

Its definitely not the best wfitten, but it is a helluvah fun read

love this book so happy you are reading it!

An excellent review! Haven't read this and not sure I will, but it's impossible not to appreciate the clarity of your communication, and your even-handedness. 👏

Love this review! Thank you so much! I liked the book alot, it was fun

So it’s a great start. I need to check it out.

Thank you for this review and letting me (not instagram or twitter user) to know Heavenly Tyrant has been delayed again D:

I liked the book. 6/7 out of 10 is spot on. I didn’t think I’d like it & prolly wouldn’t have read it but I got it in an Illumicrate box so I gave it a try. I would read a sequel.

I enjoyed Iron Widow much the same way that I enjoyed the early to mid run of Anne McCaffery's Pern novels when I first read them. It is certainly not perfect in the execution, but it was the right message at the right time and it hit the points the author shot for with a unique tone (at least unique to my experience). I agree that it will be great to see more fleshing out Wu Zetian's characters and philosophy, as well as more world-building as the next book will likely be more outward facing in its focus.

Hold the mice if it makes you happy, if it doesn't, don't

Absolutely agree about Midnight Mass. Bev got hers in the end, though.

I didnt know the sequal was delayed..again... The author had been very vocal about how crappy their publisher has been in that aspect too.

I listened to the audiobook for Iron Widow two years ago, and didn't especially care for it. You're making me reconsider now, but maybe I'd read a physical copy.

I had the same compliments and complaints you did, I really liked the characters and understood the message they were trying to get across, but events were happening so fast you barely got a chance to sit with anything, plus I really felt you never got to know the side characters all that

I've had this book sitting in my shelf ready to be read for over a year now.

@angelaholmes8888

5 ай бұрын

You definitely need to read the book it's so great I absolutely had a blast

The thing abt Iron Window's worldbuilding is that you need to read the book while listening to Kill la Kill's and Dr Stone's soundtrack to fill in the gaps, and maybe some Iwasaki Taku too. It really works.

Daniel Greene: puts his blood, sweat, and tears, into his work and then signs it with a sprain just for us 🥰

Your bit about dyslexia at the beginning - as someone who enjoys LOTS of books that are translated from Chinese into English and also has dyslexia, I feel the struggle so hard. It's rough out there! The moment tones are introduced my brain bluescreens instantly

@kohakuaiko

5 ай бұрын

How are you with music? For me, I've found it helps to think of the tones as the melody.

I love how he injures himself whether he's building something or just is doing something simple like signing 😂 . Hope you get better soon ❤

@kirstendickinson1361

5 ай бұрын

He's a fragile goblin

Can you do an updated video of your favorite sci-fi books? Maybe like a top 10? I’m just now getting into sci-fi for the first time. I’ve been watching your videos for years now - since you first started really - and I respect your opinions and recommendations. would love to know what your top rated are now.

If you want a book with lots of bi representation, I'd suggest The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo, which is a reimagining of the Great Gatsby with a focus on sexuality and race/racism. With a beautiful cover.

Daniel you can make a stamp with your signature ;)

I really wanted to like this book, but the copy that explicitly called comparison to The Handmaid's Tale killed a lot of it for me. The action and world were cool, if somewhat shallow, and there were a lot of fun moments. But the idea that Zetian - who is, by all accounts, an uneducated rural Chinese-coded woman - would somehow be so passionate about feminism that she'd already have enough ammo to defend a Doctoral Thesis on it conceptually was so jarring and obnoxious that it made the comparison to Atwood a tough pill to swallow, especially since Offred's observations are just of her life, with minimal authorial coloring to underscore the same points much more effectively. And that's well before we jump into her surprisingly mature approach to polyamorous relationships and ethical non-monogamy. Sure, I guess a woman like that could exist, especially with the pan-Asian futurism vibe going on, but ugh. I would have preferred a lighter touch. Same goes for much of the progression of her character and resolution of plot beats. Oh well.

Your cardigan wins. Where can I get one?

@KaiInMotion

5 ай бұрын

I too want to know where that's from. That's a nice fucking cardigan.

