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.

Enjoyment: 4/5
Execution: 3/5
Final rating: 3.5/5 (rounded up)

Zhao's debut is explosive and a wild ride from start to finish. This is a scifi reimagination in a world where male Pilots control giant mechas to fight aliens by leeching the mental power of female concubines. Wu Zetian is our main protagonist and POV character, who enlists to seek revenge on the ace pilot responsible for her sister's murder.

There is drama, romance, scandal, and betrayal. It's an exciting read and gives off very strong anime vibes. The action and fight scenes are heart pounding and well done, and I highly recommend you check out the art on Zhao's website of the mecha designs. The characters, while overall likeable, are also very exaggerated and extreme, and there's a lot of dramatic dialogue and proclamations that got very tiring. However, Zhao's writing is engaging and it's easy to devour this book in a single sitting.

My biggest gripe with this book was that I never really got a handle on what was going on. Everything is very surface level. The worldbuilding is well done but very little is explained about the history or political structure of the world, despite the huge role that both play. On the other hand, Zhao does a fantastic job of painting pictures of towering mechas and setting the atmosphere. Their writing is descriptive while not overloading, and the explanations that are given felt very natural rather than info-dumping.

In general, I liked all of the characters, but I wish the secondary characters had more development, especially the two Iron Princesses. Yizhi is my favorite character, a wonderful blend of gentle and fierce, and I really wanted more of him. One of the things I was most excited about was the poly rep in this book but I was disappointed with how it played out. The book really highlights Zetian and Yizhi's relationship, and paints Shimin as the person Zetian is forced to be with. Then, Zetian suddenly develops feelings for Shimin; While the relationship between Zetian and Shimin is technically enemies-to-lovers, it's a very rapid progression, and I wanted more build up between "I hate you" to "I would die for and kill thousands for you". The relationship between Shimin and Yizhi is also unexplored, and seems to happen very suddenly. I would have loved more character and relationship development, though I am still super happy with positive polyam rep in the YA world!

Overall, this is a high octane debut with a killer cliffhanger and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel. It definitely delivers with the PacRim/Handmaid's Tale and I'd recommend it to fans of The Hunger Games and Attack on Titan. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an ARC!

Content warnings (may be incomplete, may contain spoilers): Blood, gore, injury, death, murder, violence, torture, alcoholism, rampant misogyny (SO much of this y'all), rape, emotional and physical abuse.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for an advanced review copy. There's a lot to unpack in this one! First let me say that the pacing is good and the story moves very quickly. I think teens are going to love it. The only issues I had was that I wanted more backstory on who everyone was fighting and why and I would have liked a little more backstory on Zetian as a main character to provide some more character depth. The quick pace and high action will pull you in though and you won't mind being a little lost because you'll find yourself immersed in the world and rooting for Zetian.

3.5 stars

This was one of my most anticipated releases of this year and I'm so happy that I got to read it early. Sometimes looking forward to a book is because it sounds cool as fuck as opposed to how good you expect it to be on an objective level, if that makes sense? Iron Widow was definitely a book I expected a lot from in terms of the cool concepts (the comps, Wu Zetian, the polyam relationship), and I feel like it really delivered there.

Like with any debut, it's hard to know what you'll get in terms of the actual writing, but what I'll say is that the writing was engaging and it served the plot and characters well. The author definitely didn't shy away from writing about the ugliest aspects of being a woman in this fictional world, which makes it more powerful since this is all stuff that has happened in recent past and happens currently in too many parts of the world. All of this makes the book an emotional and powerful reading experience that, in my opinion, justifies the pre-release hype.

With that said, while I genuinely enjoyed the time I spent reading, I also wish I had liked all aspects of this book equally. My first issue was that I didn't always feel like the dialogue flowed smoothly in some parts, and sometimes I couldn't reconcile something a character said with what was told back as a reply. That always made me pause for a couple of seconds at the beginning, and once I got used to it I was able to just keep reading without worrying too much about it, but it was a little distracting.

