Set within a futuristic world, Iron Widow follows the story of Zetian who wants to avenge her sister’s death after she is sold as a concubine to the Huaxia military, within a world that only views women as tools to be used and discarded. Zetian rages at the patriarchal society that claims women are lesser than their male counterparts and she plans to disrupt that system in any way she can.

I adored this book so much more than I was expecting to. I absolutely loved Zetian as a protagonist. She’s hot-headed, passionate, and wants justice and fairness within a world that deems women to be second-class citizens. She was definitely the best part of the story for me and what starts off as a revenge arc develops into so much more. I also loved Yizhi as a character. He's soft-spoken and thoughtful and is the perfect foil to Zetian. Li Shimin is definitely one of the more controversial characters, after Zetian of course, he is a bad boy with a tortured past. Normally, I find this character archetype irksome at best and downright atrocious at worst. Xiran Jay Zhao does an amazing job at taking the bad boy archetype and creating a complex character that is so much more than what he seems. What I found fascinating about the characters is that every single one of them are morally grey. They each make horrible decisions that are understandable to the audience. However, their actions perfectly align with their character motivations. Another interesting aspect of the story is that each character is based on a prominent historical figure within Chinese history. Personally, I enjoyed the story without knowing anything about the references to Chinese historical figures, but if you understand the context this story might be even more enjoyable for you.

In terms of world-building, I thought the author did an amazing job. I can tell a lot of time and effort went into crafting every single detail of it. Within this world, humanity is at constant war with the mecha aliens that have attempted to take over. As a result, pilots are needed to protect humanity against invading forces. Chi, or life force, is used in order to pilot chrysalis’. Men and women usually have enough Chi combined to operate a chrysalis. Unfortunately, women are more likely to die because their Chi is considered much weaker than men. This is the basis for the magic system and the political machinations within this world. It’s a fairly unique and complex magic system and I have yet to read anything like it. The author does an excellent job at breaking it down for the audience and I highly enjoyed my time learning about it. Xiran Jay Zhao perfectly blends sci-fi with fantastical elements inspired by Chinese culture.

The themes are one of the stronger elements of the story. Feminism plays a huge role in, not just the main character’s development, but to the overall story. Also, themes of oppression and abuse of power are explored with expert care and nuance. The author plays with the idea that there is no justice in the world and any semblance of justice or equality is nothing more than a tool to be used against the masses.

Overall, I highly enjoyed my time reading this. It's a well-crafted story with characters you love to hate, a unique and refreshing world, and themes that make you question humanity. I highly recommend picking this up and I look forward to the next book in the series.

In a world where humans battle alien-like creatures called Hunduns, Zetian vows to kill one of the most successful pilots of the mechs that can fight them. With the help of a female concubine pilot, Yang Guang pilots a Chrysalis, a giant mech powered by qi. The mechanism of the Chrysalis means that the male pilot uses the concubine as a battery, draining her qi and, often, her life force, killing her. Zetian’s sister was one of these concubines, killed by Yang Guang in the heat of battle. When she turns eighteen, Zetian volunteers herself as a concubine. She achieves a high level of qi during tests and is miraculously matched with Yang Guang himself. Zetian vows to upset the entire pilot/concubine system and save future girls from being killed so senselessly, even as she must join the system to combat it. Paired with Li Shimin, a feared pilot who killed his whole family but who possesses powerful qi, Zetian has half a chance of succeeding.

Zetian is so powerful, in will and in qi. She defies her family’s expectations of her to become a quiet wife and is one of the most powerful qi users in the army. I love how she subverts even my expectations, rising and succeeding even when this extremely misogynistic society is against her at every turn. Her mind works in such a way that she is always thinking of what she can do to empower herself and take even the smallest step towards her goals. She isn’t afraid to love, either, her ruthlessness not looked down upon but admired by her partners. Yes, partners, plural. Finally, a book that isn’t a love triangle but a triad, with love shared between all partners, and not just between Zetian and her male suitors. Polyamory and giant qi powered mechs, as well as the mysterious Hunduns? Yes, please and thank you.