Hot curry for repairing muscles and tendons - lots of ginger and turmeric especially. Internally, though it may help if you are a really messy eater.

I haven’t actually read the book yet so I don’t know how egregious it actually is, but I do think that sometimes teens need to be properly bludgeoned by a book’s themes in order for them to actually make it into their heads lol.

@shiprasrivastava8797

5 ай бұрын

THIS

@kneau

5 ай бұрын

Chiming in to highlight the fact that young adults are aged 18-26.

@mittag983

5 ай бұрын

@@kneau Stop spreading misinformation under every comment. The genre is only called young adult it doesn't mean actual young adults. You're annoying and misinformed, thank you.

@mittag983

5 ай бұрын

@@kneau Oh God the marketing term YA doesn't ACTUALLY mean young adult. It's a marketing term not the actual age you dimwit.

@SkyeID

3 ай бұрын

@@kneau thank you, I'm glad you mentioned this.

Did the publisher back down on the delayed release date or is that only affecting the US? Because in Australia (at least at the time im making this comment) I'm still seeing it being released on 30th of April.

I picked this book up at Walmart because of the cover lmao and had NO idea what was inside. To be honest I was not expecting her author photo to be a cow costume 😂 I found it easy to read and the concept very compelling. I could have done without the threesome aspect BUT it made the story very original!

I wasn't as high on Iron Widow when I first read it, but in retrospect I do have a new appreciation for it. I didn't hate it, it just wasn't for me. 6/10 seems right. It's a damn good 6/10 though!

This is the only book I ever preordered... and then it did not arrive because our customs office is insane...

If it helps I thought the title was Iron Window not Iron Widow. Dyslexic reading, fun.

No interest in this book but watching and liking because I'm glad to see you doing more reviews! Keep em coming

@queenvictoria4237

4 ай бұрын

Same

I really prefer the sword over the mic

I was wondering if Dan would ever get around to this. Was it just me or did it feel like he pulled his punches on this review? Maybe?? I personally enjoy Xiran's content and was intrigued with this book when it came out. However, by the time I finished it, I was on the fence about it, and after stewing on it for about a week, I actually felt it was overall not a compelling experience. For the folks who enjoyed Iron Widow: STOP reading this comment because I'm going to savage this book's flaws. Was the protagonist interesting? 😬 Zetian was very one-note and it didn't feel like she had much of a character arc. She started out as a raging feminist and ended as a raging feminist. I'd have appreciated it more to see her descent into rage and embracing her villain arc, but because her motivation remained pretty much the same throughout and there wasn't much growth, it didn't feel like Zetian was an actual person. Instead, she came across a caricature of an angry female protagonist. In fact, none of the characters in this felt fully fleshed out. I wanted more of the family dynamics and insight into her relationship with her murdered sister. The prologue should have been from the sister's POV rather than her killer's imo. I never felt the true impact of her death, nor did we experience Zetian fully mourn that loss. The entire first 3rd of the book should have revolved around grief and Zetian steadily boiling over. Let us see her fury build on the page rather than swinging out of the gate with an avenger persona. Nobody is going to identify with your character's motivations if we cannot empathize with them, and unfortunately I did not empathize with Zetian because I did not feel her sorrow, only her wrath. I agree with Daniel that this should have been written as a slow burn. Not every story needs to be a slow burn, but when we are talking about revenge narratives, you really need to take your time with the characters. That needs to be at the forefront, but this book was not interested in telling that story and suffered for it. It felt like YA writing trying to tackle adult themes, which is never a good blend. If you are not yet competent enough as a writer to give your story the nuance it deserves, you are going to fumble every time, and that's exactly what happened here. Now, for my favorite part of every fantasy story: world-building and lore. Was the world-building complex and interesting? Not really. It felt clumsy and lackluster. I was never truly emmersed in the setting, and although some of the concepts had good bones, the execution fell flat. I think that's the best way to describe this book in general. The world-building, characters, and themes fell short of what it could have been in a more experienced writer's hands. I'm normally VERY forgiving with prose and pacing if the world-building sticks the landing. But just like the characters, everything about the world feels shallow and deliberate to the point of being strong-armed. Why was the society so patriarchal? Because the author needed an avenue for the protagonist to be a radical feminist. Again, there's no nuance here, and it shows Xiran's lack of experience with subject matter of this kind. There's no self-reflection over what feminism means and why it's so important. For me, it came across as just a lot of wish-fulfillment without actually championing feminist ideas. And that brings us to my overall thoughts and rating. Realistically, this novel is below average. Was it a fun read? No, it was more frustrating than anything else because of what it could have been. Was I expecting it to be an 8 or 9? Not from a brand new author, but if we are scaling it from 1-10, I'd give it a 4. It's not as terrible as Fourth Wing, but if 5 is a middle-of-the-road average score, Iron Widow is below that. The harsh reality is that this needed a lot of work. If you're going to tackle something like this, it cannot be done lightly, but I feel like Xiran just wanted to write a cool story rather than an impactful one. "Welcome to your nightmare" perfectly sums it up. The writing is cringe at times and a bit too indulgent. The narration and pacing was all over the place. The prose weren't very refined. The overall story felt hollow and even disconnected from the reader's perspective. I felt like an outsider watching events unfold rather than being swept up in the narrative along with the characters. That's the one glaring flaw that can't be overlooked. As an author, it is your job to sweep your readers off their feet. Iron Widow did not achieve that. I know Xiran got a ton of praise for this book, but I really hope they got the feedback necessary to correct the problems with their writing. I worry too many readers didn't experience this from a critical viewpoint and ignored all its major flaws. My concern is that she might not feel the need to improve all that much, but this was objectively not a good book and I hope she does strive to do better in the future. Time will tell..

