Pitched as "The Handmaid's tale" meets Pacific Rim in an alternative history retelling of the rise to power of the first and only female Chinese Empress.

Pacific Rim is one of my favorite movies and I love alternative history books but this blew everything else out of the water. You know when you've read a lot of sci-fi and you can kind of predict what the plot twists will be? I thought I knew where this was going and in the last 25% of the book I was wrong, would change my mind to where I think it was going, turn the page, and be wrong again. Just amazing I can't gush enough about it.

Well, this was definitely a book that had me constantly on the edge of my seat and scared to see what would happen next.
I like how this book feature Chinese-coded characters, the inclusion of disabled characters, and that it doesn't have the "normal" romance we have become accustomed to in books. This book definitely blew me away and left me craving more. However, I will say this book is not for the faint of heart and includes triggers for gore, murder, torture, abuse, suicidal ideation, mentions and threats of rape, and more. This book was sooo good, but it is also very triggering.
I can't say there was any ONE thing that made me love this book, as I think my love for it is due to expert storytelling, amazing characters, a plot that kept me engaged and craving more, and an ending that left me absolutely floored. All of these things added up to a book I can't stop thinking about and a sequel I can't wait to get my greedy hands on. I will admit that the romance being poly definitely added to my love though, since I only ever see love triangles or monogamous romances, so seeing a poly relationship used and accurately depicted was a breath of fresh air for me.
I just really loved reading this book and wish I could read it again for the very first time.

I absolutely loved this bok! It is one of the only books that has the love triangle trope correctly done, and the main character, Zetian, is so morally gray and cool!! Such a feminist icon!! I'm so excited for the next book!!

I will be 100% honest and admit this is not my preferred genre. That being said, I loved this book! Zetian is an incredible protagonist with a taste for blood, and I am here for it. While the romance side was definitely a side story, I love the queer representation in this book, which is something I'm always looking for in YA novels. I can appreciate that the author chose to throw the romance in there, but not make it the primary plot for the novel. A badass book that was easy to get through! I'd recommend it.

Whoa! Love the sciency and historicalness of this book! Now, is this yet another book I cried to? OF COURSE! But can we talk about what a badass Zetian is like everything about her is like "You better listen to her or you will probably regret it!"

This one wasn’t for me. The summary was enticing but the writing style felt a bit too simple for my taste. I’m interested to see where this author goes with this series though.

It is an important book to be written. I liked that it was loosely based on actual historic characters. And it was an intriguing story but I also found many parts of the book hard to follow. The story is neither high or low science fiction. I struggled to understand the world built.

Iron Widow was quite a fun book to read and I flew through it—its fast pace kept me on my toes, and I was fascinated by Zetian slowly becoming more and more maniacal. Unhinged women are my favorite types of characters, and she was no exception! The writing was also easy to read (if a bit too simple at times), and there were parts that made me actually laugh. This is a very unique and refreshing book to see in the YA scene, from its inclusion of polyamory to how it breathes new life into historical figures in a sci-fi world.

Unfortunately, as more time has passed, I’ve realized that this was too fast-paced for me, even though I’d enjoyed it at the time. I didn’t like how quickly the romance developed, and some of the characters had no chemistry (or an interesting personality...), in my opinion. And while I love how fiercely Zetian fought against patriarchal expectations about her and other women, I do wish that there had been more insight into how such a mindset formed when she grew up surrounded by an intensely misogynistic society. This book overall could have used a lot more depth, in both its characters and themes—but it still makes for a highly enjoyable read. Is the content of the book very memorable to me? No, not really. But I’ll surely remember the fun time I had while reading it.

This was just fine but nothing incredible. There were some really positive things about it but I think overall it just fell short for me and I had to force myself to finish. The characters didn’t really interest me and the plot wasn’t as good as I expected it to be.

This book deserves all the hype and even more. Xiran is such a master of tension, romance, and I am so excited that there is finally a poly-romance in a YA book. That ending too omg!!!!! I need the second book IMMEDIATELY PLEASE! And also the cover? Perfection. Give me more ;)

A delightful book full of adventure, action, and thrills. Fun to read, engrossing world building, and very descriptive imagery made it feel like it was cinematic. It's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. Would recommend.

This new author is truly a master. Beautiful story telling, beautiful characters, and leaves you thinking about it forever.

Xiran Jay Zhao’s IRON WIDOW is the most creative and memorable YA novel I’ve read this year. Giant mechas (some of which take forms inspired by Chinese mythological creatures), characters based on Chinese historical figures, and a polyamorous relationship! This sci-fi novel was fast-paced and action-packed, and I didn’t want to put it down. 
 
The main character in IRON WIDOW is based on Wu Zetian, the only female emperor in Chinese history. I love that Zhao’s reimagining brings Wu Zetian’s rise to power in a patriarchal system to a sci-fi world, capturing her spirit and determination while creating an original narrative. The sequel is set up to address colonialism and I cannot wait to see what Zhao has in store for us.

