Thank you Penguin Random House Canada for sending me an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!
Two Second Review
★★★★☆ // 4 s t a r s
In the most basic sense, Iron Widow is a Pacific Rim-esque, Chinese mythology/history inspired novel that will honestly take you by surprise by its awesome-ness.
The Book
Trigger Warnings: misogyny, abuse (p & m), alcoholism, murder, torture
Release Date: September 21, 2021
Publisher: Penguin Teen
Genre(s): YA, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, LGBTQIA+
Series?: yes, this is book #1
Page Count: 400
Premise:
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
Starting reviews is the hardest part, I seriously feel like I'm writing essays again and trying to come up with a CrEaTiVe AtTeNtIoN gEtTeR. Lemme just start by saying, if Iron Widow isn't on your TBR yet, what are you waiting for? I even linked it for your viewing pleasure, so DO IT. PUT IT ON. RIGHT NOW.
So real talk, this book probably would've made it onto my five star list, and when I tell you that is rare, I mean it. There were a few things that I really was like "damn, that could've been better…" Obviously, I'll go over that in the review, but I have such high hopes for the sequel, and it will probably end up being better and GAH I'M ALREADY EXCITED AND THIS BOOK ISN'T EVEN OUT YET?
Let's put this all together (that was weird, back to the Nerdy Nummies days).
The Good. Wu Zetian: our fabulously bitchy, strong ass female MC who actually went through with her assassination? Clearly she popped off. It definitely helps that she's basically Rin from Poppy War, just slightly more sane.
The romance. I was going through the reviews on this book and I noticed so many of them literally said the main thing about it, and I'm like "damn, I am so happy I didn't see these before I started, reading it without warning and slowly realizing it might happen was so nice." I feel the need to be creative, guess the right option, I guess.
a) one love interest dies
b) the two love interests fall in love with each other
c) throuple
d) love triangle
Okay, the plot. Basically, the book follow Zetian as she plans to leave her household in order to become a concubine for a certain Chrysalis pilot in order to get revenge for him murdering her Big Sister. She expected she would be killed on the spot after killing their beloved pilot, but things took a turn. She instead become the Iron Widow and was paired with Li Shimin, a different pilot who also happens to have the strongest qi—10,000—of anyone alive. Old friends make unexpected appearances. Secrets are disclosed. And we can't forget to shout "Fuck the Patriarchy" a few times.
Can I also take a moment to give props to my boy Yizhi. Like he really was a winking king who didn't bat any eyelashes at the number of psycho things the others (Zetian and Shimin) did. Like this dude was really just casually frying some buns while Zetian and Shimin were away torturing a man.
the Bad. I'm not saying bad, the bad over there is for the vibe and the song. Obviously. There weren't that many things wrong with this book, but that's not to say that there wasn't nothing. The info-dumps at the beginning were kind of annoying, but they weren't that horrible, I've definitely read worse. But, the world-building was definitely confusing. I'll be honest, fantasy worlds usually confuse me forever and I end up making stuff up just to convince myself I understand it. Mostly, all the things with the elements and the ying-yang relationship with the elements confused me the most. Also, I really wanted a description of the Hunduns that wasn't just the size? I ended up imagining hellhounds basically.
❝ He should be the Iron King, and I should be the Iron Queen. Yet
Iron Demon and Iron Widow is all they'll let us be. ❞
and the Dirty. That's my outro for the vibe, guys, the vibe, i don't care if it doesn't make sense, you should know this by now. In conclusion (the essay is showing), this book is incredible, it's amazing, the next book will probably be five stars, and you should read it the moment it comes out. September 21, guys. Mark them calendars.
Tropes…
— dual piloting in giant robots (literal Pacific Rim, but elevated in a really "gender roles are overrated" way)
— jealous love triangle trope? haven't heard of that (there's your hint for the test question)
— badass female mc
— patriarchy af (which we hate so cue revolution)
Read…If You Liked…
Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong (bc it's the best book ever and we've established that i'm obsessed)
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (bc the summary says so, haven't read this tho)
Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare (only bc i'm trying to drop hints for the relationship without dropping hints…i'm sure everyone knows by now but read it anyway bc its good)
Watch…If You Liked…
Edge of Tomorrow (i can't think of movies/shows so i'm just dropping stuff at this point)
Wonder Woman (i mean, fuck the patriarchy, so)
ADD IRON WIDOW TO YOUR GOODREADS SHELF
random q to drop comments <3
What's your favorite trilogy?
(i've got so many, but if I'm not repeating an
answer, probably the Arc of a Scythe series)
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