Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

I recently posted a reel with all of the books that I planned on reading this month. That may or may not have been a partial lie. If you have not already figured out that I am a mood reader to the max, then now you know! I’ve totally veered off course as far as books I’m reading, but the last book that I finished was on my TBR and it was absolutely fantastic! I recently finished Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao, and I flew through that book! I was craving a bit of a darker and angrier tale and boy did this book deliver!

Here’s the blurb for this amazing novel:

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.

Reasons as to why I loved this book: the slightly unhinged cast of characters, the down-with-the-patriarchy-themes, the sci-fi aspects, and the lore behind them. Starting with the cast of characters: ya’ll know that I love unhinged, stubborn, and unexpected character personalities. This book provided many of these, and I loved the way that all of the characters interacted with each other. I also loved the main character, Wu Zetian. Talk about a strong heroine! It was so satisfying following her battle to fight toxic social norms in her world. Seeing her fight these battles in her world, when they are present in the real world was incredibly empowering, and I got shivers when she would turn them against the people trying to manipulate her. I also love a romantic subplot in most of the books I read, and seeing polyam and LQBTQIA+ rep in this book was such a breath of fresh air, especially from the usual romantic subplots in Sci-Fi novels. 

Now, onto the part of this book that made the geek in me absolutely lose its freaking mind! The Chrysalises are such a cool concept, and the lore with Qi, spirit metal, Hunduns, and the “Gods” behind them is fascinating. Xiran does a freaking amazing job fleshing out the lore aspect behind the Chrysalises, though I am a tad afraid of what the second book holds, at the same time though, I must know what happens! I have to! I haven’t encountered a cliffhanger this shocking and amazing in a while, and I forgot how horrible they can be! I ended up rating this book five stars, and it left me speechless when I finished it! Please read Iron Widow ya’ll! That being said, make sure to check the trigger warnings before reading, as this book is on the darker side and mental health takes priority, but I loved this book, and it has my highest recommendations!

Happy reading!

Renee