With some inspiration from a female Emperor of China, Xiran Jay Zhao has written a kick ass novel for all females! I absolutely loved this read, and anyone can tell by the number of quoted texts I highlight throughout.
"If they don't respect me just because I'm from the 'wrong' half of the population, I'm not respecting them back."

On top of the inspiring concept, there is an awesome magic system that derives from the characters qi. When they coupled that with their main character, Wu Zetian, it made this story so intriguing and fast paced.

"Welcome to your nightmare!"

Thank you to #penguinteen & #netgalley for an earc copy in exchange for an honest review!

This book was great! The Chinese myth retelling, the strong female themes, the ACTION! It was all so good to read. It makes me excited to continue the story.

To be honest, I thought this book was a hot mess. The plot and themes were poorly executed, many of the characters and relationships felt underdeveloped, and some of the dialogue was definitely a choice (I still can't believe I had to read the words "ultimate alpha male" with my own two eyes). I definitely get a lot of the complaints about this book, especially when it came to the feminist aspect of it. I think Zetian was sometimes refreshing to read about in how unapologetic and ruthless she was, but her brand of ruthlessness did come off as poorly written at times rather than the powerful thing it's supposed to be. She's supposed to be this feminist girlboss character, but her dislike of other women and many of her decisions undermine her better moments and make her seem shallow. Like, she declares herself empress of all of Huaxia at the end of the book, good for her, but considering she doesn't seem to know much about leading an entire country, I'm a bit confused as to how that's going to work out.

Still, despite my complaints, this book was something that many other books I've tried out haven't managed to be. It was interesting. Yes, the bar is in hell, but I've started countless books where it feels like absolutely nothing happens for a hundred pages and the characters seemingly have no personality whatsoever, and Iron Widow was not one of those books. It throws you into a story that just gets more and more insane with every chapter. While it may move too fast for a lot of people, and some suspension of disbelief is very much needed, there really isn't a dull moment, and I always wanted to know what would happen next. I felt like I was constantly being slammed in the head with a mallet (Xiran Jay Zhao wanted me dead and I respect them for that). I also liked how what would've been a typical love triangle was instead turned into a polyamorous relationship, though I wish there was some more development between Zetian, Shimin, and Yizhi. (Yizhi, especially, needs some more page time as soon as possible. I like him, but he sort of feels like a plot device for most of this book.)

Iron Widow is far from perfection, but at the end of the day, I sped through 80% of it in the span of a few hours and had a fun time reading it. I can't wait for the sequel, but I do hope Zetian's character gains some more nuance and the "feminism" in this series expands a little more beyond whatever it was here.

Thank you to NetGalley who gave me an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My apologies to NetGalley for taking so long to follow through. My apologies to myself for having withheld this incredible page turner for so long.

Pacific Rim meets Power Rangers meets Buffy meets Quentin Tarantino in this fast paced, bloodthirsty novel about a teenage girl who will not let anyone make her less than she is. Zetian will have never met Eleanor Roosevelt, but she lives by her saying, "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

Zetian lives in a world that seems dystopian and extremely misogynistic to a modern audience, but is probably a horrifyingly real portrayal of how women were treated in ancient China, and indeed how oppressed they've been in most cultures throughout history. Women are the property of their family, valued by no one for anything other than how they can serve men.

At the start of the book Zetian's big sister had been sold by her family to the Army, to serve as a concubine to whatever pilot would have her. Concubines are expected to be slaves to their pilots, giving in to all their carnal pleasures, and waiting on him hand and foot. In return, if The Force - aka qi, or spirit energy - is strong with her, she "co-pilots" his Zord - I'm sorry, I keep pulling from other sources - his Jaeger - nope still doing it - his Chrysalis with him into battle. What is a Chrysalis you ask? It's the dead husk of one of the aliens humanity is fighting against for survival. <s>Jedi's</s> Pilots can use their qi to control these corpses and turn them into fighting machines. Thus the Army has incorporated them into their military structure.

Anyway, back to the plot! Chrysalises are manned by two pilots - one who sits in the masculine Yin seat, and one who sits in the feminine Yang seat. Guess which one is in control, and which one is basically a battery for the other? Girls have a horrible habit of getting burned out and dying in battle, and that is the fate that awaited Big Sister. Except she was murdered before she could even get that far. Zetian, infuriated by a life that has let her down time and again, cares only about avenging her sister. She lets her family sell her to the military in the hopes of becoming a concubine to the same pilot who killed her sister.