My second issue is a sense of general disbelief in the figure of Wu Zetian and how she goes from peasant girl who has no "feminist role model" to learn from to this powerful badass feminist icon who overnight unlearns everything the patriarchal society has taught her and is able to deliver powerful analyses on the way the patriarchy keeps women down etc etc... you get where I'm going. I'm all for a powerful heroine with badass and over-the-top speeches (after all, if villains can, why not main characters?) but thinking about it while I wasn't actively reading the book I just couldn't get over how all out of the blue it was. Zetian herself actually later in the book cringes a little at her first badass outburst and like, I say it with love, but yeah fdhsfhs.

Because I don't want to end the review on these slightly negative notes I'll end by saying that I'm so happy we got a YA fantasy book with a polyam relationship (instead of your usual love triangle). I loved seeing how Zetian, Shimin and Yizhi all brought different things to the relationship, so that where one had hard edges the other was soft, and that they all have different strengths and they just work together. Yizhi's speech about love and how loving someone doesn't have to mean taking away the love you have for someone else was one of my favorite things in the book (he said it better than me, I'm paraphrasing badly). I seriously hope other publishers will see that there is a place for polyam relationships in traditionally pulished books and that we'll see a lot more of them.

With all of that said, even without feeling 100% positively about all aspects of the book, I still loved reading this and will remember it as such a fun book to read (when it wasn't raw and painfully honest) and I'm highly recommending it.

First, thank you to the author, the publishers and NetGalley for this ARC and allowing me to review it with honesty.

Wow. This book - so I wasn't sure how I was going to like this book. The synopsis was intriguing enough to try it out and within the first few chapters I was absolutely hooked. I had a hard time putting this book down. The story of how a young woman, ready to enlist and become a concubine-pilot (which for the most part is essentially a death sentence) and be matched with the pilot that she has plans for.

It has a lot of content warning issues twisted throughout the story but it is definitely part of the plot. But just make sure to look up said warnings.

I absolutely loved the way the author worked the romantic tie in without it overpowering the entire story. It was an awesome and stunned take on the infinity of love and that it cannot be just for one person or used up but that it can be endless.

This story has to be one of my favorites this year and cannot wait for the next book.

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 5 Stars!!! (if I could give it more, I would.)

(This will be cross posted to my blog, my GR, and my Bookstagram.)

This was a really cool book. I liked the concept, and I really loved that we turned a classic YA love triangle trope on its head and had all three of them end up together.

These characters were great and I really loved their backstories.

I did find that the dialogue sometimes felt off, either it didn't flow well or it seemed out of character based on previous exchanges. Additionally, I did find some of the world building to be a bit confusing, but that might just be me.

Overall, I thought this was a really interesting story and group of characters.

After the first chapter, I was sure this book would be too weird for me but it grew on me. Zeitan’s sister is murdered by a renowned pilot so she goes into the pilot program to get her vengeance. She gets it and so much more.
This book will not be for everyone. It is WILD and honestly a bit meandering plot wise. Take the morally grey characters from the poppy war, the patriarchy of the handmaid's tale, the dual pilot system of pacific rim, add in a murdered sister and a polyamourus relationship and then you get the bones of Iron Widow.

This book was such a fantastic read! I have never read anything like this before, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved Zetian. She is all the feminist fire I aspire to be and more. I loved how the author didn’t shy away from portraying Zetian’s deep desire for vengeance. I hate when authors soften main characters as their story progressesto make them more likable, and Xiran didn’t do that with Zetian. Zetian is the takes no prisoners heroine we all need, and she will obliterate anyone who dares get in her way. Her relationship with Yizhi is next level; the amount of love, understanding, and trust they have is beautiful, no jealousy, no possessiveness, no bullshit. Then add Li Shimin in, and you got yourself the best poly relationship in a YA novel. Honestly, this book kept me on the edge of my seat, and the ending was such a shock (in the best way), I never saw it coming. Also, the way this book talks about misogyny, women’s rights over their bodies, lives, and future is the feminist agenda everyone needs to get on board with. PERIOD! I would’ve liked a little more world-building, get things more fleshed out, but overall, it was a fantastic read. I rated this book 4/5. Book drops September 21, 2021.

