Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada/Penguin Teen, and Xiran Jay Zhao for the opportunity to honestly review an e-arc of Iron Widow.

This book was a wild ride from beginning to end in the best possible way. The premise was very interesting, being called “Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid's Tale” and felt exactly like that. It is an interesting blend of historical Chinese influence and futuristic technology that creates an original backdrop for a feminist story of revenge.

The characters are complex and intense, more so that in most Young Adult books that I have read, and it makes them feel more genuine considering the character’s back stories and current predicament. I love the polyamory representation between the three main characters. It seems entirely natural and is a refreshing break from the typical and often overdone love triangle.

Iron Widow is action packed from start to finish and I am so looking forward to picking up the next book in the series when it is released!

I have sat on my review of Iron Widow for an entire month now and I still don’t think I have the words to describe the epicness that is Iron Widow.

It is the feminist book, not a but THE and
is my standout book of 2021 (and I know I’ve said that a lot about other books this year but this is it- this is the one).

Zetian is who I want to be when I grow up (I say this at 25 but still). There are so few characters that truly inspire me, I might fall in love with many and have my favorites but very few of them give me courage to stand up, grind my fears to dust and kick the patriarchy where the light don’t but Zetian is one of them.

What I especially loved bout reading from Zetian’s POV was her thought process unfold- whatever awaited her or whatever obstacle she had to handle she would be hesitant but then kind of break down the situation and question, why- why should she be afraid, why would this limit her? Why does she have to be the one afraid- and to me that was the the most inspiring. We all have our doubts and holdbacks but it’s a matter of how you go about handling them that counts and Zetian is the perfect example of that.

And this world, it just kept getting more and more elaborate. There were bits of information scattered about that just kept building and building and while initially I was just fascinated by Xiran’s creativity, it wasn’t until the end that I saw the full scope of her planning and creativity. I’m still kind of mind blown… and anxious as hell. I’m literally in tatters awaiting the sequel with that cliffhanger.

I saw early reviews for Iron Widow (they were all raving with compliments) and while I took them into account I wasn’t fully sold on how iconic it would be until I saw the author’s TikToks. Now that I’ve finally read it, I can happily say it delivered on every single level of epicness that was promised.

To conclude, this isn’t a matter of should you read Iron Widow but WHEN? And I recommend now because everyone needs this book in their life.

4.5. I stayed up to 1am to finish reading this. I love Zetian as a protagonist, I love the polyamory, I love Shimin and Yizhi.

This book was fantastic! I loved everything about it and cannot wait for more. This was a perfect fantasy and got me right out of my reading slump.

This story caught my attention right away because it was so different from any other story I have read recently. At least early on it reminded me a bit of The Hunger Games. Wu Zetian is the heroine of this tale. Born in a remote village, she has spent her entire life under a repressive system that feeds up its daughters as sacrifices in an endless war against metal based animal creatures known as Hundun. With the death of Wu Zetian’s older sister, Zeitan vows to get revenge and break the mold even if it kills her in the process. With a rich tapestry of culture and characters, the story seems to be built upon hundreds of years of Chinese culture and ritual. This story also stands out for its continuous breaking of norms for both culture and gender. It’s also quite exciting. I know this is book one and the story will continue, but I was sad to see it end. Review posted to Amazon, Goodreads, Litsy, Facebook, Instagram.

Iron Widow is a wild and powerful reimagining of China's only female emperor that's unquestionably deserving of all its high praises. With its blend of Chinese history, science fiction, and queer representation, Zhao crafted a novel that speaks to female rage, abolishing gender roles and patriarchal standards, and what someone determined enough can do with the power they're given. It was pitched as Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid's Tale and that's not far off, though Iron Widow feels uniquely its own, and is perfect for any reader looking for a vicious genre-bending story to lose themselves in.

Wow. Simply wow. I devoured The Iron Widow. I just couldn't get enough of Zetian, of her crusade and her power, of watching her crush the world beneath her feet as she laughs. She's a stunning protagonist, one with questionable methods and morals but that fact just makes it more interesting to watch her as she goes. She's definitely one of the most memorable characters I've read in 2021. I absolutely adore her.

But she isn't alone! The whole cast really brings something to the table, the good guys and the not. The romance subplot was particularly well-done but the Chrysalis scenes really took the cake for me. Darling in the Franxx gave inspiration there and I loved that.

The pacing is perfection, it compels you to keep reading without anything feeling rushed or brushed aside. And the worldbuilding! Amazing! The cultural and sci-fi rules of Huaxia came out gradually, just enough so that when the author turned them upside-down you felt it as a reader. Zetian is hungry for the truth and so I am!