When Zetian is successful way too quickly, almost way too easily, no one is prepared for the consequences, least of all her. In a society where women are expected to be docile and subservient, the reality of a woman committing or being willing to commit a violent act and not showing remorse is just unspeakable. The Army tries to figure out what to do with Zetian, while Zetian negotiates with herself how far she's willing to go to live her life. The answer is impressively extreme: Zetian regularly throws herself at death rather than be subjugated.

The Army decides to pair Zetian up with a criminal notorious for killing his female co-pilots, with the expectation of a swift execution. Instead, Zetian has a unique opportunity with another pilot who refuses to bend to the wills of an oppressive regime, and is willing to suffer greatly to achieve his goals. Both have suffered cruelty, and both don't want to see anymore dead girls.

Zetian must balance her personal refutation of the system with the threat to humanity's existence, while navigating complicated personal relationships. She remains almost impossibly mentally strong throughout, to the point where I have to wonder if she is a little psychotic to be able to dial down her own empathy to save herself. Zetian is consistently referred to as a girl, which makes since she's a teenager, but make no mistake, this is a woman with a woman's maturity and sense of self. This story contains very grey main characters, a love triangle, and unrepentant violence and ruthlessness. It is the story of a woman who refuses to conform to expected moral standards - either of her times or our own - and embraces the consequences of her actions. The reader is put in a place where there is significant opportunity to endorse calculated murder with a cold-heartedness I've never seen in a female character before. If this story was written about a man living through these experiences, it would be much easier to take in stride.

A warning for an unexpected cliffhanger at the end. The twist wasn't surprising, but the amount of room Zhao left for the universe to grow is excellent. I need to read the sequel right now!

Big thanks to NetGalley and the publishing team for giving me this ARC!

Iron Widow was incredible! If you enjoyed the An Ember in the Ashes series, then you will LOVE this book. Do you enjoy Chinese culture, badass women, and robots? If so, go pick up this book right now. You won't regret it.

A copy of Iron Widow was provided to me courtesy of the author and publishers, and although they did not ask for anything in return, I offer my review freely and honestly.
I just read all four books in the An Ember in the Ashes series and thought that after that story, I wouldn't be able to read anything else like it for the rest of the year, but I was wrong: Iron Widow is a magnificent story, which takes characters from Chinese history and places them in a fantastic and futuristic world, where, as in the time of Empress Wu Zetian, women were considered inferior beings who had to submit to the will and whim of men.
And just like the real Empress Wu, the Iron Widow in this story sets a precedent in her world, proving that a woman is not an object, but a strong, intelligent, and sensitive being.
I loved the story, but I NEED to read the sequel, because there is a second book and maybe a third and even a fourth book, right?

WHAT. OKOKOKOK, so. In Iron Widow:

There are Chrysalises (giant, Transformer-ish mecha) powered by a male-female pilot team, which is supposed to have a balanced qi, but more often than not, the male pilot drains the female pilot’s qi, killing her.

Zetian’s sister is picked for the pilot program and dies in this way. Zetian vows revenge and volunteers for the program, ostensibly to murder that pilot, but then somehow her qi takes control in their psychic link and she drains him. She’s an Iron Widow.

So now it turns out she’s a matched pair with Li Shimin, who is not only the best pilot but also a condemned murderer. The two of them eventually hatch a plot to break the system that is deliberately made to murder women. Also, they get some help from Zetian’s childhood friend/rich boy Gao Yizhi who becomes the brains and money behind their attempt to bring down the patriarchy…and part of their romantic triad. (As Ziran has said on Tiktok, a real “love triangle” meets on all sides, not just one because then that’s just a boring old less than/greater than sign.)

And then shit gets real wild on the last page. Gimme book 2, because Zetian is NOT done fucking up the patriarchy.

So, like 5 stars for the book but also 1 million bananas because holy cats is there so much in here. Come for the Pacific Rim-meets-Crouching Tiger vibes, stay for the feminism, anger, and polyamory (this is still a YA, not much steam on the page, but the committed triad is a real thing and all the main characters are bisexual).

Many CW for violence against women, rape (off page), misogyny, racism, coercion, physical abuse (foot binding is a REAL THING in this book), substance abuse, violence and gore in general.

This book was definitely an enjoyable read! We don’t usually see polya rep and in my opinion this was perfectly done. The storyline was so great, it never bored me and was really interesting.

i liked it. not love or anything but it was entertaining and poly relationships are very refreshing to see.

