#Having Wu Zetian and Li Shimin

[celepom]

Zachary Ying and the Dragon Emperor

by Xiran Jay Zhao

Zachary Ying never had many opportunities to learn about his Chinese heritage. His single mom was busy enough making sure they got by, and his schools never taught anything except Western history and myths. So Zack is woefully unprepared when he discovers he was born to host the spirit of the First Emperor of China for a vital mission: sealing the leaking portal to the Chinese underworld before the upcoming Ghost Month blows it wide open. The mission takes an immediate wrong turn when the First Emperor botches his attempt to possess Zack’s body and binds to Zack’s AR gaming headset instead, leading to a battle where Zack’s mom’s soul gets taken by demons. Now, with one of history’s most infamous tyrants yapping in his headset, Zack must journey across China to heist magical artifacts and defeat figures from history and myth, all while learning to wield the emperor’s incredible water dragon powers. And if Zack can’t finish the mission in time, the spirits of the underworld will flood into the mortal realm, and he could lose his mom forever.

----

A thrilling story with very compelling character dynamics. Especially Zack with all of his 12 year old sass & his ghostly ancestor Qin Shi Huang who's straight-up a supervillain who Won. The world building is intricate and easy to follow, which introduces the audience to an entire library of legends, history & folk tales that may have been out of easy reach from their cultural lexicon. The world isn't black & white, good vs evil, light vs dark, but as complicated as real life tends to be. I'm excited to follow this series into the future to see how Zack & his friends (and his enemies) change and grow.        

#Book rec #novel #middle grade #Zachary Ying #this was such a fun read #and I wanted to hug Zack so many times #He's a D E L I G H T #Also love Qin Shi Huang who just Owns It #Having Wu Zetian and Li Shimin #in this was trippy on my brain at first #after reading Iron Widow #But these versions of them are very different from their counterparts #so I got used to it fairly quick #Rooting for Baby Gay Zack to triumph!

[crowreys-wormstache]

Chapter 37

#Yizhi and Shimin also have two hands each #and they are holding one another's hand also #gao yizhi #wu zetian #li shimin #iron widow #xiran jay zhao #jess talks

[kingclassthevermilionbird]

Li Shimin must be having the worst emotional whiplash ever like god damn

#iron widow #iron widow spoilers #li shimin #wu zetian #a simple hey and his world is tilted #poor dude I love him #like this girl he knows nothing about is cracking jokes instead of screaming #says she believes him #tries to KILL HIM NOT EVEN 10 MINUTES LATER #ALMOST SUCCEEDS IN DOING JUST THAT #THEN HES TRYING TO LEAVE AND NOT LOOK AT ANOTHER DEAD GIRL HE KILLED #AND IN THE DEAFENING SILENCE OF PREPARING TO GO BACK TO PRISON AND FORCED LABOR COMES #hey… #LIKE WHAT #BROS HAVING 15 CRISES IN AS MANY SECONDS

[galletadelcaos]

Wu Zetian, Li Shimin and Gao Yizhi are very different people, but there’s one thing they have in common: parricide.

#iron widow #wu zetian #li shimin #gao yizhi #iron triangle #just finished this book and i have THOUGHTS #Family is the most important thing blablabla LOL NO #What a wild ride #my post

[itcouldbegayer]

something about the parallels between Shimin not knowing how to fix things when Zetian asked him to in his mindscape, and Zetian not knowing how to fix things when she found out she was being unfair to Shimin, is just so

#how Shimin wasn't at fault bc he was manipulated and beaten to do what he was told #and how Zetian wasnt at fault bc except for like two people everyone in her life treated her like shit #and she didn't have the slightest reason to think Shimin was different #wu zetian #li shimin #iron widow

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Gay wrongs tournament, semifinals of the minor bracket

Propaganda:

For Lord Hater and Commander Peepers :

Lord Hater is the self-proclaimed "universe's awesomest evil-doer", an immature, attention-seeking manchild with electric powers and a short temper. He rules the Hater Empire with Commander Peepers as his second-in-command (technically third, after his beloved pet spider-xenomorph, but who's counting), however it soon becomes *very* clear that the cunning, remorseless, hardworking Peepers is the *real* brains behind the empire. Peepers might be frustrated at Hater's incompetence at times and isn't above manipulating him to reach an end goal, but he'd never dream of usurping him because, well, he's really gay and in love with him (as much as he can be in an early-10s Disney cartoon, anyways). Hater might take Peepers for granted a lot of times, but as his oldest friend and closest confidante he's the one who Hater is closest to. Whether it's invading other planets or kicking puppies for fun, these two are *delightfully* terrible jerks and the epitome of gay wrongs. 

Commander Peepers is both Lord Hater's right hand man in villainy AND his jilted stay-at-home-wife-guy (Also in villainy. Hater is really good at getting distracted from productive and efficient villaining.) Lord Hater was the greatest villain in the galaxy thanks to how well he and Commander Peepers worked as an evil team to run the Hater Empire!

