April 6, 2024
I recently finished Iron Widow, thanks to a book rec from my friend Raibys when I asked some time ago (thank you for that!!!). And I really enjoyed it!
“There’s no such thing as karma,” I say, enunciating every syllable like I want to crush them with my teeth.
“Or, if it does exist, it sure doesn’t give a shit about people like me. Some of us were born to be used and discarded. We can’t afford to simply go along with the flow of life, because nothing in this world has been created, built, or set up in our favor. If we want something, we have to push back against everything around us and take it by force.”
To keep things sweet, Iron Widow is a verrrry loose retelling of the ascension of Wu Zetian, the first and only female emperor in China's history; this is set against an alien invasion, with Pacific Rim-like dual pilot mecha that transform like Digimon would. The worldbuilding uses a Wuxing-inspired power system and there is a good amount of thought that went into it. The concepts aren't super duper fresh but they sure are fun to read about!
Probably most significantly though it uses this setting as a backdrop to be VERY ANGRY about the patriarchy. This is a YA power fantasy first and foremost, which happens to have a strong feminist (but not TERF-y!!!) lens. I can see this misleading people who might have wanted more depth out of the topic, but I really appreciated how unabashedly Angry it was. Wu Zetian is just Fucking Pissed! She hates everything about her "role" in her society as a woman who must die for a man. Despite this, she operates the best she can within that environment, just as anyone would, until she is able to break free of it herself. It's more even than some might think based on the premise; Zetian's love interests are men and serve to highlight how even "good men" both benefit from and are harmed by a patriarchal society, and she all things considered demonstrates a clear understanding that many of the "players" in the world are in their own way just playing by the rules of a corrupt system, while at the same time the story makes it clear that she still doesn't have to forgive the harm caused.
It's sledgehammer-subtle, too! At some points almost comically so— if you understand the author's viewpoints you'll likely be able to guess some of the plot twists, as the entire world is essentially an exaggerated version of our world meshed with some nasty parts of Imperial China's history, but with ideas and framing all rather overtly informed by the author's own views. It was a bit unintentionally silly, but I didn't actually mind this! It doesn't proclaim itself to be a highly nuanced feminist fantasy narrative; conformity sucks, complacency sucks, the patriarchy sucks— but I think it gets the core of the necessary feelings and conveys everything it needs to, just combined with a ton of very justified anger. It feels very much written like the author specifically wanted to hit as many people with a hammer about this as possible, and they were absolutely right for that.
As a story, it's an engaging one that often rapidly juggles the ball between Zetian's (understandable) tangents, the sociopolitical drama, the alien invasion element, and the romance; I think the book has a nice pace but with so many different parts I couldn't help but wonder if it could've been better. The last 1/5th is particularly excellent and brings everything together well, but it has things a part of me wanted to see more in the earlier portions. Despite this I think it did excellent at getting me to keep turning the pages and see how things pared out. There's a lot of twists and turns as Zetian navigates the environment she's in that keeps things at least somewhat uncertain. The cast isn't very deep; Zetian comes off as a bit unrealistically written for the reality of the setting (hence the "power fantasy" part; from the very start of the story she understands how bad society is, rather than having an "awakening" moment), but she sure is fun to follow and a great vehicle for this tale. The two boys she meets are also surprisingly likable and charming despite lesser focus, and there's a relationship angle that doesnt go on for too long, ends really nicely and made me do a :)
Seeing some other reviews made me a bit apprehensive, because I'd seen a lot of either "this is the best book ever" and "this is the worst book ever"; I find in instances like that the truth is often somewhere in between. Iron Widow is definitely one of those books where I can easily understand why someone would love it and why they would hate it; I just had a great time with it and what it delivered on, between its interesting world, themes of rebellion and nonconformity, and over-the-top ideas. If you're in the mood for a breezy ride with giant animal robots and a girl on a quest to smash down the walls keeping her in, check out Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
There's also a sequel in the works, which is apparently being delayed bc the author ran into issues with their publisher for being pro-Palestine? yuck! hopefully that pans out. I'll definitely be giving that my attention when it comes.