Alongside the queer and polyamory rep, there’s also disability rep. Zetian’s feet were broken and bound at a young age so that they wouldn’t grow. Called lotus feet, they are prized because it keep women’s feet small and keeps them dependent on their family and, later, their husbands. Zetian hobbles around in her bound feet, feeling pain with every step. With the addition of her spirit armor, she’s able to lift some of the burden via her wings, but she still travels in a wheelchair and is sometimes carried. The fact that her feet are so damaged doesn’t come up very often, and not often as a disadvantage. She’s hardly ever trapped by it, especially once she has her armor.

There are definite Hunger Games vibes, especially when Zetian and Li Shimin must put on something of a show regarding their partnership. Everyone assumes they are together, since they share living quarters and since men have urges they simply can’t control. Even Zetian believes this, having no other education than that her family allowed, which was basically nothing, and that her friend Yizhi gave her with his access to technology such as tablets. Anyway, it’s like when Peeta and Katniss had to pretend to be together so that the citizens of Panem would be satisfied and not riot. They kept looking to President Snow to see if they were doing well enough and Li Shimin and Zetian were just the same, looking to the officials and their sponsor. There are also broadcasts of all the battles with the Hunduns, monetizing all the pilots and their concubines. Where, hundreds of years ago, pilots were certainly revered, now they are spectacles and celebrities, able to be monetized.

I really liked the dialogue. I expected it to be more formal, slow to read, but it was really conversational and true to their ages and upbringing. The mash up of technology and old beliefs and gender norms was fun to experience, too. Fun meaning that I was outraged at every other page as the various instances of misogyny were revealed. The descriptions of the Chrysalises were beautiful, so colorful and powerful. It was at times difficult to understand the scale of their size, relative to the Hunduns, as well as what they looked like, exactly. But, having Pacific Rim in mind, I was able to figure something out. I would definitely like some art or illustrations to help me along, though! That would have been amazing to have in a book like this.

The plot is very action packed, fast paced and interesting at every turn. Time passes a little fast, skipping past what I think would have been very interesting moments as Li Shimin and Zetian began to understand each other better. Their relationship grows quickly, almost too quickly, even though the passage of time is marked. I would have liked to see more of their bonding moments, their training. Zetian seems to succeed a lot, too. The world is her adversity but on a personal level, she continues to win. She succeeds in her first goal very early on and then proceeds to get just about everything she wanted. It feels too easy, at times.

The twist at the end, in the epilogue of all things, is what alerted me to the fact that this is, at least, a duology! I am shocked and I really want to read more, right now. I need more of the powerful women. I need more ruthless Zetian. I need more of a woman who wants so much power for women everywhere, not just herself. She wants not only her own freedom, but that of future generations. I primarily enjoyed this book because of Zetian and her power, her subversion of a male dominated society, and the polyamory. The writing was easy to read and flowed very well from scene to scene with its fast pace. While I read this in several sittings, that was more because I was busy than because I needed a break. There is quite a bit of violence, mention of sexual assault, torture, death, some gore, misogyny, abuse, and addiction, so reader beware. But the main characters are all over the age of eighteen, so that makes it somewhat difficult to categorize this book as young adult. It’s not quite new adult, either, though. But I would recommend this book to fans of Pacific Rim and the Hunger Games series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for gifting me with an ARC of this title! I look forward to more from this author, particularly a sequel.

My biggest issue with this book is that I got it early and can’t read the second one immediately.
What a beautiful piece of literature. From start to finish I was completely enraptured. I couldn’t wait to pick it up, and hated to put it back down.
I loved that the love story wasn’t a love triangle, and I loved the badass female character of Zetian. I haven’t felt this empowered by a female character since watching Wonder Woman for the first time, and I want to thank my entire Tik Tok for you page for recommending it. 100% worth the hype.