Truly, The Iron Widow is one of the best books I've read in 2021. It hit all the notes I look for in a sci-fi/fantasy novel and then pushed beyond my highest expectations. I can't wait for the sequel!

Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.

To anyone saying that sci-fi is dead in Young Adult, think again. Reconsider having ever thought it.

I knew within the first 17 pages that IRON WIDOW was destined to be one of my absolute favourite reads of the entire year. I was awed by Zetian's ambition and ruthlessness, and I adored the dynamics between her and Yizhi and Shimin (more legitimately polyamorous pairings in YA, please!). There truly are not enough words to express how much I loved EVERY part of this book, and how hungry I am to read the sequel.

Big thanks to NetGalley for sending me a free eARC of this in exchange for an honest review.
Geez. This was absolutely incredible. How the fuck am I supposed to wait for the next book??
This was exactly what I love to read in not just YA sci-fi, but sci-fi in general. It was dark, gritty, and so so much fun. I adored the fact that we follow such a complex protagonist. I would never say that Zetian is a hero, she falls more in anti-hero for me, and I love it. She is so angry (for good reason) -- it's so refreshing to read a woman who is unashamed to be angry and take it out on the society that constantly tries to bring her down.
And the polyamory! It was so nice to see a healthy polyamorous relationship in a novel, especially in YA. I loved both the love interests so much, and reading about their struggles and how deep and human they were beyond just being a love interest for our protagonist. All these characters felt so real, it was amazing.
This book is going to do amazing things for the newest generation of sci-fi readers, and I can't wait to watch people fall in love with it as much as I have.

Thank you so much to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

HOLY CRAP THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING. I don't even know where to start. The characters? Awesome. The plot? Awesome. The love triangle? I will probably never say this again, but AWESOME. I have never seen a concept like this before, but Pacific Rim meets Eastern Asian culture was SO GOOD.

I LOVED Zetian, and Li Shimin (my cinnamon roll <3) and Yizhi and everything they did. Zetian was so focused on revenge, and in a lot of stories that goes a little overboard for me, but in this case, I was so invested in her reasons and motivation that I didn't care, no matter what any of them did. I was rooting for it the whole way.

Some parts were gruesome and very descriptive, but they needed to be, because what was being described was something that really was a large part of that culture. I would be lying though if I didn't say I was cringing the entire time in absolute horror at what I was reading.

I blew through this book so quickly, and I am DYING to find out what happens after that twist at the ending. I gave this five stars and I NEED book two, immediately.

First things first, Iron Widow absolutely lives up to the hype. This book was one of the most interesting and entertaining fantasy novels I’ve read in awhile. The elaborate fight scenes made my action movie loving self so happy. And I loved Pacific Rim vibes, but with a very angry girl at the center of the story. Also that twist in the epilogue had me like 😮. I will honestly read anything this author writes and will gladly throw this book at people until they read it.

The premise was interesting - about the only female emperor in Chinese history, Wu Zetian - however I thought that it was poorly executed. Although action packed and quite a fast read, with one or other momentum, I also found it lacked character development. I mean, the revenge concept should be quite intriguing but perhaps not enough to be the main (and only) theme explored in this novel.

While the writing was easy, I found it chopped. That being said, Zhao tackled well the Chinese misogynist system, focusing on a strong female character plus the well-known historical figures.

I wanted to love the Transformers concept, yet it fell flat for me.

DNF @30%

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley (thank you Penguin Random House Canada). All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Sort of voltron meets transformers meets badass meets revenge?
It was a wild ride this book, but i did have mixed feelings.

The premise is awesome. I could not wait to read it. I loved the mix between pacrim, chinese history, and the handmaid's tale. the love triange?( if we can call it that) and the overall vibe of the book.

BUT!

BUT THE INFO DUMP. LOL. I know there was a lot to get to, but i felt like all the info dumps throughout various points in the book took you out of the story and stopped the momentum I felt while reading it. This, along with the chaotic pacing made the book feel a bit inconsistent at times.

And the writing. I know it's YA. but honestly, the quality of writing is a bit thing for me and I cringed through most of the dialogue in the book.

which is why it got 3 stars.