Lord Hater conquers planets and is such an edgy bastard. Peepers is the actual brains behind the operation. Peepers is often pushed aside by Hater, they are besties and yet Peepers is always pining for this guy who will never notice. Peepers is so horribly gay for him if you watch the show he wants his stupid boss so bad. Peepers is so scared of him season 1 but then starts yelling BACK in season 2 and has to deal with him like a babysitter or something and yet STILL idolizes him and that’s just such a fun dynamic. His password is H8RNP33PRS43VR (Hater and Peepers forever). They are so evil and everyone fears them and they are villains and they are gay and the side of the fandom that draws them as a married couple that needs counseling is absolutely correct. The fanart of Hater openly liking him back is wonderful but I swear you don’t even need that. They are so gay and villain you have to love them they are

Villains that conquer planets and do evil stuff, my favourite characters, not really canon but they are the best :)

For Wu Zetian x Gao Yizhi x Li Shimin: (propaganda from previous poll here)

They are in a poly and are so morally gray and I love em. The triangle really is the strongest shape

They're gay because they're all bi (literally in Shimin and Yizhi's cases, kinda more implied for Zetian). Zetian and Shimin tortured a man for information (and also because he tortured them first) while Yizhi cooked back in their apartment. They made a plan to destroy their government and take over instead. Yizhi killed his dad because he was talking shit about Zetian and trying to sway his trust in her (it didn't work lmao). Instead of a love triangle (it REALLY seemed like that was what it was heading towards) they all love each other and would (and have) committed atrocities for each other. There's a whole thing about how they're stronger together (like, metaphorically and on the battlefield (Shimin and Zetian pilot a giant mecha together and Yizhi balances them))

They're a canon polyship who are all a bit deranged and down to kill for their goals and/or to protect bae. Two have tortured a man to death together and came home to the third making celebratory cookies for them. 

What's more gay wrongs than trying to take over your country and torturing a man together

#minor bracket semifinals #iron widow #wander over yonder #gao yizhi #li shimin #wu zetian #commander peepers #lord hater

[tired-fandom-ndn]

I love that Wu Zetian fucks up. I love that she's often cruel for no real reason and that she's ignorant of the struggles of other people. I love that she doesn't have sympathy for Li Shimin's alcoholism, that she doesn't get where Dugu Qieluo's anger and disdain are coming from.

Not because I agree with her, of course, but because it makes her so much more realistic. She's coming from just her own experiences, without understanding others', and she fucks up and she hurts people and she learns and she adapts. She doesn't start out as perfect. She isn't perfect at the end either. She's just a person.

#wu zetian #iron widow

[powerpolyculeshowdown]

Mod's Self Indulgent Polyship Poll Masterpost

Hello and welcome to the poll where I cannot lose! As the winner of the next-poll poll, we mark the return of powerpolycule showdown with my own self indulgent poll, where every contest is a polyship I like so whoever wins I also win 💖

While the premise likely sounds a bit selfish, I hope you find something among the contestants that speaks to you, and maybe you'll have yourself a new polyship or even just a new piece of beloved media even if you disagree with me (which is fine!!). Do keep in mind the ships vary from canon, to personal headcanons that will never happen to "the creators were onto something here I swear but they were cowards".

Now, the rules!

Vote for whoever you like best, if you don't know them, please check out their descriptions! I worked very hard to write those.

Don't be an asshole in the notes section. If I see a fandom being particularly toxic I will disqualify that ship. You don't need to like everything, just don't be rude.

Propaganda is welcome and encouraged!

As a personal rule to myself, I left out 3 of our beloved polycules from last year because the next poll will be rare polyships, and I believe they fit that category. They will be returning there!

There will be revival rounds because I was unable to narrow the list down to 16, and I didn't want to exclude any other ships. So if a polyship you like loses their first poll, not all hope is lost!!

Not a rule, but a reminder: The inclusion of a polyship does not mean I support or condone statements from any of the cast members from the source media.

Tags:

#selfindulgentpoll - all posts relevant to this poll

#siround[n] - every post for each poll will be tagged this way, [n] representing the number correspondent to each round (#siround1, #siround2, etc)

#sirevival[n] - revival round polls, [n] representing the number of the revival poll (#sirevival1, #sirevival2, etc)

#sipropaganda - any propagabda posts/reblogs/asks by other people. if u like any of the ships, make sure to campaign for it so it has higher chances of winning!!

#polypoll or #bonus poll - any poll made by me not directly related to the competition

#poll boost - self reblog of the polls for visibility, for people who might want to block those.

Relevant links:

Match Ups

Round 1 (finished!)

@tournament-announcer

List of contestants under the cut!