So this is a young adult novel. This is a unique blend of Chinese History and science fiction. I enjoyed learning a bit about Chinese History and the science fiction made it very interesting and fun to read.

Happy Friday y’all! I really wanted to get this review out on Wednesday but man y’all, this book took me a little longer to read than I expected (not because I didn’t like it or anything, but because I was too tired to read on Tuesday, didn’t read too much on Wednesday, and then finally was able to carve out reading time yesterday). Iron Widow was one of those books that pulled me in because of the amazing cover and kept me in because of the incredible writing and the really cool plot. Thank you so much to Penguin Teen/Penguin Random House Canada and Netgalley for letting me read an eARC of this book! Iron Widow came out on September 21, so make sure you go grab a copy of the book as soon as you’re done reading my review!

Iron Widow 4/5 Stars

Summary from Goodreads:

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.

When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.​

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia​. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

This was a super intense (in that there was always something happening, and it was always something BIG) book and man, I was a fan. Also, y’all, lots of potential triggers here, so make sure you’re checking the trigger warnings if you’re at all worried (I saw a good list on one of the first reviews on Goodreads, so I would definitely go check those out). The whole boys transform robots into fighting machines to save the planet from aliens by using the life force from girls concept is so cool- like it would suck if you were a girl who was born into this kind of a world, but reading it was super cool. I’m surprised that Zetian was the only person who had ever questioned authority/asked why so many girls were being killed, but man, I guess propaganda is a really strong tool when used correctly. Characters wise, Zetian annoyed me sometimes but I thought she was a great main character overall. Li Shimin didn’t really seem to have too much of a personality to me (honestly, I can’t really say that it felt like any of the other characters had real personalities), but I think that makes sense and it was done in a way that Zetian’s story/personality/reasons for becoming who she was and doing what she was doing really stood out and made sense. I liked that this book was different and instead of having a love triangle, they had a poly relationship- it worked for them and it fit really well into the way that the characters were written. Plot wise, I was really happy with most of the book- there were some details/sections where I got slightly bored pacing wise and wished things would be just a tiny bit faster (mainly in the last 1/3 or so of the book), but that wasn’t too big of a deal. Overall, I really enjoyed Iron Widow and I cannot wait to read book 2!

This book was absolutely amazing! The moment I saw the cover and read the summary I knew it would be a new favorite! The writing and style of the book are just another bonus!. The phenomenal world building that made me feel as though I was really immersed into the world of Iron Widow - my one downside was the love triangle because I HATE love triangles... BUT this time it ended in a polyamorous relationship and I LOVED that. This author and book surprised me so many times and I cannot wait to read more of Zhao's writing in the future!

I received an e-arc via NetGalley.

This book was very enjoyable to read. The female lead... do I have to say more!!! I loved the characters, the history that was inspired for this book and the plot!!

This book was amazing! I knew just from the summary that I was going to like it, but I was blown away by the author's writing style and intriguing plot of this book.
The world building itself is crazy in the best way possible. I was instantly immersed in the world of Iron Widow.
Zetian is such a well written main character, I loved reading about her as her character developed through the story. And the addition of a love triangle that ended in a polyamorous romance? It's such a unique idea that I instantly loved it.
I can't wait to see what else Zhao writes because I know it'll be amazing. 🖤

At first Iron Widow felt like it was going to be really predictable and then at about 20% in it took a left turn towards a glorious feminist revenge story. This book was gutsy and gritty with palpable characters that have suffered for their place in the world Zhao built. Reading this story encouraged me to research more into the history that she drew from. I love when a author inspires like that. The pacing does pick up after the first part and though I wish I had watched Pacific Rim beforehand to better understand what was going on, I got there eventually. I don’t think I’m going to be satisfied until I get my hands on the next one.

