THANK YOU NETGALLEY FOR THE ARC !!!

Wow. I’ve had Iron Widow in my TBR for a few months now, & I was totally over the moon once I received the ARC. I was drawn in by a “smash the patriarchy” vibe, but definitely stayed for the characters, dope world building, & badass MC.

If you want “Transformers” x “Handmaid’s Tale” with chinese culture, READ IRON WIDOW. I was blown away by the world the author has built & am so excited for book 2!

Please let my babies Zetian, Shimin, & Yizhi be okay thanks goodbye

💛💛💛💛

Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3999488837

***ARC received from Penguin Teen and NetGalley in exchange for honest review, opinions are all my own. Thank you!***

Iron Widow is a mashup of science fiction giant battle mechs, female dystopia break the patriarchy while paying honor to the authors Chinese heritage. It also draws on and is inspired by the story of the great Empress Regnant Wu. It doesn’t sound like it should work but its a surprisingly fun read with strong characters you can’t help but root for.

Zetian joins the program for revenge, she knows as a woman her life is only as valuable as her assistance to a man can be and being a concubine pilot is the ultimate sign of a woman’s value. Zetian is incredibly single minded and once she becomes the Iron Widow I will admit that I struggled with liking her particularly with the way that she treated Li Shimin who I truly adored from the first time he is on the page. Zetian is incredibly blunt and in your face, she has an agenda and she is not going to let anyone forget it and while she will try to get assistance from the other women, she won’t let them stand in her way. I wish she had warmed up to Li Shimin a little sooner but I understand why she is tentative. Eventually they do forge a tentative alliance and as she comes around to Li Shimin I found myself liking Zetian more and more. Yizhi is the third member of our trio and he is just the sweetest. All three play well off each other and create a strong bond that carries them throughout the book. They each face their own unique struggles, Zetian a woman who despite her immense ability will never be seen as anything of worth on her own, Li Shimin a pawn to be used so long as he remains compliant and Yizhi fighting against his controlling and manipulative father to protect the two that mean the most to him. The book makes a good point that they work well with they balance off each other, knowing when to step back to let the other shine.

I also don’t really want to spoil anything because it looks like a love triangle staring you right in the face but oh my was I incredibly happy with the way the relationships turned out in this book. Thank you Xiran Jay Zhao for making this reader a very happy girl.

I loved the way this book dealt with the control that the government has over its citizens. While the book is fantasy it does draw on the way courts were run not just in China. Zetian is not the first Iron Widow only the first that the government couldn’t hide since she basically introduced herself on live television over the body of her copilot. Its frustrating as a reader to see a government that is more than willing to throw away their best bet of defeating the aliens but its all about control. They need to control the pilots and the co-pilots by creating a system that rewards both in a certain way, men for their heroics and women for their sacrifices for the men. Its a commentary on the way societies even today value women for their humble sacrifice and nothing more so watching Zetian be unafraid to destroy it was so nice.

The world building was a little weak, there was no real explanation that I got from the book that explained were the aliens came from. We don’t get to explore more than a little bit of the world but the ending I think helped explain at little bit of that.

Speaking of that ending, that certainly came out of left field and I loved it after I recovered from my heartache. I was not at all expecting what the author did and I finished it hating that I now have to wait another year to see where the author takes us next.

I really enjoyed this book. There are a lot of things that haven't been done well before that I think the author does really well. The poly aspects are amazing to see. The fact that the hero isn't necessarily heroic in all their actions is so realistic and incredible to read. The world and plot itself are super exciting.

I really can't wait to read the next book, and that leads into my only real criticism and that's the fact that everything felt so rushed the second half of the book, and the more I read the more rushed it felt. I'm hoping the second book slows down a bit and we get to dive more into various aspects of the world now that more is revealed, as well as into all the characters, rather than jumping from one super exciting main event to the next.