Roy/Keeley/Jamie (Ted Lasso)

Gwen/Miles/Hobie (Spiderverse)

Wu Zetian/Li Shimin/Gao Yizhi (Iron Widow)

Julien/Marnie/Roman (Charity Case)

Eddie Munson/Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler/Robin Buckley (Stranger Things)

Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson/Chrissy Cunningham (Stranger Things)

Kayla/Elise/Hotaru (Shootaround)

Oikawa/Iwaizumi/Matsukawa/Hanamaki (Haikyuu)

Akaashi/Bokuto/Kuroo/Kenma (Haikyuu)

Ennoshita/Tanaka/Kanoka (Haikyuu)

Midna/Zelda/Link (Twilight Princess)

Zelda/Link/Sidon/Yona (Tears of the Kingdom)

Geralt/Jaskier/Yennefer (The Witcher)

Martin/Jon/Tim/Sasha (The Magnus Archives)

Georgie/Melanie/Rosie (The Magnus Archives)

Jon/Martin/Gerry (The Magnus Archives)

Georgie/Melanie/Basira/Daisy (The Magnus Archives)

Georgie/Melanie/Helen Distortion (The Magnus Archives)

Jon/Martin/Tim (The Magnus Archives)

Sam/Celia/Alice/Gwen (The Magnus Protocol)

Stede/Blackbeard/Izzy (Our Flag Means Death)

Black Pete/Lucius/Izzy (Our Flag Means Death)

Penny/Sam/Sebastian/Abigail (Stardew Valley)

Farmer/Leah/Elliot (Stardew Valley)

Zack/Cloud/Aerith/Tifa/Jessie/Briggs/Wedge (FF7R)

Edward/Winry/Paninya (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)

York/Rosé/Grendan (Drawtectives)

Megaera/Zagreus/Thanatos (Hades)

(yes a huge chunk is magnus archives and i will not apologize)

#powerpolyculeshowdown #self indulgent poll masterpost #self indulgent poll #polyamory #polycule #polyships #polls #selfindulgentpoll

[knuckle]

on some more gentle book criticism it's wild that both of wu zetian's love interests in iron widow are highly educated & there are references to the aesthetics and structures of a scholar system, but there is utterly no casual reciting of classics, tactics, nor poetry from anyone. there are references to adapted forms of the classics, but it doesn't inform how characters talk or think (li shimin seems more like a guy who never got education than someone who memorizes poems to the point it destroyed his vision). I understand the whole "peasant frontier girl half literate" thing to an extent (even though it feels an odd choice) but there aren't even like idioms really. it feels very simplistic & uniform in characters' speaking style, and the world, language, and culture all read very flat because of that. tacticians like sima yi, an lushan, and zhuge liang too might have a more creative way to call someone a bitch or what is the point of reimagining them in this world is all I'm saying.

i think there was also a big miss of not even referencing half of the incredibly funny things that a star studded historical fiction cast could provide like zhuge liang never did something funny with a feather fan? no one had to bother him into working? no pranks with corpses? where is his ugly intelligent wife?

why not posture that an lushan's son gave the thumbs up on his murder? historically accurate and hilarious

honestly, the book shouldn't have been marketed as a reimagining of historical or quasi historical figures at all because if you know or care anything about chinese history/culture it's massively immersion breaking & xiran jay zhao should have just leaned into a fully dystopic "fallen" society with only the worst aspects of chinese culture surviving, deliberately so because of the way the populace is controlled and managed, without any dressings of valuing scholars because they clearly didn't feel confident enough or want to put in enough work to actually mesh chinese literary classics or more than a skeleton of historical context with characters that bear the names of legends.

every character could and should have just had an original name so i'm not frequently disappointed that, for example wu zetian who weaponized her children to become regent and curry favor views motherhood as the most restrictive shackle on a woman or that li shimin who assassinated his brothers in a tactical power play and expertly maneuvered the aftermath, getting his father to abdicate to him and becoming one of the most competent emperors in history, would just stand by helplessly with a bloody murder weapon while he was carried off to a death row labor camp

#iron widow

[ksfoxwald]

I'm getting really into Iron Widow by @xiranjayzhao for a lot of reasons, but the main one right now is that

Li Shimin is shaped like a typical YA Sadboy Love Interest; gratuitously hot, tragic past, a Bad Boy who is Sensitive and actually just Misunderstood etc.

And usually the white girl protagonist is like"how can he be BAD when he is HOT? how can I have FEELINGS for him??"

But Wu Zetian is like "oh you killed your family? lol mood" and "wait shit he's relatable, this is very inconvenient for murdering him" and I love her so much.

Also Shimin doesn't smirk. Can't stand a YA boy who smirks. I will dnf at the first hint of a smirk.

(scowling is fine. Scowling bc he's not wearing his glasses and actually squinting trying to see anything is A++)

#iron widow

[polyam-ship-showdown]

Polyam Ship Showdown Round 1!

So I have combed through the 200+ submissions, combed through it and come up with the final bracket that you will see right here.

Feel free to have a bit of fun! You can download this picture and make your predictions or even just present it as how it would go down if it was all your choice.

Round 1 will start at 6:00 PM EST on February 18th. Polls will roll out every minute until done. Then it's showtime!

