Heavenly Tyrant
Iron Widow, Book 2
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Heavenly Tyrant
Buy Now for £16.99
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Narrated by:
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Derek Kwan
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Rong Fu
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By:
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Xiran Jay Zhao
About this listen
The sequel to the instant New York Times No.1 bestseller Iron Widow.
After suffering devastating loss, Zetian finds herself at the seat of power in Huaxia. But her world is not as it seems, and revelations about an enemy more daunting than she imagined forces her to share her power with a dangerous man. Zetian must join this man in a dance of truth and lies to take down their common enemy.
With perilous forces aiming to undermine Zetian at every turn, can she enact positive changes as a fair and just ruler? Or will she be forced to rely on fear and violence and succumb to her darker instincts in her quest for vengeance?
“A ferociously original fusion of Chinese history and mecha sci-fi, this is a fast-paced thrill-ride.” - The Guardian
“Absolutely epic. This is the historical-inspired, futuristic sci-fi mash-up of my wildest dreams.” - Chloe Gong, author of These Violent Delights
“Think The Handmaid's Tale meets Pacific Rim and buckle up.” - Shelley Parker-Chan, author of She Who Became the Sun
©2024 Xiran Jay Zhao (P)2024 Tundra Books, Penguin Random House CanadaHowever, this book is much longer with plenty of room to breathe.
Qin Zheng was a great addition as antagonist. You love to hate him, but also love (some of) his policies.
The politics in the book is simplistic, but I think it will put across the concepts well for people who don't know much about politics.
I enjoyed the final few hours very much, when it turned into a pure science fiction.
if the author releases a third book, I will read it.
The narrator too is decent.
improvement on the first book
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well rounded characters
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Amazing sequel
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Everything was amazing, I love how wildly different it is from Iron Widow in pretty much every way, but still has that same furious and… almost feral energy (and I mean that in a good way).
In this masterpiece, Zetian learns and grows to become more than the peasant girl she was born as, to become the empress of Huaxia and wield that power to her own beliefs. She fights tooth and nail to be her own person, and have her own voice, even when the powerful man holding her down tries to drown her in his might. She holds onto her indomitable spirit, and sharpens her anger towards Qin Zheng and the gods at every turn. And when she is betrayed by someone she truly loved and trusted, she does not relinquish that hurt and anger just because it turns out someone else was betrayed first.
Too often, characters in novels (especially in YA, and *especially* women and girl leads in YA) will react in entirely ridiculous and unnatural ways to betrayals, bending to whatever direction the author (or the publisher) needs the story to go. It’s like they can’t be angry for more than a few pages because it might mess up the lead couple getting together at the end. Zetian being unable to forgive or even trust Yizhi, just because he betrayed Qin Zheng in a different but also similar way, and holding that anger for half the book, even after revelations that Yizhi tried his best to fix the mess he made, is something so rare and I’ve loved to see it.
And even that betrayal, of Yizhi violating her in the cruelest way, isn’t out of character for him. Xiran Jay Zhao set up the darkness in him throughout both Iron Widow and the beginning of Heavenly Tyrant, and we never truly know what he thinks and feels. Whether anything we’ve seen of him is the real Yizhi. And we still don’t. I’d love to see something, either an old scene or a new one, from his perspective. And Shimin’s, I’d die for a scene from Shimin’s eyes!
And of the best boy, Li Shimin, oh how painful this story was for him. But he’s back? Maybe? I’m scared for what the next book holds, but equally just thrilled that by some bizarre “miracle” (or science that we don’t understand yet) he’s still alive, and still himself.
Massive shout out to Rong Fu and Derek Kwan’s wonderful performance, they brought this book to life in the best way possible! I can’t wait to listen to more books from both of them.
Anyways, I’ll be in a corner muttering to myself about both books, and probably replaying them a thousand times, until the next book comes out!
Truly the best sequel ever written
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Revolutionary
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