I was given a digital arc of Iron Widow through the publisher but my thoughts on this book are my own. First off I am glad this is not considered YA as I originally thought. It's a little too dark in some places for me to feel comfortable recommending it for kids under 18. That being said, I really enjoyed the book. I found the main character the Iron Widow, troubled and complex to say the least. Sometimes I was rooting for her sometimes I was horrified by her thought process and her questionable actions. Other main characters were a little more predictable but I liked them. I will definitely read book 2 when it is published. I liked the way that this book ended and left open the story for the next book. I sometimes had a hard time actually picturing in my mind some of the descriptions of the war machines and the battles but I could follow the plot easily enough to understand what was going on. All in all a very good read!

A darkly unique spec fic book for Older teens and adults. I loved the characters and the plot though I thought the world building could have been a little better. Only thing I didn’t love is the total binary gender system.

4.5 STARS

I truly think there is no better feeling, as a book lover, than being entrapped by the blurb of a new book, of thinking, “wow, this concept is so cool, sounds like something that would be a new favorite”, of getting so excited and unavoidably setting expectations so high, of loving the first page, loving the hundredth page, loving the last page, of closing the covers with a delighted smile and realizing that said book blew your mind just as much as you had hoped.

Iron Widow is that book.

To say I am absolutely, irrevocably in love with this book is an understatement. Let me tell you, when I hear something being compared to Pacific Rim (a favorite) but with a dystopian, feminist twist, all inspired by Chinese history, philosophy and folklore, I can’t help but set the highest of expectations. I’m happy to say that I could not be more pleased with every aspect of this story. The Chinese folklore, philosophy & culture, the way Yin and Yang are woven masterfully throughout the story, the strong and menacing heroine, the cruel and oppressive world, the groundbreaking love story. Everything written so beautifully, done so well, the characters so enticing, the plot so fun and action packed, I could weep.

As a heroine, Zetian is a new favorite. I honestly don’t know if I’ve read another YA heroine who is as cunning, maniacal, and low-key terrifying as Zetian and I love her for that. The way she used her sexuality as a weapon, was truly impressive, not only as a YA heroine, but as a woman in general. She was so unpredictable and such a girl’s girl, I love her.

There is so much to love about this book, it’s hard to pick a favorite, though I would be lying if I didn’t say that what delighted me the most was how Zhao set the tireless & infuriating Love Triangle trope (WHICH IS MY LEAST FAVORITE) aflame by writing her characters into a loving, healthy, and equal MFM polyamorous relationship. Yes, as in why-only-choose-one-love-interest-when-you-can-have-two- and-why-shouldn’t-they-also-love-each-other? “A triangle is the strongest shape” after all. Finally, a heroine who doesn’t spend the entire book pinning after two boys, when she should be saving the world, but instead has her cake and eats it too.
Queen.

Lastly, this would be a five star rating, I just wish there was little bit more development between Zetian and Shimin’s relationship. I feel like their romance didn’t get much development before they were “together”. I would have also loved more on page development between Yizhi and Shimin, but the way it was written was still really sweet and believable.

This is the story of Wu Zetian, who is based on the only female emperor in Chinese history. Similarly to that Wu Zetian, this one overcomes a mountain of misogyny and gender roles to become something that nobody expected that she (or any girl) would.

This takes place in the world of Huaxia, where young men team up with girls in order to pilot giant mechs to battle the fierce alien Hunduns that attack their planet. However in ‘teaming up’ the girl is nearly always sacrificed, dying from the mental strain. Nonetheless, girls across the world enlist with the hopes of becoming a pilot’s ‘Perfect Match’ and earning all the fame and notoriety that comes along with that. Zetian’s big sister was sacrificed in battle, and she’s enlisting with every intention of assassinating the pilot who killed her. When she goes into battle with him and succeeds in her plan, the army labels her an Iron Widow, and sticks her with the strongest and most infamous pilot, Li Shimin, who has killed every girl he’s ever gone into battle with. She teams up with him hoping that together they can figure out why the piloting system works the way it does.