Okay, when I first started to read this, I DNF'd it. I think it was the idea of these girls being so used and abused that just put me off. I was kind of afraid it was going to be one of those books where rape gives a girl her superpowers.

It's not.

On this read, I got further and realized it was about one girl who decides to simply take all her power back. She was spectacular. And it wasn't abuse that sparked the power. She just basically decided that she was going to go out there, kick butt, take names, and kill a dude if she could (don't worry - it was deserved).

The book has some brilliant battle scenes, spectacular mecha, and a surprising not-a-love-triangle romance.

I enjoyed it. Glad I decided to give it another try!

This was one of my most anticipated 2021 releases, ever since I spotted one of Zhao’s tweets, stating that they were working on a polyam Pacific Rim inspired novel, retelling the history of China’s female emperor, Empress Wu Zetian.

What I Liked
--The use of concubines as qi source is quite horrifying. It’s quite a bleak work that Zhao paints, with the use of woman as sources of qi (or spiritual energy than can power the Chrysalises) to be sucked up by her male partner to fight, which leads to her death every time.
--I thought it was an interesting choice to start the novel from the POV of the man that killed Zetian’s sister and started her on the path of vengeance. It was unexpected but different.
--I most enjoyed listening as Zetian fought her partners in the dream state. I followed that more clearly than the fights between Chrysalises and their giant enemy, the Hunduns, but then again, I’m not a huge mecha fan. Pacific Rim was my exception.
--Another aspect I thought was interesting was the aspect of media coverage. Although the world seems fantasy-esque, there is the sci-fi element of the Chrysalises but there also exists cameras that record and TVs, plus photoshoots and celebrity culture around the Chrysalises pilots.

What I Didn’t Like
--So unfortunately, this novel does one of my least favourite things in these recent feminist novels, which is a lot of talking about the role of a woman and flashbacks to things Zetian has seen, where I would have liked it to be more subtle. Zhao does a lot of show, which I appreciate, but they also riddle the book constantly with phrases like “…because that’s a woman’s role” or “a woman’s role is supposed to be…”. I would have liked to see those phrases only a few times, and the rest of the time is showcasing the society’s actions.
--I wish we’d gotten to see more memories of Zetian and her older sister (who’s never named, if I remember correctly) together so it makes sense that Zetian wants revenge so badly. In the end, I couldn’t understand why she risked her own life.
--The major letdown for me was the romance. What made this book so anticipated was the promise of a poly relationship–something I wish happened more often instead of a love triangle. While we do get the poly relationship, it was disappointing in that the boys were soft and polite, while Zetian was like a yapping puppy, and so the dynamic was very dull. Plus, the attraction between the boys was hardly touched on, mainly because we’re only ever in Zetian’s POV, so it felt instalove-y, another trope I dislike. And the build up between Zetian and Shimin was barely there. This would have benefited from more POVs. Guess I was looking for more spice, not in a sexual way but in dynamics and personalities.
--As I touched on above, I tended to lose track of the action scenes, which made getting through the novel difficult.

Conclusion
Maybe I need to stop anticipating books so much; the last few have let me down to varying degrees. Unfortunately, this was a near total miss for me and I won’t be continuing. However, I’m still inclined to follow Zhao’s career and pick up their next book.

My Rating: 2/5

Wow! What a rollercoaster! I have so much to say, but to keep it brief: I loved Wu Zetian, and while I support women’s rights, more importantly, I support women’s wrongs!! She was such a badass heroine and I had so much fun watching her burn down the world. Can’t express how much I loved the development of the love triangle (more poly relationship representation pleASE), and while that was a cliffhanger I hated (to love), it’s made me so excited for the upcoming sequel!

Iron Widow is an empowering debut cementing Zhao's status as an author to watch. I could not put this book down because as soon as the action begins, it doesn't stop. Well paced, and with the literal fierce main heroine I've ever encountered, this book is a force of nature. Like Zetain, Zhao is unstoppable.
It is a book I find myself only being able to rave about as I wait anxiously for the sequal.

Thank you to Netgalley for my eARC copy in exchange for my honest review.

I loved this one! I’ve been in a bit of a Fantasy slump lately and this really pulled me through!

The world building is rich and detailed without just info dumping, and the character development is unapologetic and fierce.

I was thrilled to see a sequel coming our way and highly recommend you read this ASAP!

Perfect, no literally, that one word could be the whole review.

Do you understand what level of brilliance you need to be struck with to develop the concept of gendered power sources in mechs as a means of enforcing systemic misogyny??? I simply have to stan!

I cannot wait for the second book!

Absolutely loved this! This was a book I could really sink my teeth into and take my time with. From the characters to the relationships to the plot, I loved everything about this. Xiran Jay Zhao is an auto-buy author from here on out!