I also wonder a little how the perception of this book is altered knowing that it's the first in a series.
I read Iron Widow expecting a stand-alone, because absolutely nothing about the marketing mentioned even the possibility of a sequel. By the time I reached the end, it was clear that it was written to have one! But I think my expectations about the pacing were for a stand-alone, and that meant it suffered a little because some things that I wanted to see resolutions to sooner simply didn't get resolved. With as sequel, that makes sense!
(This is a much more subtle thing than the "did you hear about it as a grimdark ya or a tropey ya" element you mentioned, but it still interests me.)
All told, I did have fun reading this book and I'll read the sequel when it comes out, because a bunch of worldbuilding elements that I'm curious about only showed up in the last bit of Iron Widow and I want to see how they're explored further.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2022-03-31 07:20 pm (UTC)I read Iron Widow expecting a stand-alone, because absolutely nothing about the marketing mentioned even the possibility of a sequel. By the time I reached the end, it was clear that it was written to have one! But I think my expectations about the pacing were for a stand-alone, and that meant it suffered a little because some things that I wanted to see resolutions to sooner simply didn't get resolved. With as sequel, that makes sense!
(This is a much more subtle thing than the "did you hear about it as a grimdark ya or a tropey ya" element you mentioned, but it still interests me.)
All told, I did have fun reading this book and I'll read the sequel when it comes out, because a bunch of worldbuilding elements that I'm curious about only showed up in the last bit of Iron Widow and I want to see how they're explored further.