Iron Widow (Iron Widow, #1)

Item: Iron Widow
Rating: 4.00
Author: booksandcats

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 booksandcats on Sep 10, 2022

4 of 5 stars

Really good, actually, I liked the twist of a love triangle, I loved the fantasy world built in here, honestly, the only reason it just got 4 stars is that it is a bit too YA for me, wich is fine, that's a perfectly fine genre, I'm just really not in the mood for it, which sucks because I think at another point of my life, this might be a 5 star read. So, extremely good YA book, not my taste just now, but very unique.

Reading updates

Started reading
10 September, 2022: Finished reading
10 September, 2022: Reviewed