The Bookish Mindset

Overview:

Title: Heavenly Tyrany
Author: Xiran Jay Zhao
Published: December 2024
Genre: Sci-Fi
Themes: Corrupt governments, capitalism, communism.

One sentence summary: After collapsing the corrupt government, Wu Zetian now is forced to deal with the aftermath of rebuilding a world, but it’s never as easy as it seems.

One sentence review: Xiran Jay Zhao has such a talent for writing politic worlds that will truly make you hold a mirror up to your own, I can’t recommend it enough.

Review:

Iron Widow ends with Wu Zetian finally finishing her plans for revenge across Huxia and in Heavenly Tyrant we carry straight on from that final scene. 

Zhao’s told us that this instalment sees our protagonist having to deal with the havoc she’s caused in Iron Widow and honestly, it’s wonderful. If you were concerned it wouldn’t be full of the same feminine rage we saw in Iron Widow I promise you that you won’t be disappointed. Watching her deal with the consequences of her morally grey actions and equally morally grey Qin Zheng is brilliantly captivating. 

I think it’s incredibly impressive that a book of thickness has managed to keep pace the whole way through and that’s absolutely testament to both the writing and the plot. It’s fast paced without being rushed and is absolutely packed with content. Every sentence, every paragraph is purposefully placed. There is no waiting around. 

Another thing this book does fantastically is bust the myth that the second book in a trilogy is a drag or less exciting than its predecessor. I could not get enough of this book. I read it slowly and savoured and I couldn’t be gladder that I did. 

There are so many brilliant points of commentary in this book and I’d like to share some with hopefully not too many spoilers, but feel free to skip through the next couple of paragraphs if you’d prefer:

After the destruction of the corrupt government, governing and trying to introduce justice isn’t as easy as it seems. More corruption spawns and morals are brought into play much more in this second instalment and it was brilliantly written. Capital punishment and incarceration are running themes too that are also going to make you sit back and think about consequences of actions. There’s lots of great conversations of how girl bossing doesn’t help all women – cue thoughts on white women fighting for a seat on the board isn’t helping SW’s not be abused or Black women be paid enough. There’s also lots on consent and choice and lots in that aspect that will make your stomach turn, or at least mine.

Xiran Jay Zhao has such a talent for writing politic worlds that will truly make you hold a mirror up to your own. It’s brilliant and an absolute must read. Go and get pre-ordered in order to spend Christmas delving back into Wu Zetian’s world. 

An absolutely huge thank you to Rock the Boat for this proof, at over a year and a half waiting since reading Iron Widow this has been one of my most anticipated read and I’m so grateful I got to read this advance! 

If you’d like to get yourself a copy, you can support local bookshops while doing so on Bookshop.org with this pre-order link here, out 24th December.

If you like what you’ve read and would like to access more content, I’d love if you could take a look at my patreon and consider supporting my content on there too.

And don’t forget to check out my other blogs and reviews – you can find books with similar themes in the same folder link below, or click back onto blogs to see the whole offering.

Last updated 18/12/2024