I read this book in two sittings, because it was that engaging. I absolutely loved Zetian as a character, and she’s very easy to cheer for. She’s been oppressed by the patriarchy her entire life, as has her mother, and grandmother, and she is just super fed up with the way things are and takes changing the world into her own hands. She’s 100% done with everyone’s BS and is a bit full of snark on top of that. She’s exactly the sort of character I love to cheer for.

Iron Widow is a tale that takes inspiration from Chinese historical and mythological figures and imagines them in an alternate universe that’s a giant mecha anime with real designs on smashing the patriarchy (and then when it’s smashed, smashing it some more). It reads like Evangelion meets The Handmaid’s Tale with some Hunger Games sprinkled in, but while I can compare it to those things, it is its own unique story that has all kinds of twists and turns that I wasn’t expecting. There’s swearing, torture, giant mecha alien battling, and a love triangle that says ‘lol, no’ to love triangles and turns into a poly relationship. I mean I looked at this book a few times and muttered an unironic ‘yasss’ at it. It was one of <i>those.</i>

If you like mecha anime, strong female leads, and just… doing a massive smash on the patriarchy, do read this book. I absolutely loved my time with it, and have already recommended it to a dozen people.

Wow. There is so much to say about this book. It left me reeling, honestly. It is action packed, subversive, and revolutionary.

I was entertained the whole time. The battle sequences were exciting, but I also loved the in-between moments of connections with the characters. I loved the theme that cooperating with another person is different than submitting to them. I also loved how independent and ruthless Zetian was, even though her recklessness stressed me out sometimes. I think this book will be a hit for readers who are tired of the same YA tropes playing out again and again.

There were times when I felt like this book was shouting at me: "I'm not like other YAs!" and that was irritating and distracting for me. It was also extremely violent and heartless, which was a little too much for me, but might be fine for other readers. The writing style was also nothing too special, but it didn't detract from the reading of the plot much.

Overall, a great read and I'm looking forward to the sequel.

I loved this book so much.
It was amazing to see a world with East Asian mythology, which is something I grew up with and am familiar with. Zetian is someone I aspire to be like, and I was truly holding my breath with each page in anticipation of what was to come next.

Thank you so much for this arc. This was incredible.

4 stars!

"With bound feet, you learn the value of the bonds between family."

I didn't expect to love this book as much as I ended up loving it! Iron Widow is a futuristic space opera set in a world inspired by Imperial China, specifically the Tang dynasty. It draws inspiration from Chinese mythology in its fantasy and sci-fi elements, as well as bases the main character on Empress Wu Zetian, China's only female Emperor. It features a sexist society, where girls are used as "concubine-pilots" aka qi batteries that their male co-pilots drain during battle, killing the girls. Our main cast consists of three bisexuals in a polyamorous relationship.

Let's talk about my complaints first:
The writing was mediocre but the plot and characterization made up for most of it My biggest complaint about the writing was the overuse of the word 'mellow'. A simple Ctrl+F will show you that the word is used at least 30 times in the entirety of the book, often in consecutive chapters.
My second complaint made me feel pretty uncomfy because the thing is this book just barely passes the Bechdel Test which is something you would not be expecting from a book marketed as 'feminist'. There are only 2 other female pilots who are the only women Zetian talks/interact with. Yet these women are one-dimensional flat personas that seemed to be added as an afterthought. Zetian has a very close and special bond with her older sister but then again, her older sister has been dead since before the book starts. I do hope that the author improves on this point in her sequels because it was a very big reason this book did not be an insta favorite for me. (also the reason for 4 stars instead of 5)
Another thing that disappointed me was the lack of development of Yizhi and Shimin's relationship. Maybe if we had one of the guys' POVs we would have been to see their relationship blossom better, but through the eyes of Zetian, there isn't much depth between the two. Another thing i hope the author will explore more in the sequel.

Other than that, I loved the imagery used in describing and building up the pilots' minds and yin-yang realms. The Chinese mythology was also very well explained and didn't feel like an info dump. I enjoyed learning about the different types of qis and spirit pressure etc. The magic and sci-fi system with the Transformers-esque battle robots was also pretty cool.