OH MY GOD WHERE HAS THIS AUTHOR BEEN ALL MY LIFE.

This book was craaaazy good. I was completely, 100% in love with it BEFORE I hit the epilogue and then the epilogue hit and.......nsjghskGRSJGFDdsjkb. This world-building is incredible. The characters were awesome. I loved the yin/yang and qi systems. I'm not sure I entirely followed all of the different kinds of qi and their properties, but that is 100% my fault for gobbling this book up too quickly. On my re-read before the book two, I'll slow it down- I promise. I hope we get to learn a bit more about Big Sister, and I also hope that the next installment find's Zeitan's feet unbound!

This is a debut that is saying, "Conventions? SCREW YOUR CONVENTIONS! I dare you to try to slap a genre on me!" Is it fantasy? Is it sci-fi? Is it REALLY young adult? I think this books has something for a lot of different kinds of readers. Chef's kiss!

Lastly- I highly recommend everyone go visit the author's website and check out the art, but ALSO the IW-inspired memes. They are perfect.

This is such a well written book. I really loved how complex the main characters were and the growth they experienced as they learned more about each other, Seeing them work together was so satisfying. The setting was also excellent and I really enjoyed the twists it provided by simply showing more of the reality of the world they were living in. Seeing Zetian start with her knowledge stemming from what she saw on the frontier expand by seeing how the military really works and then the excess of the wealth and power of the city was so well done. The twists throughout the plot were great and overall I really enjoyed reading this book. I am so excited for the next book and learning more about this world.

Chinese history plus sci-fi mech warriors? Yes, please! I was really excited for Iron Widow, especially because that cover is absolutely luscious!!

Content Warning: Death(s), assault, emotional abuse, misogyny

Our heroine is on a path of vengeance, raging against the wasteful death of her older sister at the hands of a careless “hero” Chrysalis pilot. Living in a society that considers women nothing more than objects for pleasure or childbearing, Zetian has to hide her thoughts and opinions even while suffering the restrictions placed on women – some of which are downright wicked, which Iron Widow describes in detail. (Foot binding is an abhorrent practice that was around until the early 1910s-1920s. It hobbled women, restricting their steps so they’re excruciatingly painful, and making them dependent on the men in their families.)

Determined to not die, determined to fight against the structures binding her to society’s expectations, Zetian not only survives her first battle as concubine-pilot, she comes out of it with a higher spirit ranking than many of the male pilots. And endears herself to exactly nobody, especially the other concubine-pilots who’ve managed to survive long enough to become household names (along with their pilot-pair).

I felt like Zetian was constantly running into walls. Partly because they’re there, mostly because she’s on a rampage to dismantle them if she can. And boy, are there a lot of them.

Iron Widow is not a hunky-dory, feel-good story. There’s a lot of hard stuff to unpack, wrapped up in the spectacle of mecha warriors saving the world. Zetian starts out in Iron Widow angry at her lot in life, and ends still angry at her lot in life. Sure, she now pilots a Chrysalis, finds out she has power, and is upending power structures like nobody’s business. But has she grown as a person? (Ok, an argument could be made that she’s still a teenager and has been too busy trying to prove herself / stay alive / etc. to gain much emotional maturity.) She avenged her sister’s death, but all these other girls are still dying as concubine-pilots, as disposable as the joss sticks at temple. (And more disposable than even she ever imagined…) I spent much of the book nodding my head at the societal structures – I grew up in Asia, and none of what was in the book was a surprise, thought I’m very glad that I escaped the more barbaric practices.

I was done with Iron Widow before I even knew it, and I can’t wait for the sequel. Because there has to be a sequel, right??

drey’s rating: Excellent!

Read if you like: futuristic dystopian, retellings.
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Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot in order to assassinate the person responsible for her sisters death. Through this experience she shows everyone she is much stronger than both she and others thought, and is labeled the Iron Widow.
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I really loved the incorporation of Chinese mythology as well as the conversation around the role of women in society. Zetian works hard to figure out why the pilot system is so misogynistic and then fights to change society.
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CW: misogyny, foot biding, death of a family member, war, violence, murder, alcoholism and addiction, trauma.