@lars8782

5 ай бұрын

THANK YOU. Exactly my thoughts and what I was surprised Dan pulled his punches on. I've also watched some of Xiran's KZread content in the past, and so knowing the quality of the literary/historical analysis on their channel (quite essentialising, VERY rampantly showing (Western) liberal-secular epistemological sensibilities), I expected some of these problems but... well, she still does a better job on her channel than her prose was able to carry. But I hope her next books will be an improvement

@bigredcrazyk

5 ай бұрын

@@lars8782 it's understandable. Xiran is a fellow youtuber and Daniel doesn't want to step on anyone's toes. Plus this book is known for having a feral group of fans that attack reviewers who rate it negatively, and I'm sure Dan just doesn't want to deal with that. 6.5 is fine without being overly critical. You also have to consider how ppl read books. Some can simply accept a book for what it is and enjoy it without critiquing it too deeply. I don't do that. I rate a book against what I think it's best possible version could have been. I can be quite forgiving if there are things about it that I like, but Iron Widow felt so undercooked that I had a hard time finding things to like about it, hence my more objective criticisms over subjective taste. But I'm not judging ppl who enjoyed this book. An example I always provide about my own taste is that I like Kpop music knowing objectively it's not very good, so we are all allowed to enjoy whatever we want regardless of the quality. There are plenty of ppl who adored The Song of Achilles knowing that thing was a dumpster fire from page one, or Fourth Wing, or ACOTAR. At least Iron Widow conceptually wasn't as terrible as those books, but again, it's okay to have trash taste. We all do for something.

@ahmadazem4167

5 ай бұрын

@@bigredcrazyk excet the "best" possible versionnis usually not what the author wanted to do, one should just rate the book agaisnt what it tried to do

