Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Iron Widow (Iron Widow, #1)

by Xiran Jay Zhao

Instant New York Times No.1 Bestseller. A YA Pacific Rim meets the Handmaid’s Tale retelling of the rise of Wu Zetian, the only female emperor in Chinese history.

I have no faith in love. Love cannot save me. I choose vengeance.

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises – giant transforming robots that battle aliens beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that their female co-pilots are expected to serve as concubines and often die from the mental strain.

When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, her plan is to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But after miraculously surviving her first battle, Zetian sets her sights on a mightier goal. The time has come to stop more girls from being sacrificed.

‘This is the historical-inspired, futuristic sci-fi mash-up of my wildest dreams.’ Chloe Gong

‘Raging against the patriarchy in spectacular style.’ Observer, best books of the year

‘Zetian is unstoppable, and I dare you not to cheer her on.’ Elizabeth Lim, author of Spin the Dawn

A New York Times bestseller, Oct 10 2021

Reviewed by Ashley on

3 of 5 stars

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I didn't love this like I hoped I would. It was pretty good, but a little… hollow?

The main character objectively said great, empowering, feminist things, but it kind of felt like she was just spewing lines from some sort of “inspirational feminist quotes” book. These “quotable” lines just came out of nowhere, and frequently. I was struggling between “great thinking” and “this is cheesy”. I like the badass feminist woman taking down the patriarchy, but it was almost a little too in-your-face?

The book itself also didn't dive very deep into the world building. It covered that up with constant action, which was interesting, but made it hard to actually follow and understand the world and its politics. We just skimmed the surface of everything.

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Reading updates

  • 9 December, 2021: Started reading
  • 9 December, 2021: on page 0 out of 400 0%
  • 9 December, 2021: on page 39 out of 400 10%
  • 10 December, 2021: on page 121 out of 400 30%
  • 12 December, 2021: on page 270 out of 400 68%
  • 12 December, 2021: on page 296 out of 400 74%
  • 13 December, 2021: Finished reading
  • 14 December, 2021: Reviewed