This is a story about the girl who would be empress.

I was so invested in this book! I felt the rage simmering off the page, but the author deftly wove in joy & triumph. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but would totally recommend this for fans of Pacific Rim & Gear Breakers.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️/5

Thank you so much Netgalley & Penguin Teen for this eArc

I wish I could scrub this book from my memory, and go back to the last moments of happiness I had before reading this. I wanted to like this book so badly, but the best thing about it is the cover.

This book reads like a 2014 Hunger Games space AU fanfic, and I mean that in the worst way possible. The writing is incredibly amateur and childish, and the dialogue of every single character sounds like high schoolers arguing in a school cafeteria. I can't take anything anyone says seriously, because the dialogue is so ridiculously bad. The writing as a whole is terrible. The main character is a not-like-other-girls girlboss, who makes snippy feminist comments every single page. She stays exactly the same for the entire book, as do all the other characters.

The plot and world itself is never developed well. Nothing is ever explained beyond "thats the way it is", and when something is explained, it's done 50 pages too late in a way that doesn't actually explain anything. I was left confused and irritated for the entire book, wanting something meaningful to happen. There are no stakes, no drama. The entire book you know what's going to happen, because Zetian is the "special one". Stay away from this if you want to keep your sanity.

(also the epilogue everyone keeps raving about? Not actually that shocking or interesting, because nothing is ever built up to in this book)

This book was EVERYTHING I NEEDED!
You want a
1. strong female character who listens to NO ONE? Read this book!
2. Cute, sweet and smart boy who is SO IN LOVE? READ THIS BOOK!
3. dark haired boy with a sharp jawline and the saddest past you’ll ever read? READ THIS BOOK!
4. THE BEST RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MAIN CHARACTERS AND ITS SO SLOW BURN IT KILLS YOU? READ THIS BOOOOK!

I can’t wait for the next book because that ending? GOD HELP ME WITH THE WAITING....

I dived into this book with no knowledge of what it was about and this gave me a chance of being completely absorbed in this world, made of Qis (what we can consider as inner force) and Chrysalis (big machines controlled by people, used to figlt). A world where women are considered objects, only useful when they die and at the complete mercy of men. The author was able to turn over all prejudices, giving women the respect they deserve, using not a good, strong and perfect girl, but a grey character, whose only target was to kill the man responsible of her sister’s death. This book is the perfect combination of ancient myths and traditions, Chinese culture and futuristic elements, and you are able to enjoy both.
"Female. That label has never done anything for me except dictate what I can or cannot do. No going anywhere without permission. No showing too much skin. No speaking too loudly or unkindly, or at all, if men are speaking. No living my life without being constantly aware of how pleasing I am to the eye. No future except pushing out son after son for a husband or dying in a Chrysalis to give some boy the power to reach for Glory.”

When I say I love character driver books, this is exactly what I mean. There could be no plot or a bad plot, and I would still love the book. The characters were all, and I mean all, amazing. Each and everyone had their own personality, their pasts and motivations of why they were doing what they were doing.

• Zetian: the real gem of the book, in my opinion. You take that perfect, little scared girl and turn it around to have a morally grey, tough, and bad character, whose moral is so debatable that you keep questioning her actions. This is the exact example of strong female character, one who is able to understand when she can do things on her own or if she needs some help.
• Shimin: you take a bear, you give it a sweet and strong personality and here you go, Shimin. He was probably the best surprise of the book since I already knew I was gonna love Zetian. He is perfect, he is caring and he hides a past that just makes you love him even more.