The brackets are as follows:

Sasha Waybright/Anne Boonchuy/Marcy Wu (Amphibia) vs Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman (DC Comics)

Willow Park/Luz Noceda/Amity Blight (The Owl House) vs Jaune Arc/Nora Valkyrie/Pyrrha Nikos/Lie Ren (RWBY)

Suki/Sokka/Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender) vs Mafuyu Asahina/Kanade Yoisaki/Ena Shinonome/Mizuki Akiyama (Project Sekai)

Annalise Obrien/Gabriel Boutin/Nathan Byrne (The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself) vs Leonard McCoy/Spock/James T. Kirk (Star Trek: The Original Series)

Megaera/Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades) vs Monika/Sayori/Yuri/Natsuki (Doki Doki Literature Club)

Koutarou Bokuto/Keiji Akaashi/Tetsurou Kuroo/Kenma Kozume (Haikyuu!!) vs Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler/Jack Harkness (Doctor Who)

Leshy/Grimora/Magnificus/P03 (Inscryption) vs Red Son/MK/Mei Dragon (LEGO Monkie Kid)

Sonic the Hedgehog/Shadow the Hedgehog/Silver the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog) vs The Mane 6 Polycule (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic)

Lewis Pepper/Vivi Yukino/Arthur Kingsmen (Mystery Skulls Animated) vs Quanxi/Cosmo/Pingtsi/Long/Tsugihagi (Chainsaw Man)

Donald Duck/Panchito Pistoles/Jose Carioca (The Three Caballeros) vs Miguel/Tulio/Chel (The Road To El Dorado)

Steve Harrington/Nancy Wheeler/Jonathan Byers (Stranger Things) vs Kathy Selden/Don Lockwood/Cosmo Brown (Singin’ In The Rain)

Wu Zetian/Li Shimin/Gao Yizhi (Iron Widow) vs Velma Dinkley/Daphne Blake/Fred Jones/Norville "Shaggy" Rogers (Scooby-Doo)

Shiver/Frye/Big Man (Splatoon 3) vs Sora/Riku/Kairi (Kingdom Hearts)

Star Butterfly/Marco Diaz/Tom Lucitor (Star vs The Forces of Evil) vs Parker/Alec Hardison/Eliot Spencer (Leverage)

Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier/Yennefer of Vengerberg (The Witcher) vs Eugene/Rapunzel/Cassandra (Tangled: The Series)

Finn/Rey/Poe Dameron (Star Wars) vs Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades/Alucard (Castlevania)

#polyamshipshowdown2023 #tumblr polls #round 1 #polyam #ot3

[another-white-void]

And here it is, the list of my fav Iron Widow moments! Enjoy?

As always feel free to discuss with me or share your favorite moments!!

It's below the cut bcs spoilers

- chapter 5, I figured that I could note my fav moments of this book as well XD

- starting on not the best note, I fucking hate Yang Guang, I hate him so much, I want to rip his guts out,

- chapter 8, the fight was so epic!! I love how MC just kinda forgor about the whole dying thing and went with the flow

- and that she killed that motherfucker! I didn't have to tolerate him for too long >:D

- it's honestly quite funny that Qin Zheng was killed by pox (I hope I'm getting the name of the illness right lol, I'm reading this in Polish translation and have 0 knowledge about any medical terminology in English)

- just a note but it's harder for me to keep up with those notes for Iron Widow than for Qian Qiu. I think it's because 1. its pace is faster 2. its chapters are shorter. so anyway

- chapter 10, Wu Zetian just needs to scream 24/7 and I respect it so much

- chapter 12, idk, Li Shimin is kinda cute

- I also like strategist Zhuge but that may be just because he has a fan

- chapter 13, those qi power statistic are so untrustworthy lol. I wouldn't be so happy to have so much higher qi stats than the average if the margin of error is like 17k

- chapter 14, damn, I miss Yizhi...

- chapter 19, oh my god, Yizhi is back!! T^T

- I absolutely love all the tiny historical details in this story. I'm probably missing a lot but those which I can catch are amazing (and satisfying, good to know that I know something about Chinese history after all that learning)

- chapter 20, OMG YIZHI IS BI?? IS THIS FINALLY SOME GOOD BI REP??

- ZETIAN IS ALSO BI?? AM I IN HEAVEN? WHAT'S GOING ON??

- omg Gao Yizhi grabbing Li Shimin's leash is one of the things I need to draw, damn, it paints such a clear picture in my mind

- chapter 21, Sima Yi is just a hater by nature and I start to enjoy it,

- chapter 23, Yizhi screaming "you can't shoot me I'm rich!!!" I love this boy

- chapter 29, god, Yizhi, Shimin and Zetian are sooo cute

- also "one traumatized Xing Tian", that made me laugh out loud

- "usually adding qi of a third person only strengthened the dissonance (...) no one knows why we succeeded" yeah I wonder why, hmmmmmm

- chapter 30, MY BABYGIRL LI SHIMIN GOT CALLED AN ALPHA MALE I'M DYINGGG

- I kinda like Gao Qiu. I know he's probably bad news but damn, he's fun

- also a Wu Zetian fan nr1, seeing his reaction I'm surprised that he didn't ask for an autograph (I forgot that he's sexist af)