To be honest, I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into when I requested this book. The synopsis sounded very futuristic/postapocalyptic sci-fi, but as is my custom, when I started reading this book, I forgot the entire synopsis and then started thinking about ancient-Chinese based fantasy. Iron Widow is an explosive start to a new scifi series which draws on Chinese history and combines it with a futuristic world and technology to create something truly unique. With queer characters and a polyamorous relationship at its center, a morally grey main character and a feminist narrative within a patriarchal society. There were so many moving pieces of history and mythology at play within the story, making for an intricate window into this fantasy world. Xiran Jay Zhao’s writing style was so engaging and they brought out Zetian’s perspective so damn well. I loved reading Zetian’s narrative. Overall, this book was so, so good. I gave it a 4.5 stars, because while it was amazing (as I’ve said over and over), it wasn’t quite favorite-level.

This was such a unique Young Adult book and I can't wait to see more from this author. I really enjoyed the world, and the characters were interesting and had a good relationship. The pacing was good and it was an overall good book.

Mildly interesting word building but quickly bogged down with the tired women vs men politics. Ironically, the romance came before the real plot (no one really believes she’s gonna assassinate anybody). If I have to read “dazzling eyes” before I care about what’s gonna happen to the MC or am intrigued by a good plot, it’s a DNF. Made it halfway through part 2 (out of 11.) Thanks NetGalley for the opportunity to review.

what a fabulous book by a new-to-me author … really enjoyed “Iron Widow” by Xiran Jay Zhao and cannot wait to read more

What do you get when you combine mecha battle badassery, unhinged protagonists hell-bent on revenge, and a healthy polyam relationship that's definitely one of the firsts for YA books? Poof! You get Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao!

I feel like this book is one of those books where you either love it to bits or confuse the hell out of you, and I happen to fall on the side that ADORED it! I have been waiting for a book like this to show up for a very long time and I really enjoyed this. With its action-packed story plot, the unhinged ferocity that is Wu Zetian, the mecha designs and battles, you'll be screaming "down with the patriarchy!" as soon as you reach the last page of the book. 🔥

Though it's understandable that those who are unfamiliar with the tropes and story devices used in mecha anime and manga might find this book an information overload of sorts. If I were to suggest a mecha series to get a feel for the world of Iron Widow, do give Darling in the Franxx a shot. According to Xiran, this anime inspired the piloting system in the book, so hopefully, it'll be of help in visualizing the world the book is set in.

Trigger Warnings: Physical and emotional abuse, alcohol addiction, mentions of rape, threats of rape, torture, murder, gore, misogyny.

I originally decided to read Iron Widow because of one blurb I saw on Netgalley:

Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid’s Tale in this blend of Chinese history and mecha science fiction for YA readers.

Now while I don’t quite agree with the categorization of Iron Widow being a YA book, I do agree with everything else. Iron Widow IS a strangely wonderful blend of ideas both new and old. The characters are taken from Chinese history as well as Chinese literature and they are given a spin that will allow even those who aren’t familiar with their original stories to connect with them.

Set in the nation of Huaxia, Iron Widow is a futuristic reimagining of Medieval China. It is a nation that is constantly under attack by alien robots known as Hunduns. The only way to defeat the Hunduns is through the use of Chrysalises, giant mecha made from the spirit metal of defeated Hunduns. It takes two people to pilot a Chrysalis; male pilots who are regarded as heroes and female co-pilots who are more often than not forgotten.

Wu Zetian volunteers to become a co-pilot so that she may take revenge for her older sister’s death. It is her main driving force even though she knows she will likely die achieving it. When Wu is able to achieve her revenge, that small taste of power spurs her on. Her abilities make her an asset even as she is considered a threat.

In reading Iron Widow, I not only thought of Pacific Rim but I also found myself thinking of the classic anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. For those who are not familiar, Evangelion featured EVAs which were also biomechanical mechas created to battle similar type creatures. They too feature a human pilot – though the EVAs have one pilot while the Chrysalises have two. The pilots in both are young and must also follow the orders of those above them.

Zhao’s writing in Iron Widow is in my opinion quite well done. The action scenes are well-paced and are nicely interspersed with the more character-building scenes. Scenes that feature Wu’s “down-time” do not detract from the overall story but instead, add to the creation of a character that the reader can connect to. We cheer for Wu as she struggles and succeeds.

The only thing I did not like – and which I hope Zhao will expand upon in the second book – is the whole backstory of the Hunduns and the Chrysalises. We are given a tantalizing tease at the end of the first book and I am hoping that we learn more in the second.

I enjoyed reading Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao. I am very glad I was allowed an early peek through Netgalley and I am eagerly looking forward to the second book in the series.

This was a great book with a unique story! It took me a while to get into the book but I loved the strong female characters portrayed and the suspense throughout.