Unapologetically feminist, iron Widow leaves no room for any kind of misogyny. It tackles subjects from grief to addiction, to sexuality, to the concept of shame, and how ingrained a woman's dignity is in our Asian cultures.
"Shame. That was their favorite tool. A tool to corrode me from the inside until I believed I could only accept whatever lot they threw at my bound feet."

The characterization was one of the strongest points of this book. Wu Zetian's character is such a dominant and fiercely angry character that it feels like standing too close to a roaring flame. But her anger is justified, at the world and the society for breaking the will of young women every day and instilling the internalized misogyny that just perpetuates the abuse and toxicity. Though, as some readers pointed out, it does seem weird that Zetian is so 'woke' when she's been crushed under the same sexist society as the rest of the girls.

Lee Shimin and Gao Yizhi, the two love interests were also surprisingly well developed for a YA novel. Though, tbf, I feel like Iron Widow breaks a lot of the traditional YA boundaries. (by turning a love triangle into a polyam relationship/threesome) I adored Yizhi at first but despised him for trying to 'buy' Zetian into marriage to prevent her from being enlisted. He did develop drastically over the course of the book so that was nice to see. Lee Shimin and his battle with addiction as well as his battle of wills to let countless girls be sacrificed in the concubine-pilot drama was a major part of his arc. It was nice to see his soft, nerd persona underneath all that anger and violence.

A must-read for fans of YA and SFF, Iron Widow comes out Sept 22 so be sure to check it out and show some love to the author <3

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

NO ONE IS READY FOR THIS RELEASE. THIS MATCHED EVERY EXPECTATION I HAD FOR ONE OF MY MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASES. this has so much hunger games/chinese dramas vibes when i read it which i didn't even know was a good combination until i couldn't put my kindle down.

iron widow was incredibly engaging and fast paced. it didn't feel like i was reading a book, more like i was watching an action filled anime (and honestly someone needs to get on that adaptation), because of how well done but not overcomplicated the writing was. i had to read this all in one sitting because i needed to know what happened next to the characters. i'm very attached to wu zetian and am rooting for her increasingly insane choices as she descended down a path of very grey morality due to the misogynistic hand the world has dealt her.

as a chinese american, i also appreciated the chinese themes woven throughout the worldbuilding and daily life. example: iron widow is set in a mixture of sci-fi mechas, contemporary technology (tv and media is highly involved), and historical china (everyone has long hair, similar to a historical chinese drama, and wears old fashioned hanfu like robes).

xiran jay zhao did not miss with the romance, either. the ride or die nice boy who bakes pastry for you when you come home from torturing a scholar official x the tired boy with an angsty backstory that helped you torture the scholar official x the personification of girlboss gaslight gatekeep who ships her boyfriends is THE superior throuple. the fact that the author really took cliche childhood best friend or bad boy love triangle trope and made it both queer and polyamorous is just. mwah. i loved it. all three were so cute that i had to put the book down at intervals to giggle madly.

some cons though: some of the dialogue was a bit clunky. the book's feminist themes were thrown in your face without any subtlety in the form of the character monologues, causing them act out of character at times. some of the scene changes were very sudden and sometimes zetian's motivations for her actions weren't very clear, like how she suddenly decided that she wanted to sleep with yizhi that first time when they first moved into his suite which was very out of nowhere, right before shimin collapsed from withdrawal. also, i wish shimin's and yizhi's backstories were developed a bit more, same with some of the side characters, like the xiuyang (the girl in the turtle, i might have forgotten her name), but i assume that might be on hold for the next book.

anyways, besides all that funk, this was absolutely a 4.5 star book. i enjoyed it SO much and i am so so so grateful for an arc and i am DEFINITELY telling everyone to buy this book, and buying it myself when it comes out. the sequel CANNOT come sooner!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.*

Damn, I've been waiting for this one!!! Clicked it so fast when it was available to read on NetGalley, and then avoided it for a few weeks because I was scared of being disappointed. Newsflash — I was the opposite of disappointed.

