A review by soundlysmitten
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

While Iron Widow is inspired by the history of China and its only female emperor, it actually takes place in a different world. One in which more than the patriarchy is set to topple. The official blurb gives away too much and I can’t figure out how to sum things up without revealing key plot points either. So here is an amusing summary posted by the author which you may or may not understand:

“Under siege by monsters beyond the Great Wall like that shitty Matt Damon movie (except the monsters are Cybertronian-like sentient machines) a society that has the fashion, social customs, and beliefs of Ancient China but futuristic tech fights back by pulling a Neon Genesis Evangelion and rebuilding their very invaders into giant mecha. A boy-girl pair in their teens, because of course they have to be teens, pilot the mecha Darling in the Franxx style, except in a much more sensible position (he hugs her from behind). Under command of human pilots, these mecha take on forms inspired by East Asian myth creatures and transform like Transformers through Digimon-esque evolution lines that get more humanoid as you go on. The pilots physically embody them, so it's more Attack on Titan than Gundam. Oh, and they blast qi attacks, so the battles honestly read like a bunch of furries engaged in a Dragon Ball Z fight, and that’s no one’s fault but mine.”

I heard NGE, Digimon & Dragon Ball, lol. Suffice it to say, Iron Widow is a trip 😹 In a good way, though. I don’t usually follow sci-fi well, but all the fast paced action in this book is surprisingly easy to visualize. The pages are rife with brutality, but there’s a good amount of well-timed humor as well. The morally grey cast is complete with a cinnamon roll character. There’s a love triangle that doesn’t follow the usual set up where everyone gets hurt and you can guess early on who ends up alone. And, another brilliant twist.

However, some people don’t like that the book is marketed as feminist because the main character, Zetian, is all about violence and bloodshed. In my opinion… some people need to recall that this story is set in a world where survival is rooted in violence and the government has been systematically sacrificing women for generations. It’s not like Zetian can change anything by say, running for office or writing to representatives. And we are capable of thinking critically, so should we really require her to be the ultimate feminist icon at all times just because the book has feminist themes? Zetian's life is constantly on the line. She isn't given many options, so while her actions might not always reflect an ideal picture of humanity, I think she operates in a realistic way considering all she's been through and all she's up against. In the beginning, it’s obvious that she is desperately done with life. Consumed by grief and rage, she is ready to sacrifice her awful family along with herself. Moreover, she contemplates possibly damning the human race for the sake of revenge. I would’ve liked more content on Zetian’s bond with Big Sister in order to make better sense of her death as Zetian’s initial driving force, but all the same… as circumstances shift, she comes to realize she has a bit of power to leverage and hope begins to spark in her chest. Her goals get bigger, less selfish. It’s still very clear, though, that if things don’t change, she doesn’t want to be around. Taking her past trauma, the conditions she's being forced to endure, and her mental/emotional/spiritual state into account, how can readers expect her to be this golden heroine who always does the right thing? Even the very concept of ‘the right thing’ becomes convoluted as the story progresses. Right or wrong, Zetian is the type of person who’s willing to make heartless decisions in order to tear down the toxic system she was born into. But she’s also prone to lashing out in fits of anguish. And I do wonder how the aftermath of her actions will settle, how she will process it all…
If Zetian ends up having to pull her efforts back, will she feel like she killed her family for nothing? What about the woman who got blackmailed into attacking her? Will she come to regret later murdering that woman?


Another reason people have argued the book shouldn't be labeled feminist is that Zetian goes about attaining victory the way men are often portrayed doing so. I agree that women don't need to emulate men in order to be strong and I so appreciate stories about women who are strong by their own feminine standards. But Zetian is a girl whose qi manifests the way society might expect a guy’s to, and it's great. It doesn't change the fact that the narrative centers on the liberation of women, so I don't see it as a reason to denounce the story's feminist themes.

My question isn’t how did Zetian get such ‘radical’ ideas, but why does she appear to be the only one seeing clearly enough to get big mad?
As someone pointed out to me, there have been others before Zetian. The general population just isn't aware of them, and that seems to further illustrate the fact that the average woman is in no position to push back. But...
I wonder why all these other female characters seem to believe the lie that it's a woman's privilege to almost certainly die. True, they've been exposed to propaganda their whole lives. But is there really only one woman in a generation with thoughts to the contrary, or has the author just delayed introducing us to others/kept them in hiding for the time being?
I think it would've been cool to have the other female pilots in a Balanced Match work with Zetian in some capacity, rather than be hostile and antagonistic or secretly work against her. Though I suppose their actions make a point on the reality of women tearing down other women. And I'm glad we get to see at least a little loyalty towards the end. I do anticipate greater solidarity as the story progresses and hope it coming through gradually will serve to make the narrative even stronger.
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