- tho, tbh, I think he's more afraid of what he can't control than purely sexist; interesting guy, I want to dissect him,

- I wonder if anything happened between LSM and GYZ during that party at Gao's, hmm,

- chapter 31, OUR THIRD PARTNER YIZHI, AWWW

- chapter 36, I actually think Sima Yi might be one of my fav characters? come on, the guy came to the wedding just because he wanted to support his little dumdums

- chapter 39, YES FUCK AN LUSHAN

- damn I didn't think they'll actually kill him. oh well. he won't be missed. judging by his character, even his son won't miss him

- Yizhi is the wife in this throuple, isn't he /jk

- OMG THE TRIANGLE IS FINISHED, THAT WAS SO CUTE!! WAAH

- chapter 42, I like how Wu Zetian's reaction to something not going well is just "maybe we should burn ourselves alive actually", relatable queen

- Sima Yi just lost his good guy badge. he better have a damn good excuse for abondoning MCs this easily,

- chapter 44, QIN PIERDOLONY ZHENG, już zawsze będę go tak nazywać 🫡

- chapter 46, is Qin Pierdolony Zheng playing snake with hunduns instead of apples¿?

- I still can't believe that Shimin is actually dead. Like. Dead dead. Super dead. Human marmalade dead. How... why him T^T

- chapter 47, I love how among all this death and destruction the worst problem Qin Pierdolony Zheng has is inflation,

- epilogue, DID SHIMIN BECOME A GOD PLS TELL ME HE BECAME A GOD

- Qin Pierdolony Zheng has a beef with gods, I think he's the most rel character now

#iron widow #xiran jay zhao #żelazna wdowa #the next victim is as promised SVSS 🫡

[schrodingers-hoarding-problem]

I have gotten a singular like on my iron widow post thus you are all now subjected to some of my favorite quotes!

also beware of spoilers (plus a bit of commentary on some of the later ones)

“Welcome to your nightmare” (82) 

“It’s hilarious. Men want us so badly for our bodies, yet hate us so much for our minds” (94) 

“Be their nightmare, Wu Zetian.” (95) 

“There’s no guilt, no rage, no hesitation in his eyes. Only a resolve so clear it steals my breath away.” (99) 

“I’m becoming no less of a monster, but that’s ok. It takes a monster to slay a monster.” (102) 

“Our fingers curl together, much gentler than when we were trying to take each other’s lives.” (109) 

“‘A funeral?’ I say with mock casualness. ‘Did the attendees know he died like a girl?’” (113) 

“Too bad. I am exactly the kind of ice-blooded, rotten-hearted girl he fears I am. And I am fine with that.” (114) 

“‘You think this scares me?’ I say, unbelievably calm for how rabidly I’m fraying apart on the inside. ‘You think I ever liked being alive? Go ahead. Do me a favor.’” (118) 

“Okay. So Li Shimin is absolutely fucking bonkers, I guess.” (127) 

“Oh no. I am also absolutely fucking bonkers.” (130) 

“The bloodlust in his eyes rouses something primal and deep-rooted inside me, something that finds it so… Utterly relatable.” (153) 

“Yizhi gulps. A blush reddens his ears, and a quizzical feeling stirs inside me.” (171) 

YES!! i am seeing the poly vision 

“He should be the Iron King, and I should be the Iron Queen. Yet Iron Demon and Iron Widow is all they’ll let us be.” (199) 

“How do you take the fight out of half the population and render them willing slaves? … You tell them over and over, until it’s the only truth they’re capable of living.” (210) 

“We are wholly the Vermillion Bird, commanding it in sync.” (239) 

“No one’s sure why it worked out for us.” (248) 

because of the poly vision ofc 

i’m so excited for it 

“This isn’t his victory. This is my temporary mercy. With a head full of fantasies of how I’ll flag him alive after he outlived his use, I unzip my pilot coat.” (264) 

“Despite their best efforts, I find myself worthy of happiness.“ (276) 

“I will slather him for what he did to Shimin. He has shot to the top of my ever-growing hit list. It’s the least I can do.” (283) 

“We can live for more. We can live for justice. Change. Vengeance. Power.” (298) 

“I like him a lot better than his distant cousin who I killed.” (302) 

Me too 

“Despite the endless horrors that we’ve both been through, I really am grateful that we survived to meet each other.” (311) 

“He snaps the collar off his neck and hurls it to the ground with the force of a thunderclap.” (325) 

holy shit these last two pages (324-325) are insane and giving me everything i want YES my vengeance driven queen and king i love you both so so so much 

“Before you die, let me confirm something for you: girls like me are everywhere, barely putting up the facade of wives and daughters and concubines. And I don’t think they’ll be very happy about the army’s lies.” (327) 

“Perks of refusing to play by the rules: you don’t have to choose between the boy who’d torture a man to death with you and the boy who’d welcome you back with pastries after.” (328) 