Was this book perfect? No. At the beginning, a lot of the dialogue was clunky and unnatural, and in many places, the overall prose and descriptions either lost me or didn't work well for me. As the book continued, I definitely felt both of these aspects improved immensely. Even more importantly, so much of the plot, characters, and messaging drew me in enough to grow used to it and overlook it anyways.

There is absolutely nothing subtle about this book, and for some people, that might be a negative. But for me, that made this book all the more powerful. Never have I ever, especially in YA, read such a searing indictment of the patriarchy that did not shy away from itself, did not attempt to hedge and soften itself for consumption. *Iron Widow* is unapologetic in ways I didn't think a book could be, in ways I did not think *we* could be. It incorporates common platitudes just to challenge them and tear them apart, and so many times I found myself right there with Wu Zetian, being drawn in for a moment to accept an explanation too soon before being reminded that it isn't enough.

There are giant mecha-robots, glorious world-building inspired by Chinese history and mythology, and a main character who is fearless in the face of death, because she has realized there is simply no other option. There's a brilliant representation of a polyamorous MFM relationship, that hits where it needs to even though at times I thought there could've been more development. I have never read anything like this, and all I want is more.

Buy it buy it buy it you will not regret it for a second. September 21 can't come fast enough.

CW: Murder, torture, mentions of and threats of rape, sexism, alcoholism, physical and sexual abuse, suicide ideation

5/5 ⭐️

*SCREAMS* everyone needs to preorder this book, immediately. This may have been my biggest surprise of 2021. I thought I would enjoy it, but I had no idea I would love it THIS MUCH! I read it over the course of one weekend because I could not put it down!

Why?
-It's a dark upper end YA sci-fi that is a great crossover for fantasy readers. Honestly, this book could have been marketed as adult and wouldn't have been misleading at all.
-It's set in the future but loosely based on Chinese history (Empress Wu)
-It's super action packed, but also has excellent character development.
-Polyamory representation
-Feminist as hell!!!
-Recommended for fans of The Hunger Games, The Handmaiden's Tale, Transformers (I know, sounds weird right??), and maybe Binti (there are somewhat similar themes, but Binti is less action packed than this).
-There are aliens!!
-If you want to bring down the patriarchy, this is the book for you!!

I REALLY enjoyed this book, but can't really talk about why without giving away the ending! All I can say is...THAT ENDING!!!!

Lastly, this book gave me super vivid dreams. It will definitely stick with me for a long time! I can't wait for the book to release so I can display the physical copy! And of course I can't wait for the sequel!!!!

TW: gruesome deaths of family members (including patricide and fratricide), off-page rape, attempted rape, attempted murder, systemic murder of girls and women, feet binding/mutilation, mass casualty events, alcoholism, torture (mostly off page), death of partner, murder of women and girls by men, extreme patriarchal structures, needles.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is genuinely stunning. I was fully gripped from the start and the writing and plot really made my love for the character grow so organically. I loved how complex and interesting each and every character was. None felt like they were only one thing. The story itself was also just incredible! It felt like I was watching an insane action movie in my head as I was reading. I could not recommend this book enough!

This book deserves every single 5 star rating its getting!! If someone tells you they loved this book - listen to them.

This book has everything :
-unapologetic MC
-Side characters with an actual purpose
-A soft boy and a scary boy
-PLOT PLOT PLOT
-Incredible World Building!!
-and an incredible twist at the end!!

I would definitely recommend this to fans of : Pacific Rim / Interstellar / Chinese Mythology

This was the biggest surprise for me this year. It has not only become my favorite of the year but a new favorite of all time. It was just the perfect marriage of unapologetic and legitimate representation of female rage. It drew a clear line on what is Oppressive violence vs. Resistant violence without bringing up whataboutisms and well actuallys or both sides rhetoric (hi Hunger Games). I'll take a menage/poly over a love triangle any day. However, I really think this is the first time I have genuinely loved and rooted for all three of the characters, not because one makes a favorite couple happy. I still have so much to say and I don't know if any of it can do the justice that this books does. Go and run out in September and buy it.

