originally read in 2022

REREAD 2025
It's been a while since I first read this book so before getting into Heavenly Tyrant I just knew I had to reread it to be able to recall the plot properly. I also just wanted to reread it because I remembered absolutely LOVING it the first time around. I can very gladly say that didn't change this second time around. I somehow might even love it more than the first time I read it. This book is just so incredibly good.
Books with a very gendered society at the centre of its plot always seem interesting to me. However, I think those stories often get stuck within their own binaries, and therefore don't end up reaching their full potential for me. That really isn't the case with Iron Widow. I love how this book discusses gender, and even though it is mainly focussed on the women in this world being treated unfairly, it does leave discussions open outside of the male/female binary. It feels so natural for these characters that are already questioning the world's docterines to not be stuck within the gender binary. On top of that this also goes outside of the straight focussed view the world might want the characters to stay in. Again, the discussions around sexuality just felt so natural within it all. I just love how it all was executed.
I also just adore Zetian. She is just such an interesting and compelling main character. She isn't perfect. Far from it in fact. Sometimes her actions can feel very frustrating as an outsider but her growth throughout this book is just phenomenal. I loved getting to see her grow throughout the entire book. However, from the start she's just so headstrong, and so badass. I fucking love her. The two love interests are also such great characters. They are both very different characters, but really in sync with Zetian as well. I'm so glad Xiran Jay Zhao went for the poly route, because as an actual love triangle this would have been impossible for me to pick. Even just the relationship between the two guys is PEAK. They all 3 have such different relationships with each other, which are all so interesting and well developed as well and their overall dynamic between the 3 of them also just gave me life.
We also, of course, have an incredible plot. I think Xiran Jay Zhao really just thought out this world so well and everything just feels airthight. Anything that raised questions for me within the book ended up playing into things before the book ended, and overall I  just thought it was all really well executed. The plot was very fast-paced and really had me on the edge of my seat the entire time. The different twists and reveals were also just really well done, and the last one in particular (if you know, you know) had me absolutely GAGGED even the second time around. I absolutely can't wait to see all of this play out even more in book two. So excuse me while I go read that right fucking now. Like truly, how did I survive without the sequel immediately on hands the first time around?

What a great YA book. Definitely for older teens (15/16+), but an accessible read to all reading levels as long as they're old enough. It's a fast-paced, tense, dark and fun read for sci-fi/fantasy readers. Don't expect LOTR world building, but Xian Jay Zhao's first novel still defends itself pretty well on this front.

Iron Widow's characters definitely aren't good people, but they're still loveable in some sort of twisted way. Zetian is a villainous figure that you're probably gonna learn to love despite her cruel nature. 

This book is just as good on a second read, and I can't wait to start Heavenly Tyrant!

WHAT THE FUCKKKKKK

i really liked this book! i loved the way it handled the mcs anger against the system and balanced it with empathy. the relationships were well written and i loved the polyamory. it got a bit fast for me in the end - i almost couldn't keep up with everything. did successfully make me VERY curious abt the sequel, though. also made me very curious abt empress wu - i may have to go read some nonfiction abt her now. 

That was one hell of a ride. It is unapologetic female rage, which I really enjoyed, it is inspired by Imperial China's only female Emperor, which is also super cool, and

it has a love triangle that resolves into a throuple which was AWESOME

. I don't ever want to read that in any other way.
I felt the ending was a bit rushed, almost as if there was no real resolution at hand, so we had to go for more broad angry violence, which felt a bit empty. But overall a great read!

This is the book that got me back into reading as a hobby; I devoured it in less than 24 hours. It's also the first book I'm reread since diving back into reading, and I was nervous. I've read about 250 other books since then... would this still stand up to my memory of it?

The answer turned out to be mostly yes! It doesn't hurt that I recently bounced off of two other YA-ish-female-rage stories and I could compare and see how much better this one is (even on a sentence level). I love how Zeitan is a wrathful, manipulative thing who is fueled by spite. I also loved how singularly focused she was on women's position in the unjust pilot system. She never lost sight of the constant disregard and loss of female life, and even was able to pull her gaze back further to see that yelling at individual men was ineffective, it's the system that is rotten. And yeah, there's some cheesy bits (a character snaps his fingers and goes yeeeees at some point as the narration says the audience "gags" for a performance, which made me cringe). The blisteringly fast pace is an asset, allowing any humor that doesn't land to be quickly moved on from. The final cascade of revolutions was just as cool as it was the first time.

It's also the only book I've read, YA or otherwise, the solves a love triangle with a genuine polyamorous triad, and I can't overlook how much I love that.

And yet, there's things that stood out and bothered me that I didn't think about my first time through. There's some continuity errors. This is supposed to be

a "feminist" story, yet every female character attacks, abuses, manipulates, or tries to kill Zeitan. I understand the point Zhao is explicitly making, that the patriarchy is equally upheld by women and we are not all natural allies to each other, but not even a single female friend? She has to rely on men for the entire story?

This is also yet another book where

torture is portrayed as an effective means of getting information out of someone, when out here in the real world it doesn't work.

The extremely high entertainment value I got out of the book outweighed the parts that bothered me.