I so desperately wanted to love this book. The concept is everything I could ever want in a book. The author brings in LGBT+ rep, disability rep, deep discussions on gender roles and misogyny, and even polyamory.

The actual story and world building were the stand out points to me. I absolutely loved the technology and the way that the Chrysalises are developed and piloted by a male/female duo (who represent the yin/yang balance). I love the badass nature of our main protagonist, Wu Zetian, and how she is motivated to move through her world. Another highlight is the relationship between Zetian, her copilot, and the rich boy she fell in love with as a teen. Polyamory is something I actively seek out in books, and to find it in a YA novel just makes me so happy for the teens and young adults being able to see that representation of themselves.

My main issues lie entirely in the characters themselves. I’m all for unlikable and morally grey main characters, but the discussions on the patriarchy and misogyny were so blatantly stated in ways that just left a bad taste in my mouth. Zetian’s actions and conversations alone speak loudly on this topic. I didn’t feel like adding in these snappy one liners about how every single man in society hates women and only view them as caretakers to their every whim added anything to the story that she wasn’t already showing.

All around, I still enjoyed this book and absolutely devoured it in a few sittings, I just wish the author left more to be shown to us, rather than shown then immediately restated back to us exactly what we should have gotten out of the preceding event/conversation.

Described as “Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid’s Tale”, Iron Widow is a re-imagined story of Empress Wu, China’s first and only female emperor, in a futuristic sci-fi setting, where women are sacrificially used as concubine pilots against the alien Hundun race to protect humanity. The link between male fighter pilots and their female concubines almost never ends with both alive, and usually its the women who succumb. This is how Wu Zetian’s older sister died. This is why she decides to become a concubine pilot herself — to avenge her sister. What she hadn’t decided on was killing him through the psychic link in their mecha suit, which subsequently earned her the title, Iron Widow. Zetian is undeterred even when she’s captured and forced into a pairing with Li Shimin, a very powerful pilot himself but also a known criminal, and she won’t stop till she reaches the top and stops the misogynistic system that’s made to murder so many young girls.

Essentially, this book is the epitome of Jessica Walter’s “Good for her” meme. Wu Zetian is such a morally gray character and an absolute badass who isn’t without her flaws that keep her from becoming one dimensional. Li Shimin is a little predictable in his depiction as “supposedly a cold-blooded killer but actually a cinnamon roll” trope, but I still enjoyed how he was written, how he meshed with Zetian’s character, how he dealt with his own personal trauma at the hands of a corrupt government that views them as expendable. The story is absolutely intense, the world-building is beautiful and immersive, all the battle scenes were edge-of-your-seat mind-gripping, and despite the fact that it ends in somewhat of a cliffhanger, it still resolves the overall plot of this book first before bringing up what will be happening in the next one. Those are the kind of cliffhangers I can appreciate.

Many thanks to Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for sending me the E-ARC of this amazing book. Going into this, I had not read the synopsis, but I ended up reading the first bit where it says Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid's Tale. I am a big fan of The Handmaid's Tale on Hulu. I was ok with the book, but the show is where it's at. I was eager to start reading and see if this did have the same aspects of The Handmaid's Tale and this book did not disappoint. I was hooked from the prologue. Now the Pacific Rim reference I didn't understand because I had never seen the movie. So I ended up getting the movie from my library and watching it with my husband and it was amazing. I understood the machines and the fighting and the mind connections so much more. But I did get a little upset because I started thinking that this book would have made a way better movie than Pacific Rim even though it came out years ago and that made me realize that if this book ever did get picked up, then it would not be a true to story adaptation because it is Pacific Rim on paper.