I have been thinking on how to rate this book for a couple of days now, I rounded up from 2.5 to 3 stars.

What I liked:
- The concept ( I mean, a combination of East-Asian influences, Pacific Rim and the Handmaid's Tale? So good! And there were scenes and plot points of this book which had really exciting vibes and a world-building I wanted more on ).
- The Poly Rep !!! I think media in general just needs more positive Poly Rep so I really appreciated what the author put into this one.
- I do love what was being attempted with Zetian. I love a good, leading female character who is allowed to be brutal and a bit ruthless.

What I didn't like so much:
- The handling of certain plot points and their general inclusion which sometimes felt a bit unnecessary (example, the camera strip... )
- The writing, I just could not stick with the writing style, the dialogue pulled me out so many times, either with a statement that felt a bit out of place for the setting, I think there could've been a bit more tuning / editing.
- Okay, the characters fell flat for me. I got an idea of their personalities, I got a taste for their backgrounds. But it is the flaw of first-person narration that you are mostly in Zetian's head so you don't get further fleshing out of the other characters around her. They sort of fell flat for me and I didn't find myself really caring for a lot of them beyond "oh, this bad thing is happening."

Overall I found this one a bit disappointing. I can see why it is so highly rated, I am just someone who if the writing doesn't click with me I can't enjoy a book and while I loved the concepts, the execution gave me a hard time. I do want to see where the author goes with time and further writing experiences bc I think they have super solid concepts and immense creativity. And even if it wasn't my cup of tea, people should give this a try if content-plot-conception is enough for enjoyment.

I started this book with high expectations and, for the most part, the book hit them! Zetian's journey from a powerless woman in a society that pushes females aside to someone who claims power for herself and realizes her own self-worth was incredible. Having such a strong-willed character push through the patriarchy in such an action packed novel was so fun; the battle scenes were made even more compelling by Zetian's thought process throughout. I also loved the romance that develops throughout the book and I'm so excited to see what happens with everything in the next book. The only place I had some difficulty while reading was with some development as the plot progressed- sometimes it felt like we jumped too quickly from one scene to the next, but that could be personal preference on my part. On the whole, this was the most fun to read and I can't wait to get my hands on the second! Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy to read.

You know when you open up a book and get the thrilling realization that this could be your favorite book of the year? That's how I felt about this book, but it's not just my favorite book of 2021- it's one of my favorite books of all TIME.

Iron Widow is exactly as described: polyamorous Pacific Rim meets Handmaid's Tale in a fantasy ancient Chinese world. And THANK GOD!!! This book is everything I've ever wanted and more. No love triangle! Fighting the patriarchy! And oh yeah- THE MOST BADASS HEROINE EVER???

Seriously, if you're tired of protagonists always not having the guts to go through with the assassinations or they suddenly fall in love or they're just not ruthless enough for you: meet Wu Zetian. She's the new love of my LIFE. Not to mention, the two love interests are literally perfect.

I'm so full of emotions after finishing this book. I had to put it down a couple times just to take a breath, so I could gather myself. I was literally yelling out loud at the book multiple times. I had to finish this book because I physically wasn't able to stop reading it. It is THAT good. If I could force everyone to read this book forever, I really really would.

PLEASE buy a copy of Iron Widow when it comes out, because you too need to experience this awesomeness.

I want to say that I fell head over heels for this one but sadly it just didn't happen. I thought that the descriptions were confusing and the story just didn't grip me at all. I felt so lost all of the time reading this one. I think that if it was a movie things would have been easier to understand. For me I felt like this book was a big mess. It never takes a breath in the pacing and you never really get to understand the character's motivations etc. The world itself isn't really explained well either. I feel like it needed torn apart and reshaped so I could understand it better.