Yizhi looks at a loss for words for a few seconds, then schools his expression. ‘Don’t be, handsome.’ He winks. I have to bite my lip not to laugh at the look on Shimin’s face.” (331) 

“I roll my eyes, make a triangle out of my fingers, and nod.” (331) 

YES the poly vision has been realized 

i love it here 

Xiran Jay Zhao i owe everything to you 

“She is perfectly aware and in control of what they’re doing.” (353) 

Xiuying wtf i liked you 

Qieluo is my only friend now 

“Cure the Emperor.” (359) 

ooooo yes 

“But it doesn’t matter. Male, female, it doesn’t matter when piloting.” (367) 

“Her face is stunning, yet her eyes seethe with the deepest, blackest hatred.” (372) 

“Wu Zetian … Be their nightmare.” (373) 

“Even though everything feels impossible, even though I will never be the same, even though all I want to do is lie down and give up, I make myself keep going.” (373) 

“There will be no redemption. It is not me who is wrong. It’s everyone else.” (380) 

“I know what real mercy would be. ‘Sorry,’ I say, cold as Big Sister’s ashes. ‘You’re in my way.’” (383) 

“Yellow-green lightning bursts across the air.” (386) 

HELL YEAH YIZHI patricide win 

“Let’s rule the world.” (388) 

“The Hunduns are the natives, not—!” (390) 

wooooow 

honestly i was kinda suspecting it based on what the emperor class hunduns were saying but that’s still insane 

ahhhh i can’t wait for the heavenly tyrant 

also bring back my boy shimin i miss him 

#jae’s thoughts #iron widow #xiran jay zhao #iron triangle #wu zetian #li shimin #gao yizhi

[maddiesbookshelves]

In honor of pride month, here are my favorite queer books of all time (in no particular order)

I Wish You All the Best

When Ben comes out as nonbinary, their parents kick them out. They are forced to go live with their estranged sister and her husband in a new town and enroll into a new school. Their plan to lay low and finish their senior year unnoticed flies out the window when they meet kind and charismatic Nathan. As their friendship grows, so do their feelings for each other...

nb MC

bi black love interest

mental illness

just beacause they're family doesn't mean they're good for you

Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow

Things haven't been the same for Archie recently: his parents are fighting and his dad is acting weird, but no one is telling him anything. When he sees a colourful, crumpled paper fall out of his dad's pocket, Archie thinks he might have found the answear. Only problem? The answer might just lie at the end of the rainbow, an adventure away. Archie enlists the help of his best friends and, tohether, they set off to London to try and fix his family.

communicate with your kids dammit

coming out as gay when you have a family

gay teens

drag queens

end set during the London Pride

Beyond the Black Door

Kamai and her mother are Soulwalkers ― they can journey into people's souls when they sleep. And in each soul she visits, Kamai sees a black door. When she gets close to it, it is warm and seems to be calling her name. Her mother has always warned her: never open the black door. But when tragedy strikes, Kamai feels like she has no other choice and opens it.

really cool ways of explaining queerness in-universe

trans rep

gay rep

ace rep

bi rep

it almost has it all, y'all

Loveless

Georgia has never been in love or kissed anyone, but she's sure she'll find her person one day. As she moves to another town for her first year of university, she thinks her romance dreams might just be within her reach. But when her plan wreacks havoc into her friend group, she starts wondering why love seems so easy for other people. With new terms thrown at her ― asexual, aromantic ― Georgia is more uncertain about her feelings than ever.

aro ace rep

leabian latina rep

pan rep

he/them nb + romantic ace non-white character

Iron Widow

The boys of Huaxia dream of piloting the Chrysalises to battle the aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall while the girls they are partnered with die from the mental strain. When her sister dies under suspicious circumstances, Wu Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot to the culprit in order to kill him. But she gets her vengeance in an unexpected way — she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia​. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily.

bi rep

feminist rage

poly rep

French version under the cut

I Wish You All the Best

Quand Ben annonce à ses parents qu'iel est non-binaire, ses parents lae mettent à la porte. Iel n'a d'autre choix que d'aller vivre chez sa sœur, avec qui iel n'a plus eu contact depuis des années et son mari, puis de s'inscrire dans une nouvelle école. Son plan de finir sa dernière année de lycée en faisant profile bas vole en éclats lorsqu'iel rencontre le gentil et charismatique Nathan. Alors que leur amitié s'épanoui, leurs sentiments l'un pour l'autre en font de même...

nb protag

love interest noir et bi

santé mentale

juste parce que c'est la famille ça veut pas dire qu'ils sont bons pour toi

Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow

Rien n'est plus pareil pour Archie ces derniers temps : ses parents sont en froid et son père agit bizarrement, mais personne ne lui explique rien. Lorsqu'il aperçoit un papier coloré froissé tomber de la poche de son père, Archie pense avoir trouvé les réponses à ses questions. Le problème ? Les réponses se trouvent peut-être au bout de l'arc-en-ciel, à la fin d'une aventure. Archie demande l'aide de ses meilleurs amis et, ensemble, ils mettent le cap sur Londres pour essayer de réconcilier sa famille.

