For the first 25% or so, this was shaping to be close to a five-star read for me. I definitely took note of the writing being rough around the edges and how transparently beat after beat got lifted from the most prominent books in the genre. But there was so much soul here, so much emotion, and Zetian was so relatable in her all-consuming anger. For as long as she had that very specific first goal in front of her and pushed toward with all the force of that anger, I was absolutely hooked.

Unfortunately, past that mark the story steadily began to meander and loose its footing. I didn’t so much have problems with what was on the page as with what was missing. The worldbuilding was solid when it came to how the giant mechas and the fighters’ energies operate, but everything else? I definitely have more questions than answers. The central theme of the novel is the oppression of women, with all the attitudes around it largely lifted wholesale from history and dropped into a technologically advanced, futuristic setting with magic without changing shape much. And like, please don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I’m not buying extreme levels of misogyny in an advanced setting. I mean, we all literally live in one, and I’m pretty conscious of what’s going on around me. But the specific shapes oppression takes tend to change and shift through the ages. Between the technologies, the reasonably well-understood magic, the war history, etc, it is hard to imagine that nothing about the society’s attitudes would fluctuate.

Then there’s the war against the giant alien things that is supposedly at the heart of the story, except the way it is presented, it doesn’t feel like a battle for survival. It’s just something that happens so that the evil men in charge can, a) entertain the masses with endless violent livestreams a-la Hunger Games (except without the internally consistent underlying reasoning the actual Hunger Games had), and b) kill and oppress women. If this is an ongoing struggle for survival and safety, it is very strange of the people in charge to literally go, “Well, we need to fight it in a way that doesn’t damage the fragile male egos and doesn’t give a single woman a boost of confidence, even if it means not using our resources to the fullest potential. This is very important. More so than our actual continued existence.” This is… not how these things happen. These things, to be realistic, should be more complex, with a focus on the war commandment achieving maximum efficiency on the battlefield with the resources they have, including training women with high spirit pressure as pilots in their own right, and the political leaders figuring out the mental gymnastics they need to teach the masses for that to keep co-existing with the biases they’re interested in keeping—and to be ready for some things to change shape while keeping their toxic essence that’s very much worse raging against.

Of course, I do acknowledge that the MC is a teenager in highly specific circumstances, and she simply may not see how the larger world functions. But that’s where my other problem lies: while I have no problem with Zetian being an unreliable narrator who is caught up in her own experiences and emotions and the limited information she has, I don’t think the narrative does a good enough job of treating her as one. On the contrary, it often feels like the book is trying to present the protagonist’s truth as the One Actual Truth, and I think the book grows weaker for that. It would have been great to have more layers to the world and the characters surrounding Zetian, to have them all display traits, qualities, etc that don’t neatly tie into Zetian’s narrative. It’s a tricky thing to achieve for sure when you’re writing in first person POV and your protagonist is an angry teenager, and I empathize with the difficulty of the task, but the absence of these layers kind of made the story start falling apart for me at some point.

What still kept me reading, though, was that anger that I keep mentioning—so relatable and so well-portrayed. I’ve seen reviews that mentioned how it’s strange that Zetian is so angry at the patriarchy yet doesn’t bond with the women around her, instead looking down on them. And I absolutely get where this opinion is coming from, but also, the way I see it, she’s in this place where she’s just so terribly angry at the oppression. She explicitly recognizes that other women—like her grandmother who broke her feet in the name of disabling beauty standards, or her mother who’s been brought down by her marriage yet considers it a pinnacle of happiness to see her daughter also married of, or the girls who act content with their lot in life—are victims of the system she hates. But the ugly thing about systems of oppression is that they turn their victims into accomplices, and when you get infuriated enough at the system, you turn your rage on everyone who upholds it, whether they do it because they want to, because they can, or because the system itself makes them to do. You just rage and want to burn the entire system down. It’s not fair. It’s not just. It’s how it is. I’ve spent almost three years feeling that type of anger every waking moment, even if it’s aimed at a different sort of evil, and it’s been incredibly validating to read a book full of it. I feel seen. I also feel both sad and happy that I don’t have a magical mecha.