I’d first heard about this book because well my ears tend to perk up when people say Pacific Rim (copilots and drift compatibility, am I right?) and then I’d started following the author on Instagram and TikTok and after being both utterly amazed by their cosplay and costuming skills, I also thought they were drop-dead hilarious. I really thought I knew what I was getting into reading this book. Reader, I did not. Reader, you do not. If you are reading this and are contemplating reading this, first read the trigger warnings (because they do abound and take care of yourself) but if after that you’re good, please read this extraordinary work of art. I am going to try really hard to not spoil everything that makes this book so incredible while also hyping the heck out of it but I’m gonna try.
Like I hinted, this is a heavy book that tackles a bunch of really heavy topics like alcohol abuse, rape, murder, physical abuse, emotional abuse, torture, and sexism and patriarchy bullshit, and more and worse. I am not an expert on these things, so please consult other trigger warning guides on Goodreads and other places. That being said, THis book is so worth reading.
I can’t believe this is a debut. How absolutely and intricately crafted it all was just left me gobsmacked. These characters, even the bad ones are so dynamic and alive and sizzling off the page, especially our leading lady. God, I love her so much.
I also was freaking fist-pumping at the romance in this book. I cannot tell you how many times when reading books with love triangles I have shouted at books “THIS ISN’T A TRIANGLE, IT’S A JEALOUSY ANGLE! STOP BEING COWARDS AND MAKE IT POLYAMOROUS!” And guys! Guys! Xiran heard me! They heard me yelling from across time and space and delivered and it is so freaking fantastic and nuanced and god so well executed. May God and all other deities bless this author for this wonderful service they have done me.
Also, I just have to say very briefly that it’s the kind of book with an ending that had me just yelling and going WAIT WHAT?! And also going OMG IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW and it was incredible. What a power punch of a book. I can’t decide whether to send Xiran a thank you note or an invoice for the number of times I had to clutch my heart because I was having heart palpitations reading this book. This book will not be everyone’s cup of tea and but is big and loud and messy and marvelous and I will be carrying this book in my heart for a long time to come. If you’re willing to let it in, this book will surprise you, I hope you take the leap, I highly recommend it!

YA sci fi has never seen a book quite like this one.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Buckle up, girls, gays and theys. IRON WIDOW by Xiran Jay Zhao (who has a Youtube channel that I thoroughly enjoy) packs a giant, robotic PUNCH. If you haven’t heard of this instant NYT bestseller, where have you been?! Basically if you’re into mecha anime and furries, this is the book for you. This book’s concept is INSANELY good.
Marketed as Pacific Rim meets the Handmaid’s Tale, IRON WIDOW follows Zetian, your resident Angry Girl. And boy does she have cause to be angry – her sister is dead, presumably at the hands of her Chrysalis co-pilot so she’s a girl on a vendetta. Zetian follows in her sisters footsteps to become a concubine pilot (whose lives are disposable in comparison to the dream boy pilot counterparts) with revenge in her heart. Yet somehow she emerges from battle, stronger than most of her male counterparts and victorious. Then and there, she decides to use her power to save all the girls in their country, Huaxia.

I don't want to include more for fear of spoiling it too much, but definitely also keep your eyes peeled for a polyam relationship (Zetian and her boyfriends!). Have you ever seen such a thing in YA novels? All the nods of my hat to Xiran Jay Zhao.

Zhao’s world building is also incredible – one of the best dystopias I’ve read in recent memory. The blend of Chinese history and science fiction was near seamless. Also their ability to twist a knife in your heart (that cliffhanger at the end? *insert enraged screaming here*)

Sometimes the pacing and the dialogue felt a little clunky but the plot was so compelling and the characters so loveable that you can’t help but continue. Zhao clearly has a long career as a writer ahead of them and I will enthusiastically read her books as they come out.

This incredible book had my heart racing and my eyes opened wide the entire time! There is so much I can say about this book that really touched my inner Mecha loving heart, and the best word I could use to sum up my feelings is reinvigorated. This book opens up right in the heat of action that sets up this incredible world of Qi powered robots and an awful, sexist pilot pairing system that enrages the soul and has you rooting for our would be assassin Wu Zetian.

From the minute Zetian stepped out of the cockpit carrying her dead male pilot and crying out "Welcome to your nightmare!" I knew in my heart of hearts that this book would stick with me for all of eternity. It has made its way to the very top of my list of favorites of all time and I simply cannot wait for the sequel.

TW: torture, sexual assault, mysogyny, alcohol addiction

Described as Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid’s Tale, and I thought there was a dash of Hunger Games vibes as well.

Zeitan is a total badass that offers herself up as a concubine sacrifice for the chance at exacting revenge on the fighter pilot responsible for her sister's death.