@bigredcrazyk

5 ай бұрын

@@ahmadazem4167 I think you misunderstood. When I review books, it's not based on my own personal biases, but instead, was it objectively good within the scope of what the author set out to accomplish vs was it the best possible version of that story. An author's intent is aways factored in to soften the score. I can give a book 2 stars and still have fun. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is objectively a 3.5 out of 5. It has very basic prose and structural issues, but I love that book and many others do too. To rate a book fairly, you have to try to remove personal bias. I'm only interested in if a book holds up to literary criticism, not if I loved it. I never rate something based on if I loved it or not. I know most reviewers do, and that's fine, but I'm not one of them. On the opposite side of that same coin, Hemingway wrote several 5 star books that I don't love and won't read again, but that doesn't change the fact that Hemingway was an astonishingly good writer who literally created the style of things not said. It wasn't about the words he put on the page, but rather the context of things not said. What a nutty writing concept. I find that style extremely dry and difficult to follow if you aren't 100% focused on reading between the lines, but that doesn't change the fact that it's still amazing from a literary perspective. To conceptualize stories in the way that he did is one of a kind and deserves the highest praise regardless if I loved it personally. I can rate a book 5 stars and not recommend it because the content is way too difficult to grasp for the average person, but I can also rate a book 1 star while still recommending it to people who enjoy certain genres or tropes. Ice Planet Barbians is awful literature, but if you want a horny read that doesn't take itself seriously, that's your book. This is why it's okay to accept that you have trash taste. Subjectively, enjoy whatever you want. Most people are going to have poor or mediocre taste. There's nothing wrong with that. I try not to talk about Brabdon Sanderson too much under Daniel's videos because I know he adores Sanderson's books. But Brandon Sanderson is not a good writer. His prose are weak, his world-building is paper thin, and he struggles with conveying basic human emotion. I don't judge Daniel for enjoying mediocre fantasy novels, but my scores of most Sanderson novels are going to fall in the average category, 2.5 to 3 out of 5 stars. Subjectively, I find most of Sanderson's work a 1 or 2 because I can't stand how basic he writes or how Jesus-y his protagonists are, but I'm not bringing that into my reviews.

You should work on developing your left hand for signing as well, :D

is this freezing? imma read the hell out of this book.

Is the wheels of time super book behind you from nerdforge?

I agree with most of your points. I liked the book didn't love it. it was obviuos debut in need of refinement. Sometimes heavy handed. Loved characters / combat / settting. Felt some of it was underbaked, though. I'm not slow burn person myself, but a bit cleaner worlbuilding would have made book so much better. Extremely predictable story, and cliffhanger wasn't shocking, but it felt out of place, liker editor decided that sequel hook was necessary.

I'm relatively new to reading as a hobby. I definitely prefer sci Fi and fantasy, and I tend to write off YA. If I wanted to give a YA series a shot, should I start with Iron Widow or is there a better starter series/book out there?

@Cyclone-wolf

5 ай бұрын

Don't write off YA or middle-grade as a whole, there is some really good/classic stuff in there if you were never a reader. Off the top of my head (I mainly read fantasy so that's the bias here): These books I'm listing kind of shaped the books that we have today, I'm sure I missed a lot. Animals/fiction: Watership Down Fantasy/Scifi: The Abhorsen Series by Garth Nix (criminally underrated imo, I love the 2nd book and the magic system is unique, involves a set of bells and protecting the living from the dead) His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman (written as a response to the Narnia series. Obviously... it is a bit darker than your average YA book) MIstborn series by Brandon Sanderson (another unique magic system) Howls Moving Castle or Chrestomanci by Dianna Wynn Jones Inkheart (story about book/magic) The Neverending story The Dragonriders of Pern (dragons) Middlegrade quick easy reads: Wizards of the Earthsea by Ursula leGuin (classic magic and super atmospheric world building) Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce (Joan of Arc type coming of age story) Bonus: Eragon Series, its not very refined (written by a 16 yr old) but its a fun story and gets better the further into the cycle you get. I only recommend it to young adults and people who are new to reading though. I really loved it as a kid because I wanted to ride dragons lol. It gets more shit than it deserves so I like to list it regardless of what anybody else thinks.

Loved Iron Widow

Ah, this book... Would agree with your assessment. The author has mentioned their inspiration from anime (I'm loosely paraphrasing) and it the pacing and story beats do remind me of anime from early-mid 2000s. From the few YA series I've read, the pacing seems to be fairly similar, so I'm assuming that's possibly part of the genre. The bluntness is... Double-edged (heh). Those topics Jay's bringing up are harsh ugly realities and I like the decision to take a blunt approach and smash them wide open for scrutiny. What I don't like is how overtly it's done. I'm not a fan when an author seems to be preaching to the reader directly and this book feels like it does that. I'd rather it took a more nuanced approach to pull back some of it so it's not in your face all the time. Then again, this IS a YA novel and I'm like, double the age of the target audience. Maybe that'll improve after Jay hones their craft further, or maybe it's harder to do in a POV style. Gotta wait for the sequels to find out.

