The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.
When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.
To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.
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My Review Of Iron Widow
“Welcome to your nightmare.”
I. Love. Feminine. Rage. Good. Lord.
This is the first time I’ve listened to an audiobook, and I loved it; it added so much to the emotions being portrayed and how the MC felt. Right away, you know how oppressed these women feel, and you get to see that – there’s a perfect balance of show and tell. The unique romance is fantastic. I loved seeing the representation throughout the book of not needing to fit how you love into a box. They were action-packed and fast-paced and had me rooting for all of them. All the characters felt complex, and our MC had a defined motivation that grew and changed with her. The ending had me on the edge of my seat (and crying like a baby whosaidthat). Excuse me while I stare at a wall until December 24th 🥴🤭
Would I Recommend Iron Widow
Absolutely. This book has a strong main character with even stronger ambitions and motivations. We see her wants to change throughout the book as she learns more. There’s a unique romance. This book had great pacing; I was always in between learning more or being action-packed. This is it if you love a fast-paced fantasy with a sprinkle of romance and excellent world-building. I’ll be reading book #2 in December.
The Author
I’m a 20-something first-gen immigrant from small-town China who was raised by the Internet. I graduated from Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University with a biochemical disease research degree, but because I got dumped out at the height of the first COVID wave and couldn’t go hunting for jobs actually related to my studies, I wrote books and spewed my opinions about various media on the Internet instead, and now I’m a YouTuber and ?? #1 New York Times bestselling author ?? What even
Anyway the books I write are mostly sci-fi & fantasy and rooted deeply in Chinese history and mythology. You can check out more about them using the tabs on this website. For a more “proper” bio about me, the kind written pretentiously in third person, please go to my Press Kit.