parlez à vos enfants bordel

annoncer qu'on est gay quand on a une famille

des ados gay

des drag queen

la fin se passe à la London Pride

Beyond the Black Door

Kamai et sa mère sont des Marcheuses d'Âmes ― elles peuvent visiter les âmes des gens lorsqu'ils sont endormis. Et, dans chaque âme que Kamai visite, elle voit une porte noire. Lorsqu'elle s'approche, elle est chaude et semble appeler son nom. La mère de Kamai l'a toujours mise en garde ; ne jamais ouvrir la porte noire. Seulement, une tragédie se produit et Kamai ne voit pas d'autre solution que d'ouvrir la porte.

une manière super cool d'expliquer les identités queer dans l'univers

rep trans

rep gay

rep ace

rep bi

ils y sont presque tous les gars

Loveless

Georgia n'est jamais tombée amoureuse et n'a jamais embrassé personne, mais elle est sûre qu'elle trouvera sa moitié un jour. Lorsqu'elle emménage dans une autre ville pour sa première année de fac, elle est persuadée que ses rêves de romance sont à portée de main. Mais quand ses plans sèment la pagaille dans son groupe d'amis, elle commence à se demander pourquoi l'amour a l'air si simple pour les autres. Assaillie par de nouveaux mots ― asexuelle, aromantique ― Georgia n'a jamais été aussi incertaine de ses sentiments.

rep aro ace

lesbienne latina

rep pan

personnage il/iel nb + romantique ace de couleur

Iron Widow

Les garçons de Huaxia rêvent de piloter les Chrysalides pour combattre les aliens qui rôdent au-delà de la Grande Muraille tandis que les filles avec qui ils font équipe meurent de l'effort mental. Lorsque sa sœur meurt dans des circonstances suspectes, Wu Zetian se porte volontaire pour être la concubine du coupable dans le but de le tuer. Elle obtient cependant sa vengeance d'une manière inattendue : elle le tue grâce au lien mental qu'ils partagent en pilotant et émerge du cockpit saine et sauve. Pour contrôler sa force psychique aussi précieuse que dérangeante, elle est associée à Li Shimin, le pilote le plus dangereux et le plus controversé de Huaxia. Mais maintenant que Zetian a goûté au pouvoir, elle ne se soumettra pas si facilement.

rep bi

rage féministe

rep poly

#i wish you all the best #mason deaver #me my dad and the end of the rainbow #benjamin dean #beyond the black door #am strickland #loveless #alice oseman #iron widow #xiran jay zhao #book recommendations #book recs #books #booklr #queer books #lgbt books #happy pride 🌈 #lgbtq representation #queer representation

[scribe-of-maat]

Iron Widow & Zachary Ying

I read both back to back.

Xiran Jay Zhao is my new favorite author.

They’re, so so real.

On Iron Widow:

It’s not hard for me to put into words how much I knew I was going to like Iron Widow early on into it. I’m not exaggerating when I said I’ve never read something like it, and I doubt I ever will again. The moment I knew this was going to be good was when the protagonist was revealed to be disabled.

I didn’t know anything about Wu Zetian or that era of Chinese history before going into this (I didn’t realize they hadn’t made those names up until I read Zachary Ying, for instance) but the world they build is so interesting and it’s obvious they’re pulling from real injustices.

But they don’t gloss over the EMOTION that comes with being a minority trapped in an unjust system. My favorite thing about Wu Zetian is the implacable rage she feels at the patriarchal monsters lording their power over her. She hates the system that took away Ruyi, her older sister, and she hates the men profiting in that system at the expense of any girl unlucky enough to be born into it.

To not belabor the point, I wish I could read that climactic scene where the Sages try to use her family against her for the first time again. Her parents capacity familial love being what ultimately dooms them, since it proves they could always have chosen to be better, and never did. It’s an odd feeling to cheer as the protagonist murders their family, but good god you love to see it.

She kills seven named characters over the course of the book - Yang Guang, An Lushan, Ma Xiuying and her husband, and her parents and brother - and I’ve never felt so satisfied. I’ve never read a woman exacting sweet, sweet vengeance and on her oppressors and coming out both alive and more heroic for having done so (in the eyes of the reader).

I knew going in that the love triangle ends in a poly relationship. This was also extremely avant-garde, especially for a YA novel. I realized I didn’t know if they were all in a relationship with each other at the same time or if they had separate but just as intense 1-on-1 relationships with each other, but either way, more power to ‘em.

The power system was also very interesting, especially with how they tie into the explorations of gender. It wasn’t lost on me that Zetian’s most dominant qi was Metal, the one seated at the dead center of the yin-yang spectrum, after she’d talked about not really feeling female or male. Fun fact, when it was revealed Li Shimin had feminine products in his bunker and wasn’t the rapist Zetian thought he was, I thought it was going to be revealed he was actually a woman, to further tie into the gender themes. 