I need to read Darling in the FranXX by Xiran Jay Zhao

perhaps if you ask xiran jay zhao, she'll do a 'directors cut' of the book

On unrelated topic please read wandering inn you might like it

Any idea why IW is considered YA and Red Rising isn't? Seems they both have horrific content and read very similarly.

welpp hello daniel how r u man 😂😂 love your videos btw

Well now i want a purple splint :D

didn't know about the book getting delayed and the reason behind, that's sad :(

Yeah Ive seen this book before but first saw Xiran Jay Zhaoon instagram and didn't know they were the author of this book.Then I saw a post about it and was like Oh thats whos book that is

Please read The Queen’s Thief Series by Megan Whalen Turner

If you want a slow burn fantasy with a cast of a bunch of bis. Check out a chorus of dragons by Jenn Lyons

I LOVE how brutal Zeitan is. And I like that each character in the main triangle has their own valid motivations for wanting to destroy the system or take down the patriarchal powers in their society. The ending left me with my jaw on the floor from her actions but I also thought her logic behind them was absolutely right.

@raymondteodosbandlabvlog1676

5 ай бұрын

I didn’t know there was going to be a sequel, so when I got to the end of the book I got so mad I donated it to a charity shop and vowed never to read it again because of how stupid the ending was 😂. Then I heard about the sequel and tried to get the book back from the charity store, but it had already been sold, so I had to buy myself a new copy 🤦🏻‍♂️

@raymondteodosbandlabvlog1676

5 ай бұрын

I also loved the brutality of the protagonists like you did!

This is unrelated to anything with regards to the book, but just for the record: The idea that "blood is thicker than water" was some kind of misapplication of an older, better phrase is ITSELF misinformation--the earliest source that claims such a thing is from the 90s, and he doesn't cite any sources. Obviously it's still a bad proverb, but it's *just* a bad proverb, not some ancient wisdom that got lost or changed.

Definitely not a perfect book, but I still enjoyed the read; words were indeed passionate. Really appreciated the bi and polyamorous representation !

Okay, but...WHY DOES NO ONE EVER TALK ABOUT THE EFFING FIGURE SKATING? (This book was not for me.)

Coincidentally I just finished reading this last night lol so this this review is very timely 😅

Way Xiran describes their book is basically "Darling in the Franxx with a Chinese mythology." I can conqur with that.

The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb

I really like the author, but I just really really really dislike Iron Widow. I couldn’t enjoy the world due to the lack of world building, and the main character only ever came off as an unlikable psychopath. I felt like it had a lot of potential but was just really disappointing.

@maddiefromthevineyard

5 ай бұрын

I felt very much the same. I thought it was strange for a book about feminism to lack other prominent female characters, and then there was so much internalized misogyny. Also, I despised the handling of the alcoholism subplot. Zetian (forgive me if I misspelled) was only sympathic to one of her love interests when she found out that he was force fed alcohol. It seemed very uneducated about the realities of alcoholism imo.

@KaiInMotion

5 ай бұрын

​@@maddiefromthevineyard In her defense she thought he was a murderer who killed a girl and then chose to bury his guilt in alcohol instead of taking responsibility, I would feel disdain for him too. He's not an ordinary alcoholic, his circumstances weren't typical of your run of the mill alcoholic even before we learn the alcoholism was forced. I think it's not just learning the context of his alcoholism being forced on him that earns him her sympathy, it's learning the truth of his backstory and the fact that he turns out to have been a victim of fate and an awful family and system who failed him multiple times, forcing her on some level to realize he's exactly the same as her and is not another sexist violent male like she'd thought, but rather a kindred spirit who could easily be her if her circumstances had been slightly different.