Zetian is such a GOOD PROTAGONIST!!! There were spots that felt a little rushed or where I felt confused on what happened or whatever, but it was just such a fun plot. I loved the fact that there was no awkward love triangle, those normally ruin a book. It just felt like such a good and fun take on a Pacific Rim spin-off and I absolutely adored it. Cannot WAIT for book 2 (also the epilogue seemed a bit rushed and out of nowhere but also OH MY GOD).

Xiran took all my expectations, threw them in a shredder and used the shreds to papermache a masterpiece. I loved everything about this book (except maybe the ending... left a little to be desired only because it felt so left field). But I loved the direct action of Zetian and how she's constantly being supported and how she doesn't completely ctrl, alt, delete her experience with her bound feet and how it affects her quality of life to make the plot quicken or take another direction. I just loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

One of the things that I like best about Xiran Jay Zhao’s debut, Iron Widow, is that it truly defies categorization. A YA dystopian novel inspired by figures and cultural periods throughout Chinese history, Iron Widow is also a battle-mecha story that dives deep into the trauma of war, abuse, and gender-based violence. It’s a lot all at once but it worked for me!

Wu Zetian is a towering pillar of rage, largely kept in check by her circumstances. When Zetian’s older sister is quietly murdered by one of the most famous men in the country, all her attempts to play by the rules are called off. Knowing full well that her plan to murder a war hero will result in her undoing, Zetian plunges headfirst into her ill-conceived plan…and in so doing unearths one of the most closely-guarded secrets in Huaxia.

Thrown into the cockpit of a mecha creature called a Chrysalis, Zetian must partner up with Li Shimin, a pilot as powerful as he is despised. Powerhouse though he may be, Zetian isn’t about to cede control to Shimin. As they jockey for control of their Chrysalis, a tentative alliance is formed…one that becomes even stronger when Zetian’s would-be lover Yizhui enters the mix. That’s right people: polyamory in YA. As Zetian says herself, the triangle is the strongest shape!

I really loved the way that these three characters care for each other and support each other, each one adding something that the others lack. Tenderness is just as valuable as power, maybe even more so since there’s such a dearth of it in Huaxia. Zetian, Shimin, and Yizhui have conversations about patriarchy, racism, violence, substance abuse, desire – you name it, they discuss it. It’s refreshing to see teenagers in such a high-stakes environment taking the effort to connect and build emotional intimacy.

While there’s a lot to love about Iron Widow, few novels are perfect so there were some aspects that I found a little underwhelming. For all the details about foot binding, technology, mechas, and the alien enemies that Chrysalis pilots fight, I still felt that the world building was a little thin. Frankly, the world building seems to be composed primarily of vibes and aesthetics. They’re good vibes and good aesthetics – just look at all the fan art – but still.

I was also disappointed that Zetian didn’t have more women around her that she could count on as allies and mentors. I get why things played out the way they did, women can be complicit in the systems that oppress us and all that, but that’s something that I expect to see remedied in the sequel. Zetian may be tearing the patriarchy down but she can also lift other women up! She’s clearly a great multitasker (if you know, you know).

Things that Iron Widow is not: subtle, predictable, safe-for-work. If you’re expecting a nuanced feminist opus, this isn’t it. If, like me, you just want to see an angry girl tear shit down, then you’re in for one hell of a ride. For the first time in ages, I’m feeling truly excited about YA science fiction and fantasy again. Recommended for fans of mecha anime and readers who appreciate some good, white-hot female rage.

What to say about this book except it was absolutely phenomenal.
The biggest thing I loved about this book was Zetian as a character. She continuously surprised me even up until the last page. Her thoughts, the decisions she makes and her rage made this an extremely enjoyable read.

Second, I really liked the books reflection of the 21st-century as a patriotic society and what it’s like being a female in this world. Even though this is a sci-fi/fantasy I saw a lot of parallels from our world.

The only reason this is not a full five star read for me is because of the romance. I felt like the romance was lacking, and there needed to be more of a development between all three character (Particularly the romance between Li and Zetian and Yuzhi and Li. .’m hoping we will see more of it in book 2.

I really wish this book was a New Adult/Adult read because I feel like the author could’ve pushed so much more and less “fled to black” moments especially with the romance. I also wonder if it would’ve been better to have a multi perspective with focus on Zetian just to cover some of those moments that happened in the background (aka the relationship between Yuzhi and Li Shimin). I think it would’ve helped the reader understand certain relationships develops.

Overall though, I absolutely loved this book as I knew I would. I cannot believe I have to wait a year and a half for book 2. I am very excited to see more from this author and future.