I admired Zeitan's strength and tenacity, but she could be petulant at times. Though she was the MC, I didn't feel as connected to her character or her transformation as I would've liked.

The smashing of the patriarchy was amazing, and I liked the way the author sprinkled Chinese culture into the story. And the representation! Love and gender as a spectrum and non-binary, also featuring a polyamorous romance, was refreshing.

Action packed and super fast paced, I still found myself unsure of what was happening. I’m not as familiar with Pacific Rim, so the concept of Chrysalises was harder for me to grasp. There was also little background in the war and the aliens they were fighting. Definitely hoping for more of this in the second book!

Thank you Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the gifted e-copy in exchange for an honest review

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review. I grabbed this one as from a ‘read now’ email I got from NetGalley. I saw a few trusted book friends hype it up online and then saw that it was about giant fighting robots and an angry girl. So, that’s really all I knew going into the story. But I was already super interested just from those two things. There was an interesting authors note before the start of my eARC copy of the book where the author talked a bit about how this story was inspired by the only female Empress that Chima ever had. She mentions that this book is heavily inspired by her own Chinese culture, but that specific woman in history really stuck with her and she wrote this as a retelling of sorts, of how the author thought that Empress might be as a teenage girl in the world that the author created for this story.
We follow Zetian Wu as she’s about to enlist herself as a concubine-pilot for the Chrysalis (the giant fighting robots). This is a position that many families pressure their daughters into singing up for despite knowing that most concubine-pilots will die. Zetian isn’t signing up for any reason other than to kill the pilot that murdered her sister and she knows that she will probably die soon after, if she succeeds. I’m not explaining the Chrysalis very well, theyre complicated machines that are gifts from the gods and the actual science behind how they’re built isn’t really explained, but the way that they’re piloted was absolutely fascinating. When Zetian succeeds in her mission, she’s surprised that she isn’t immediately killed afterward. Instead, she’s paired with another pilot: the famous murderer. This is where the story really takes off.
Iron Widow is action packed and will suck you into the story so quickly. Between the fighting robots and the unlikely team that Zetian finds herself in, it’s hard not to get pulled into the story until you’re spit out at the end left wondering what the heck just happened. The world building was phenomenal. We see the world through Zetian’s eyes, so it’s easy to be angry about the way women are treated. And when she uncovers some of the military’s secrets that proves this unfair treatment, I raged right alongside the characters. I would have loved to know more about the gods of this world, but I think that’s something we will get in the next book if the ending of this one was giving any hints about what’s to come. I’d also loved to have known more about the nomads that Zetian meets (but it wouldn’t have really made sense in the story if that had happened. I just thought they were really interesting and maybe there was a bit of hinting that we will learn more in the next book.)
The characters were easy to love. Zetian is angry. She’s angry that her sister is dead. She’s angry about how her family treats her. She’s angry about how her mother and grandmother are treated. She’s angry about the way the world treats women. Then she realizes that she just might be able to do something about that unfair treatment. I loved her. I was angry right along with her. The author made it so easy to feel the things that Zetian was feeling. There was a smidge of a polyamorous relationship that I absolutely was rooting for. It starts off between Zetian and her second pilot, but also there’s a romance between Zetian and another character. But both are accepting that she might love them both, until they realize that all three have feelings for one another. I wanted more of the three of them. I loved the way the romance was developed. We got to see a slow formation of the dynamic between the three of them, but I wanted more of it. It felt cut short, but I’m hoping that we will get more of that in the next book.
Overall, I cannot say enough good things about this book. It was beautiful and enraging, compelling and fast paced. It had characters that were easy to root for and love. There was a romance that I couldn’t help but get invested in. Plus the giant fighting robots, of course.

Wu Zetian is a woman on a mission. In a Chinese inspired world where humans are at war with the alien Hundun, giant beasts which regularly cross Huaxia's border wall and unleash devastation on the provinces beyond, humanity's only hope lies in the Chrysalises, giant robot fighters with two pilots, one male, one female, who can transform and unleash elemental attacks to keep the invaders at bay. Zetian dreams of becoming a concubine pilot, following in her older sister's path, but not for the reason one might imagine: while it's considered acceptable and normal for women to die while piloting the Chrysalises, as part of the mental strain of the process, Zetian's sister was killed out of battle by a pilot's misogynist violence. This has deprived her family of the payout they would normally receive for her sacrifice in a chrysalis, and also massively pissed Zetian off. In a move that has nothing to do with the finances of a family that doesn't want her anyway, she changes her own life course, and leaves behind Yizhi, a local rich kid who has taken a shine to her but isn't likely to offer her any real security, and signs herself up as a concubine to the same pilot, hoping to murder him before he gets the chance to kill any more women.

