#especially because this book is so committed to understanding why wu zetian conciously does violence. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

agnesandhilda · 6 months ago

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some final thoughts on iron widow: I wish the main throuple had either had longer to cook or that zetian and li shimin's relationship wasn't made romantic (as is it seems like zetian goes from hating and resenting him to completely forgiving him for the women he did kill, albeit incidentally, and accepting him as another boyfriend way too fast). I also wish that li shimin had actually done some of the bad things zetian believed he did at the start of the novel maybe

#bolo liveblogs #iron widow #shimin is far and away this book's most compelling character wrt to narrative intrigue #I think he and zetian should've spent *more* time at odds actually #I understand that zhao was bound to strict word count limits for a first novel but as-is he goes from #a mysterious and fascinating murderer whose exact culpability for the violence he's engaged in while in a violent system himself #is an open question to just. a sad wet cat with a comically tragic backstory #my preferences are not universal but I don't like it when characters are in conflict solely because of misunderstandings #especially because this book is so committed to understanding why wu zetian conciously does violence.#it's disappointing to see him completely absolved. like he really hasn't done anything wrong? :( awwww

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