The worldbuilding was astounding. Definitely one of the most complex, remarkable, fascinating and insane world building I’ve ever read of. The entire book is so particular and insane that you cannot put it down. The writing style was so good that I didn’t even notice the new words and concept, it was just so well done, that it felt like I was reading in my mother tongue. The author is able to speak up about a problem that sometimes affects our world too: misogyny. She did it so that it was a social criticism of the problems of today, and I loved how all the main characters fight this.

Unfortunately, there is one aspect I found not of my liking: sometimes the scenes were too fast, a bit confusing. This slowed down my reading a bit, but in the end, I can understand the necessity of the fast pace of those specific scenes. The book is not slow, you need to stay alert and never underestimate a detail because everything is important in the end.

Read this if:
You love Chinese culture
You need morally grey characters
You need a unique sci-fi

I absolutely cannot believe I put off reading this for as long as I did. Strong female character? Check. Gundam style mechas? Check. A throuple??? Check. Literally everything I want in a novel.

A woman struggling to survive in a patriarchal society learns that things aren’t quite as cut and dry as the government makes it out to be.

This book was absolutely amazing and I devoured it over the course of like 6 hours total. Zhao uses character names that are from Chinese history and infuses the characters with some of the facts about them. The story is INTENSE and will keep you on your toes as to what will happen next.

As a minor spoiler, none of the characters in this novel are exactly “good” people- they do what they have to do to accomplish their goals.

I got this book as an ARC through NetGalley

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Iron Widow

Author: Xiran Jay Zhao

Book Series: Iron Widow Book 1

Diversity: Asian/Chinese inspired side characters and MC, Poly disabled mc, Bisexual boys

Rating: 5/5

Recommended For...: young adult readers, science fiction, historical fiction

Genre: YA Sci-fi

Publication Date: September 21, 2021

Publisher: Penguin Teen

Pages: 400

Recommended Age: 16+ (Emotional child abuse, Romance, Sex, Death, Attempted Sexual assualt TW, Violence, Domestic violence, Gore, Murder, Language, Alcohol abuse, Withdrawal, PTSD, Anxiety, Organ theft, Sexual coercion)

Explanation of CWs: Emotional child abuse is shown. Romance is not the forefront of the book, but is there sometimes. Sex is fade to black, but some sexual acts are shown and mentioned. Death is frequent. Sexual assualt is attempted and shown in the text. Lots of violence and gore. Some domestic violence shown and mentioned. Murder is shown. Slight Language. Alcohol abuse and withdrawal are shown in detail. One scene with sexual coercion and organ theft is mentioned.

Synopsis: The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn't matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.

When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it's to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister's death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.​

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia​. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

Review: This book blew me away! I absolutely loved how well done the book was and how I so easily fell in love with the vengeful Zetian. I absolutely loved the Pacific Rim vibe and I think the author did amazing to bring Chinese mythical beings to the Pacific Rim like world. The commentary on how men use women to get what they want with no concern for them was well do and the writing of how women were forced into Foot modifications like old times made for a great comparison to beauty standards of today's world, but more importantly made commentary of how woman are subjected to torturous practices for the ease and "betterment" of men. I also liked the "Handmaid's Tale" (in quotes because the horrors in that book were real to many of our BIPOC women and female identifying people) like feel of the book. Beyond the amazing message behind the text, the story itself is amazing. The characters are well developed, the world building was divine, this was the first poly relationship I've read in books and I loved the trios dynamic, and overall I really fell in love with this authors writing. Expect to see a lot of amazing things from this author, they're one to watch for!

To make things fair, the only downside I had was that I thought the book was going to suggest that family toxic relationships should be forgiven, something I deeply struggle with from my childhood, but I was surprised and elated that the book took a different turn.

Verdict: Highly recommend!

This one was a bit different for me, really unique even though it took elements from A Handmaid's tale and Pacific Rim. I really enjoyed the audiobook. It kept me engaged although I wished there was more romance element fleshed out with the characters.

I received this book at my request and have voluntarily left this unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.