Review: Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

I think it’s only fitting that my first review of 2025 is a review of Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao, a book full of female rage. Especially with the current state of US politics.

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Summary

Iron Widow was inspired by the life of China’s first and only empress. In Iron Widow, a wall separates the Hunduns – an alien race – from the people of Huaxa. Unsurprisingly, these groups do not get along. The Huaxa people developed a pilot system in which pilots are paired with female manoeuver chrysalises – giant robots designed to fight the Hunduns. This arrangement almost always ends with the death of the female concubine. 

Zetian’s older sister was one of the girls who served as a concubine and died in battle with her male pilot. So Zetian does the only thing she deems reasonable: she volunteers to be a concubine for the same pilot. She plans to go down and take him with her. Nobody expects Zetian to survive the battle. Zetain doesn’t expect to survive. But she does and manages to kill the pilot through the psychic link created in the cockpit of the chrysalis.

So Zetian is paired with Li Shimin – a different, more ruthless pilot.  

Iron Widow follows Zetian as she and Li Shimin decide they want to change the system. Eventually, Zetian’s childhood friend, Gao Yizhi, joins them. The three of them enter into a secret polyamorous relationship and work together to take down the system that systematically kills girls.

Thoughts

Zetian is angry – and understandably so. Her family bound her feet at a young age and made it clear that her worth was in the money they’d receive when she either married or became a pilot system. Those seem to have been her only options in life. And let’s not forget that the pilot system is a fucked up system rigged against the concubines. Girls like Zetian’s sister are set up to die a horrific death and no one seems to care. Not Zetian’s family – who had to know this was a possibility. Not the powers that be.

I think we can all agree that Zetian has every reason to be angry. 

Feminism is a process

Some reviewers of Iron Widow complain that Zetain is just angry. They argue that Zetain lacks nuance; she’s angry at the beginning of Iron Widow and she’s still angry at the end of Zhao’s novel. How can Zetain be a feminist who cares about the well-being of female pilots? 

What I keep coming back to is that Iron Widow is the first book in a series. When we meet Zetain, she is a teenager. I don’t expect a teenager to have a fully fleshed-out idea of what feminism is. I certainly didn’t when I was her age. Hell, I’m in my 40s. I’d like to think that my understanding of feminism has grown and improved as I’ve gotten older, but I also recognize that I’m still learning. 

My point here is that Zetain’s story isn’t over yet. Before I decide how I feel about the trajectory of Zetain as a character, I want to read what happens next. I want to know how Zetain grows and evolves over the course of the Iron Widow series – if she grows and evolves. There is plenty of room for character development over the rest of Zhao’s series. 

We get a lot of fiction that deals with male rage. I want to see more stories about female rage.

I’m intrigued by a morally gray character who doesn’t have her feminist ideology figured out.

Plus, keep in mind that Iron Widow is inspired by the life of an empress. I’m pretty sure people don’t obtain positions of power by always being nice to everyone. Zhao even addressed this point on their TikTok:

Her own kind of relationship

Another thing that I want to emphasize about Iron Widow is that Zetain finds herself in a polyamorous relationship with two men. I personally find this to be a refreshing alternative to the love triangles that can pop up in YA fiction. 

You can see Zhao address this here. And I agree with them – if you have two people pinning after the same person, that’s no a love triangle. That’s a love angle.

I’d love to see more polyamorous relationships.

Disability representation

As a child, Zetain had her feet bound by her family. As a result, she is often found using a wheelchair to get around. This certainly influences Zetain as a character. I wanted to highlight this fact because I think disability representation in books is important.

I’m looking forward to seeing where the Iron Widow series takes us.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.

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Updated: Feb 21, 2025 @ 9:29 pm