I started reading this book at the beginning of September and I finished it on the 21st. The day it came out in stores. I was reading the ending and promptly freaking the fuck out over all of the fighting and betrayal and the kick ass-ery and the big reveal, that my husband started searching our local Books-a-Million to see if they had it still in stock and what the price is. He rarely does that and when he does, it is for a book that I am truly engrossed in. Zetian had my heart from the very beginning along with every concubine pilot.

OH MY GOD FINALLY A STORY SO ORIGINAL I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN!

Zeitan Wu is immediately intriguing as a protagonist, and every detail the first few chapters intertwines with her motivations just adds to her engagement as a POV character. I thought I had her figured out, but about 2/3 through the book, her arc completely takes off. Pacing especially was a strength of the book, which I've found is difficult for many YA authors who like to focus on description or side arcs a little too much. But not here!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing me access to an electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Chrysalises are transforming mechs usually piloted by a pair of boys and girls from Huaxia to fight the aliens beyond the wall. The girls usually die from the mental strain of it, but those in charge don't care. Zetian plans to assassinate the pilot that killed her sister but manages to kill him through the psychic link instead. This makes her an Iron Widow, a woman of formidable willpower that can sacrifice men to pilot the mech. She's ultimately paired with Li Shimin, the best and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia. Zetian has to survive the attempts on her life and discover the reason why girls are being sacrificed.

The pages of Iron Widow burn with the fierceness of Zetian's willpower. From the beginning, she chafed against the restrictions of her gender, the anguish and pain of foot binding, and contortions she had to do to make herself seem palatable to the men in her life. It's a sad reality that it isn't just a historical footnote, and her character zings from the start. The transformation from concubine to Iron Widow is fantastic in its immediacy and emotional energy; we're right with her when she sees the proof of her sister's death in the pilot's memories and pushes past the mental restrictions he places on her, intending to kill her, too. She fights triumphantly against the alien enemy, realizing for the first time how powerful she can be. I love the entire sequence, and how it closes out the first quarter of the novel as well as an early segment of her life.

The troubles don't end there, and there are moments where Zetian is meant to be shamed, belittled, and beaten down because she isn't who the men in charge want her to be. Pairing her off with a known killer is meant to break her further, but instead, they find a connection and camaraderie. Adding in her close friend as further support gives her the strength she needs to continue and the reason to keep going. It's not enough merely to survive, to reach the pinnacle of what women are expected to have, but to reshape the system into something equitable not just for women, but for the poor and unable to see past the propaganda that is given to the public.

This novel is amazing, tautly written, and emotionally intense. I was drawn into Zetian's story from the first pages, and the plot seized me by the throat and refused to let go. I was glad to be drawn along for the ride, and couldn't put the book down even when I had other plans. This novel is sure to be on the bestseller list, and it deserves to be.

It's not everyday you get to read an Eastern-based book with YA elements. Because of its rarity, I was afraid I had set the standard too high, but I was glad it met my expectations and beyond.

I read this book on my netgalley shelf for ages and I finally got around to it - let me just say, how mad I am that I waited so long! The author does such an excellent job in creating this wonderful world that includes a sci-fi element to it. The book features a strong protagonist and she is definitely one badass woman!

I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to what the author brings forth in the next book.

ALSO, happy book birthday to this gorgeous book! This book released today and you all can get your hands on it. Order away!!

(Thank you to @netgalley, @penguinteen for this advance readers copy!)

Did not finish - stopped at 45%.

This novel started off fantastic. I thought the premise was unique and it hooked me immediately. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the first battle. However, after the conclusion of Part I, it started to fall apart for me. I felt like it was succumbing to the YA tropes I see too often. It already started focusing way too much on a relationship by part II instead of the grand story at hand. And the numerous attempted rapes were a bit much for me. I unfortunately just found it too cringy to keep going. I give it 3 stars because I don't think it's a terrible book. It's just not for me.