The bad news is that this plan doesn't work, and Zetian gets crammed into a Chrysalis cockpit after all. And yet, when the battle is over, it's the male pilot who has died of mental stress, and Zetian gets a brief moment of radiant feral awesomeness before she's thrown into even deeper water, pushed into the heart of the system of Chrysalis pilots and the people who control them. Zetian finds she has allies - importantly they are two hot boys, more about them later - but that being powerful and irrepressible is a tough role when the entire system is set up to control and/or kill you. Zetian also learns that piloting giant robots in battle against supermassive aliens while psychically linked to damaged boys is hard work, no matter how cool it looks to the reader. And hey, it sure does look pretty cool. They even transform and light up! I can only assume the line of action figures is on its way.

At its foundation, Iron Widow is an exploration of an exploitative, restricting misogynist system, one which takes a lot of its methods of control from Chinese history. For example, Zetian has bound feet and is often frustrated by the way they restrict her mobility, even as she gets more resources and options to deal with it. It's considered acceptable for women to die while piloting Chrysalises because they simply don't have the right levels of spirit energy, and families like Zetian's are perfectly happy to throw their love and expectations at male relatives, thinking of daughters only as a possible source of financial gain. There are a few rare female Chrysalis pilots who have formed "perfect matches" with their male counterparts, and these are held up as aspirational for the rest of the girls: sign up to a system that will probably kill you, because it might not! For the first third of the book, the level of restriction and violation and sheer unpleasantness thrown at Zetian made me feel physically ill. That it's a depiction rooted in historical fact - Zetian herself is a manifestation of a real Tang Dynasty empress, and many of her fellow characters are based on real historical figures too - makes that depiction all the more powerful and hard to stomach. It's a rough ride, but it's one that makes the connections Zetian goes on to make all the more powerful.

At the risk of a very obvious spoiler (yes, the YA protagonist survives to end of her own book!), Zetian's turning point is with her second pilot, the notorious convicted criminal Li Shimin. Li only remains alive because he's capable of piloting the Vermillion Bird, an extremely powerful Chrysalis, and the cost of his deployment is that, until Zetian, every girl who has been paired with him has died. Unlike many of his fellow pilots, Shimin is deeply traumatised at being part of this system, and Zetian's ability to match his power and forge a mental bond while they pilot together means the two of them get very close, very quickly. In any other book, the reappearance of Zetian's old flame Yizhi would set up some dramatic love triangle shenanigans, but instead Yizhi becomes another part of their pilot bond and the romance turns polyamorous. This is set up and executed in a way where I couldn't imagine it playing out differently: both are incredibly important to Zetian, who also has far more important things to do than agonise over which boy to pick, and both Shimin and Yizhi thrive on the connections with her and with each other as well. Their relationship provides a tiny anchor of hope and stability, giving Zetian - who started off the book ready to throw her life away on a small revenge quest - something to fight for as she unravels and challenges the assumptions behind the chrysalis system. Importantly, this involves a massive challenge to the gender essentialist aspects of that system, making this that rare book that confronts "gender based magic" as being just as much a social construct as gender itself.

This all makes Iron Widow sound like quite a heavy book, and in many ways it is, but its also about giant robots battling giant aliens and for that to work, there has to be some fun to go along with the desperation. Iron Widow delivers on that too: I'm not a regular consumer of kaiju and mecha content so perhaps I am getting excited about something basic here, but I enjoyed the descriptions and the physicality of the fights, as well as the explanations of the elemental magic system and how it affected the Chrysalises strengths and powers (also, did I mention that they transform and light up?). Beyond the Chrysalis - Hundun conflict, some of Iron Widow's worldbuilding gets a bit sketchier, and there's some big escalations and introductions towards the end of the book which come in very quick succession and could have benefited from having more space to develop. On the whole, though, this is a really entertaining package, one which delivers on some satisfying YA tropes while pushing others in different directions. I'll be awaiting the sequel with excitement!

Book received for free through NetGalley

OH MY GOODNESS!! This book was incredible, fantastic, and amazing! Im so sad it’s over and can’t wait to read whatever book comes next. This book was so good that I attempted to save it to read when no one could bug me and savor it for a day or so longer. Definitely can’t wait for whatever else this author writes.