But Xiran excellently captures the feeling of being a space and being so angry about the fact that everyone around you has an undeserved power over you, systematically stolen and enforced on pain of death. I’m the opposite of a tiny East Asian woman but I absolutely understood wanting to tear that down and end anyone profiting off it.

On Zachary Ying:

I though I would like Iron Widow much more, but this ended being about as enjoyable, and is what solidified the fact that Xiran is a YA writer who will absolutely wear her progressive politics on her sleeve much more openly than your white fave (R*** R******).

Her tale of female empowerment isn’t written for the Male Gaze and her tale of the hero’s journey isn’t written for the White Gaze. Zachary Ying is a gay Hui-Chinese Muslim and absolutely the ONLY YA hero of his kind. I’d go on to say he’s the only protagonist of his kind in literally any kind of media without researching that one bit.

The early parts of the books go to great pains to establish that the Chinese government and its people are separate entities, that yeah, there’s injustice there but it’s not like it’s any different anywhere else. When Qin Shi Huang specifically calls out how American heroes like George Washington were enslavers, this had my total buy-in.

Okay, well, that’s not really true. But it just became more total. I’ve never experienced it, but I know from online reading that a lot of immigrant children to the US who are subjected to the perpetual foreigner stereotype get made fun of for their food, and when the book opens with him experiencing this (and Xiran making it obvious he has a crush on his male bully) THAT’S where I was bought-in.

I think what I enjoyed most about this was the explanations of all the Chinese culture, like Di Renjie being Chinese Sherlock Holmes or the lengthy conversation about how Chinese dynasties like the Tang were incredibly diverse. The first hint of Qin Shi Huang not being above his ultimate sacrifice is that he saw himself in Zachary, chose someone like him who a lot people, definitely not just Chinese, wouldn’t.

It feels like a YA novel that takes place in the 2020s as well, written by someone who actually knows what it’s like to be a young person. Zack references a ton of contemporary media and multiple times talks about his powers as waterbending. The game he plays is pretty much Pokemon GO, to boot.

But like I said earlier, it ain’t written for the White Gaze. Just like in Iron Widow, there are extended scenes of characters espousing super duper left leaning ideologies and it dawned on me that I’d never seen politics I agreed with being stated so plainly in a fantasy series.

Oh sure, Rick’ll do things like have TJ and Mallory get into it over he killing thralls, but Magnus walks away before anything concrete has to be stated. Six of The Seven round on Jason for Roman demigods fighting for the Confederacy in the American Civil War, but Percy and Annabeth are never given any guff whatsoever about Greek demigods who did the same. Carter has like one instance of kind of alluding to the fact that police are racist but he sweeps past it.

Because those books are ultimately beholden to the White Gaze. They can’t be anything else, by virtue of being written by a white guy who’ll always, on some level, prioritize his comfort and the comfort of the audience he knows he has to court.  

But not here. They call out a bunch of Yellow Peril nonsense in the book and contrast it with how horrible Western rulers like Nero are remarked upon in detached reverence while Qin Shi Huang is demonized. Zack gets to see that Muslims, at least in the East of China, aren’t being slaughtered wholesale or anything. 

If you haven’t already, you seriously need to read these masterpieces. I love these books.

#iron widow #wu zetian #li shimin #gao yizhi #zachary ying #zachary ying and the dragon emperor #pjo #pjato #the kane chronicles #magnus chase and the gods of asgard #mcatgoa #magnus chase #percy jackson #carter kane

[badass-queer-couples-battle]

Gay wrongs tournament, round 2 of the minor bracket

Propaganda:

For Wu Zetian x Gao Yizhi x Li Shimin: (propaganda from previous poll here)

They are in a poly and are so morally gray and I love em. The triangle really is the strongest shape

They're gay because they're all bi (literally in Shimin and Yizhi's cases, kinda more implied for Zetian). Zetian and Shimin tortured a man for information (and also because he tortured them first) while Yizhi cooked back in their apartment. They made a plan to destroy their government and take over instead. Yizhi killed his dad because he was talking shit about Zetian and trying to sway his trust in her (it didn't work lmao). Instead of a love triangle (it REALLY seemed like that was what it was heading towards) they all love each other and would (and have) committed atrocities for each other. There's a whole thing about how they're stronger together (like, metaphorically and on the battlefield (Shimin and Zetian pilot a giant mecha together and Yizhi balances them))

They're a canon polyship who are all a bit deranged and down to kill for their goals and/or to protect bae. Two have tortured a man to death together and came home to the third making celebratory cookies for them. 

What's more gay wrongs than trying to take over your country and torturing a man together

For Lizzie and Jane:

They are time travelling murder lesbians. They kill people. That's their whole thing

They are awesome and I am eepy <3 

#minor bracket round 2 #iron widow #gao yizhi #wu zetian #li shimin #dungeons and daddies #dndads #lizzie mothman #jane rogan #xiran jay zhao #d&dads