4.8 / 5 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2021/09/23/iron-widow-by-xiran-jay-zhao-review/

I did not pay for this book. I was very kindly granted an advance copy of it in exchange for an honest review. Hopefully the author will forgive me—especially after I post said review to Goodreads and/or Amazon with a rating;)
Right, the book. Iron Widow is a retelling of the Empress Wu Zhao who served as consort for the Tang dynasty and later seized control of the throne leading to the Zhou dynasty, during which she ruled unopposed. The book is the beginning of a retelling of her life.

Only with giant pilotable gundam-like chrysalises. And aliens.

Huaxia sits on the edge of extinction. The Hunduns—sentient mechanical aliens that have overrun the lands north of the Great Wall—have pushed humanity to the brink.

The remnants of the Han survive only through the grace of the great Chrysalises—huge husks made of spirit metal capable of transforming into fighting machines. When the two pilots—one a boy, one a girl—combine their qi within the Chrysalis they are able to force it into metamorphosis, resulting in a huge fighting robot. Though this grants the pilots the power to repel the Hunduns from their land, it usually results in the death of the girls. This is seen as a sacrifice worth taking, in order to assure the survival of the human race. Plus, they’re only girls.

Wu Zetian is born upon the frontier, near the Great Wall itself. Should the Chrysalises fail, her family would be one of the first to fall. And she was born (and ultimately kept) in order to die.

As her sister did before her.

And so Zetian follows her elder sister (jiejie 姐姐) into the army, joining the ranks of Yang Guang’s concubines—who wait on his every whim, offer themselves to him freely, and are taken into battle with him, most often to their deaths. Again, as Zetian’s jiejie did before her.

But unlike her sister, Zetian isn’t here to make some sacrifice, noble or otherwise. Instead she has her heart set on vengeance—for her murdered sister, for thousands of dead girls before her, and ultimately for herself. For even should she live long enough to kill Yang Guang—what then? She’ll still only exist in a world set against her, one where she’ll carve a place for herself—in blood.

This book is steeped in both sexism and racism. The misogyny of the classical world has been well documented of course, but here’s another crash course on China (zhongguo 中國), which take things a bit further. Being born a boy was a huge responsibility. You were the hope of your family, your bloodline. You were supposed to succeed in the exams, in life, marry into a good family and produce a (male) heir. You would then take care of your parents and manage their estates. If you were born a girl, you had to hope your parents didn’t kill you because they wanted a boy. If they let you live, you basically did whatever they wanted to ensure that you fetched a good dowry, which would be used to help your brother pay his way into a good family. Then you were someone else’s problem, but should never forget your parents/family should you somehow make it big. You were subservient to your father, then your brothers, then your husband, then your sons. At no point were you ever in charge of your own destiny. Maybe don’t google this.

Likewise, if you were Han, then you had a natural step up on the competition. If you were anything other than Han, you were a barbarian. Often even subhuman. If you were half-blooded or quarter-blooded non-ethnic Han you were often seen as inferior. Han nationalism is generally on par with white nationalism in terms of exclusionism. Of course, this is the only instance of racism ever in history, and therefore is quite notable. Seriously, DO NOT GOOGLE THIS—you won’t find anything remotely heartwarming.

The overwhelming sexism here takes center stage, while the racism is kinda glossed over. I hope that we get to it more later in the series, though. Xiran Zhao doesn’t exactly paint a pretty picture for female life back in the annuls of history, but it’s probably pretty realistic. There’s a reason there’s a huge gender imbalance even nowadays—as the number of men heavily outweighs the number of women.