This is the mist PERFECT book I’ve ever read. I bought it on a whim because it looked interesting and I would have NEVER guessed it could be this spectacular. The writing was so incredibly satisfying, it never made me feel stupid or stuck and was SO engaging.

Reading this felt like watching a movie. The battle scenes were incredible and intense for literally being words on paper. It is on PAR with actual movies with how dramatic it is.

The plot in this had me HOOKED. Everything felt deliberate and so genius, there was never a part in the book where I was particularly confused about what was happening.

This was the most articulate and impactful representations of a Male dominant world and every thing that the Main character did I rooted for.

TRIANGLES ARE INDEED THE STRONGEST SHAPE!!!

“A primal scream of a book” is a very apt tagline, for better and for worse.  Zhao’s great achievement in Iron Widow is a raw, ferocious current of feminist rage, sustained by shocking plot twists and vivid action sequences.  Genuinely tender moments thread a surprising love arc through otherwise dark scenes.

However, for me the book was weighed down by excessive brutality, surprisingly immature dialogue, and at-times clumsy plot advancements.  The cruelty of the novel’s world makes it impossible not to root for the title character, yet the conclusion Zetian reaches as her revenge fantasy reaches its fever pitch —   “the world does not deserve my respect… kindness or compassion” — abandons speculative fiction’s potential to inspire.  From a serious standpoint, the story paints a grim portrait of a woman consumed by her own rage in a seemingly endless fight against injustice.  For readers able to take the book less seriously, it may provide a cathartic release valve in the form of a sensational, unpredictable bloodbath.

Reminded me strongly of The Hunger Games and Ender’s Game.

I sat down to read a couple chapters of this book and I accidentally stayed up all night reading it. Totally worth it. Great characters, interesting plots, feminine rage, supportive friendships, giant robots, vengeance, and a great conclusion to the first book of the series. This book has a bit of spiciness between certain characters which I did not expect but was delighted by in such an intense and blood-thirsty story. Read only if you want to have a great time but head the content warnings. 

I don’t know exactly what I was expecting when I picked up this book but HOLY SHIT🤯  It blew my mind.  It was such a huge undertaking of a book in that I feel like, while we could nitpick character arcs and plot rhythm, the scope of the book was, to me at least, very focused on the undertaking of exposing the evils of empire, and of the consequences of peoples and groups of peoples too long oppressed, and the way that systems of oppression harm EVERYONE.  

I really appreciate the way Xiran captures this

especially in the way that men are shown to be being lied to, fooled, and used by the powers that be, too.  Especially with them being ‘tributes’ once they reach a certain age.  Also in the way that many of the male pilots don’t want to hurt their female co-pilots and yet do because they have bought the lies, but then also live with the guilt because they don’t realize the whole thing is totally rigged.  It’s deep and feels so chillingly close to our own realities

.   

While there’s SO much more to say about anti-colonialism/empire, sexism, gender based violence and oppression, and propaganda, this was a fantastic beginning.  I feel like the soul of the book is Zetian fighting back for all those who can’t anymore, and to make sure that those to in future generations don’t face the same abuse, violence, and oppression that she and all those before have had to. 

On a lighter note

MY THROUPLE BETTER MAKE IT DAMMIT!!!  They’ve been through enough, I want them to rule the world as a throuple - Zetian, Yizhi, and Shimin just need to be okay at the end of this. 😭😭❤️‍🩹

 

I appreciate the stage that was set in this book, and I am simultaneously terrified and excited for book two, and to see the next level of these discussions.  
I really haven’t properly captured this book because I am still processing it, and will be for some time to come.  10/10 would recommend.  I will be tagging some content warnings below, although the author also provides them in the beginning of the book.  Definitely read this one when you’re feeling stalwart because it’s some heavy themes but well handled and important. 🙌🏽  
Okay, gonna go preorder Heavenly Tyrant now…😉