Iron Widow

I loved the machines and the battles! The description of the machines and how they work was exciting. I loved seeing the pictures of the machines on her website. I loved picturing the battles between the machines and the ways that they used qi. I also liked how see what is going on in their minds while they are battling. I enjoyed the character development as well. Zetian has to change her mind about a couple people as she learns more about them. Li has to learn to open up to people. And we learn that so many leaders are awful! It is a great set up for a sci-fi world.
Some of the points that the author was making about society were a little too on the nose. I liked the commentary and points at first, but at other times it took me out of the story. The romance was a slow burn and I liked that. I'm not quite sure how it will be going forward. The ending was a huge twist and definitely leaves Zetian with quite a dilemma going forward.