In terms of a fantasy book, Iron Widow is a damn good one. I mean, it’s a whirlwind of blood, tears and chaos, but one hell of a ride all the same. Zetian quite the character. I legitimately believe she’d bathe in the blood of her enemies. She’s got a bit of a demon in her; willing to do anything in order to achieve her ends. She also has a warm, sensitive side (though it’s a little overshadowed by the whole “demon” bit)—which she shows in touching scenes with Yizhi and Li Shimin. I’m honestly not sure what kind of a romantic she is. All in all, Zetian is complicated. She’s entirely human, but also a vengeful goddess born of pure chaos. As I said, quite the character.

The romance is a thing—leaving me undecided whether I bought into it or not. Despite her assertions that “the triangle is the strongest form of geometry”, I’m still not sure what it was that Zetian really wanted. It seemed to me that both male leads were head-over-heels, willing to die for her, while she was more “well, I like them but… meh”. Again, I hope that this is something that gets cleared up in Book #2.

TL;DR

From gundams to aliens to emperors, there’s A LOT going on in this story. And while I didn’t love every minute of it, I loved way more than enough to recommend it. Wu Zetian is a monumental task of a retelling, but Xiran Zhao has a winner here. For while it’s not all accurate, it’s certainly a perspective with a twist; a story that finds the future Empress as a poor farm girl with a taste for vengeance, blood, love, and ambition. An amazing coming-of-age tale that devolves into pure chaos and is somehow better for it.

Wow. After finishing this book, I feel like I need to go run 10 miles or eat a bunch of chocolate and drink some wine. This was intense! I could not put it down. However, this is not a book for the faint of heart as there are many references to torture, rape, murder, and misogyny. This book had aspects of “The Handmaid’s Tale”, “The Hunger Games”, and Transformers, only way cooler.

This book takes place in a sci-fi world where the Hunduns (machine aliens) are killing the humans. Throw in a dash of Chinese history and culture, make the protagonist fight the patriarchy, add some transforming psychically controlled machines that a boy-girl pair has to pilot, a polyamorous love triangle, and voila! You have Iron Widow! Honestly, I can’t describe how incredible this book is and I don’t want to give anything away, but I will try to give an overview:

Our kick-ass protagonist, Wu Zetian, volunteers to be a concubine-pilot so that she can seduce and kill the pilot who murdered her sister. Concubine-pilots often don’t survive going into the cockpit with their male counterparts (the boys drain the girls by using their psychic connection…it’s complicated). Nevertheless, Zetian not only survives her first battle as a pilot, but she kills her male partner. She’s labeled an Iron Widow and thus begins an epic story about family, love, gender identity, and the roles we play in life. Zetian fights and thrashes against the murderous constraints of her society (girls are seen as worthless and are essential sacrificed as pilots. They also are held to ridiculous purity standards). She is determined to figure out a way to break the system so that girls are valued for who they truly are.

But that’s barely a scratch on the surface. If you can handle some dark and disturbing issues (mentioned above), read this book. The issues Zhao tackles in the book are set in a sci-fi ancient China/robot alien world, yet we deal with many of the same misogynist beliefs and traditions that are rooted deep in our modern day human society: purity culture, categorized roles for boys and girls, duties of a daughter compared to a son. This book points out that we have a long way to go before we’re free from societal restraints. Zhao did a beautiful job of portraying the world, society, battles, and characters. I was so swept up in her writing. She also included so many twists and turns—it was an incredible read. I cannot wait for book two!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for providing me with an ARC!

Iron Widow was likened to Pacific Rim meeting the Handmaidens Tale. I definitely see the comparisons. The book focuses on Zeitan Wu. She volunteers to join the nation’s army in order to enact revenge at her older sister’s death. Women are essentially forced to go to battle in this crystalline bots. Their Qi , which I interpreted as soul/spirit energy, is used to assist the men in piloting the weapons.

Unlike many other books the romance here is a triangle. Thought that was an interesting concept.

Overall though the novel exceeded my expectation. The surprising ending sets up a sequel. I really enjoyed reading this one. The reason I am not giving it a 5 is because there were times that I think the scenes could have been better described. I had trouble envisioning what was going on.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.