I just finished this and I agree: we need more stories where almost everyone is pretty bi. I haven't experienced that since Dragon Age 2 so many years ago and more than that because of this book is unashamedly polyamorous. I'm in love with all three of our primary characters. There's more focus on the gender criticism here and I hope the next book will dive us a more deeper critique of colonialism which I think ties into some of the themes of gender too.

I never respond to videos, but this book was one I could not finish. I was so excited to read this, because I love the author's youtube channel break downs on Chinese influences in modern American cinema, and an actual Chinese YA Mech Sci-Fi Fantasy Chi Based Feminist novel sounded dope, but I cannot STAND the dialogue of the main character. She creates this amazing world where it feels like it could be a great historical drama meets the hunger games and then she just has her main character spew some flippant one liner that kills the tone. I get that it might be to show how the main character is rallying against the systems and patriarchal expectations, but it makes her character seem so mindless and bubble-gum dumb I couldn't finish the book.

@supremenain7006

5 ай бұрын

omg same for me, I really really disliked this book because of the writing style. Her main character definitely suffered from “I want to create a strong female character” syndrome and it made her insufferable. And dumb. All those one liners were cheesy a-f after a while.

@KaiInMotion

5 ай бұрын

I didn't find her dumb at all, imo she was maybe blinded at first by vengeance and lack of experience but she handled herself well enough and also clearly didn't want to try to play the game the way others were playing it, it seemed she wanted to destroy them without playing by their rules, which maybe made her stubborn but not outright stupid. I also liked that she was politically motivated and rebellious from the start, much more like teens in real life than the reluctant revolutionary archetype we usually get from dystopian YA.

If only the writing was good. Personally felt like there was a lot of awkward sentences and descriptions that didn’t make sense. KZreadr fame definitely helped with this story other wise there would be more criticisms I think.

I read this book and at first I though it was going to be a love triangle bella edward and jacob style so imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a poly. I was in class when it was revealed and I shouted "HUH?!" and everybody just stared at me 😅

As a fellow bi: "thank yoouu!"

we're getting Civil War 2 before we're getting Kingkiller Chronicles 3

No one holds the mike Dan

1:59 Why do you call it stupidity?

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, the next one is out at the end of this year

i liked the concept but the writing, pacing and character work were huge turn offs for me. overall i did not enjoy the book :(

I appreciate the desire for a slow burn and for deeper world building and more conflict between the characters, and normally I would agree, but I think it's really important to put that criticism into the context of how hard it was for this author to even get this book published. It's been a fight from the get go, largely due to race, gender, sexuality, and politics. I would absolutely love an extended Iron Widow world and more time with characters and developing the world, and I don't think traditional publishing would allow us that. I was genuinely shocked at the end to learn there would be another book, because the marketing made it seem like a one off and like Zhao really had to fight tooth and nail for every last page and every last shred of support from the publisher. And the way they talk about their second book ("Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor") really cemented that for me. We're also seeing that now with the brief discussion you had at the beginning about Zhao's second Iron Widow book being delayed due to internal conflict over their support for a humanitarian cause. All in all, it would be great to have those points all polished out and actualized better, and I think it's important to put that criticism within the context of the systemic issues inherent in Canadian traditional publishing and the uphill battle that a Chinese Canadian, queer, non-binary author had to go through to get a polyamorous retelling of Chinese history and myth published during the pandemic.

I know it's become a trend for KZreadrs to hold their mics, but I do hope this is a one off for you (not that it'll stop me watching your videos if it does become a thing.) Maybe it's because I have a disability that limits the use of my left hand completely; or maybe it's because I used to be a content creator and it goes against my sensibilities; but watching people holding microphones makes me very uneasy 😅 - especially when the microphones are specifically designed to be clipped onto clothes or stands. I know this is my problem, not anyone else's though.

First of all I love the author, she's amazing, and definitely love what she's doing. However, regarding the book I will say this: "bringing in a bunch of themes and real life issues doesn't make up for the lack of plot, setting, and characterisation." The plot moves too fast, it fails to set up a resounding and profound enough promise in its premise, neither does the characters feel multi-dimensional enough. The world has not been well thought out, political and social systems were not formed as a result of the setting, but rather the world was forced around a preconceived sociopolitical system so that the author could make a point.