Reviews

DNF after 53%
The atmosphere of this book was just not for me. Plus the ployamourous subplot throws me off.
This was an anticipated release and I'm so sad to be discarding this as a dnf. But a reader's gotta do what a reader's got to do in order to keep reader's slump at bay...

holsta's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

about to go into a book vlog rant now

ro_mantic's review against another edition

Go to review page

fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

i crushed this book in one day — the pacing and the writing read a bit like fanfiction but i could not put it down

aquaphor's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

booksbydann's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

gabireads13's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous tense medium-paced

Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

romeri's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

ABSOLUTE BANGER

As a literature student who mainly reads literary fiction, I did not expect to like a YA. As a Chinese person who grew up in Chinese culture, I did not expect to like an English Wu Zetian reimagining. Had I not ran into a signed copy in a second-hand book store, I wouldn’t have picked it up at all.

My joy in reading this mostly derived from its references to Chinese history, such as historical figures like Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi. I savoured the Chinese culture embedded in the book, and was amazed at how Zhao weaves it all together in a futuristic setting. It is such a witty and innovative way to play with the vastness of Chinese history. I felt like I was in an elaborate inside joke with a friend, with my culture, and it feels fucking amazing.

For a spoiler-free review I suggest you read this one: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/pkzfkk/a_chinese_persons_review_of_iron_widow_by_xiran/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

<<<SPOILERS AHEAD>>>

Iron Widow defies my expectations over and over.

At first I thought there is some underlying internalised misogyny in the book. This is especially when Zetian remarks,

“I was such a fool to have assumed Qieluo would stand by me just because she’s also female.” (210)

But then I realised the book is perfectly aware of Zetian’s internalised misogyny and shows her to learn to appreciate other women despite them making different choices in life than her.
Through Xiuying, she learns to understand how other women can be bound by their families, and accepts her suggestion of “a little compassion goes a long way” (292), and she even thinks,

“I want to be at least halfway happy, like Xiuying.” (298)

Xiuying and Qieluo represent two different types of women in a patriarchy — I appreciate how the book does not disapprove of either of them, and shows both of them to be strong. While they’re also complex people instead of mere allegories.
Qieluo might be one of my favourite characters in the story. As a human, she has her flaws and a lot of internalised misogyny. Yet she is also truthful and unapologetic. Overtime, she sees past her prejudices towards Zetian and respects her, going out of her way to advise her. There even is a loving comradeship alongside rivalry between the two.

“You know, there’s a kind of predator that disguised itself as prey. That’s the most dangerous kind to people like us.”
“People like us?”
“People who refuse to break under any number of loud words, but crumple as soon as someone touches us gently or speaks to us softly.” (295)

Qieluo may be mean but her reacting shockingly to Zhu Yuanzhang calling Zetian and Shimin “barbarians” (285) shows that her has her morals.

“Unexpectedly, Qieluo taps Shimin’s elbow.
‘Chin up, Khan,” she mutters, softer and milder than before,”

Qieluo is racialised just like Shimin, and there is a loving comradeship between them too. From holding a knife to Yang Jian in demand of his loyalty (207) to this, she is spirited and fierce but also soft — she is, as we would say in Chinese, 剛烈, 敢愛敢恨. In the end, it is her and the White Tiger that Zetian ends up relying on in the battle. It is her, sincere like an old friend even after Zetian just roamed Chang’an in a revived Yellow Dragon with Qin Cheng — her sarcasm and sass unchanged,

“I’m serious! … literally, it materialised in thin air!” (389)

I saw some other reviews saying that the book lacks female characters, that they are mostly antagonists to Zetian — I’d like to point out that they are actually rivals with loving comradeships. The book’s women characters and their relationships with each other are complex, and Iron Widow definitely does them justice.

I appreciate the book’s representation of racialised people.

“I’d still have to be the right kind of boy. That’s probably something you have to watch out for if you’re getting a wish granted by some spirit. ‘Make me a boy!’ Bam. I get turned into a big, buff Rongdi. Everyone’s so scared of me that they’d rather chase me to the wilds. I can’t get anything done.” (166)

It is so easy and common to conveniently write racism out of Chinese literature and culture, and the book exceeds my expectations in this regard.

I appreciate that Zetian, being the unapologetically fierce character that she is, learns to forgive. When Zetian tells Shimin that he could’ve let them kill him, when she expresses guilt for surviving the pilot system that builds on exploiting girls, I thought the book places too much weight on individual decisions that it is blinded of our helplessness in the world’s systems. However, I am pleased to see Zetian realise it is the systems instead of the individuals to blame, to see her learn to forgive and compromise.

“You didn’t do nothing. You were still fighting for Huaxia. And it’s not wrong to want to live, in any circumstances. Sorry that I ever … implied otherwise. I didn’t value my own life back then.” (315)

Zetian’s realising what Shimin actually went through and regretting her attitude towards him reminds me that we never know what another person is going through, and hence should always be forgiving.
When telling Qin Zheng that Zhou fell,

“You don’t have to be sorry, it wasn’t your fault you got sick,” (367)

is also what she wishes she could’ve said to Shimin. It shows a kind of maturity, a kind and forgiving quality fresh to her character.

I appreciate how Iron Widow points fingers at systems instead of people. This is a story of someone who keeps unearthing and battling lies, wrecking the systems she’s born into — it is exactly what we need in this generation.

“Not for the first time, I question if being born inside Huaxia was as lucky as everyone claimed it was. If I’d been born to these left-behind Zhou folk instead, I could’ve been raised by this stunning, unbound woman. How different would I be as a person?” (361)

It’s cool to see its world-building has women systematically disadvantaged by the yin/yang seat’s structure, but then I’m so pleasantly surprised to see the characters find out they’re the colonisers??

“Zetian, it’s all a lie! Everything’s a lie!”
I blink. “I know—“
“No, it’s nothing about the pilot system! It’s the planet! This isn’t our planet!” (390)

I am so happy to see a book based on Chinese history and culture so blatantly defy nationalism, a theme that perpetrates Chinese literature so much that I grew up taking it as a default value.
It is also refreshing because retellings of Wu Zetian usually portrays her either as a perfect Mary Sue or a heartless person extremely thirsty for power. Iron Widow does a great job rationalising her ultimate cease of power (realising it’s a broken system + personal rage & grief). For an emperor-becoming story, I don’t see how I can like the plot other than this.

I love Iron Widow’s characters for their moral greyness. I remember Xiran Jay Zhao saying something along the lines of “this is the first and only female emperor in Chinese history — how do you think she got to that position? By being nice?” Wu Zetian’s journey is not bloodless in history or the book. From the view of an outsider, she may seem batshit crazy and heartless, but her narration reveals her to be really a fervent yet tender soul, one full of love — yes, love. The book never puts it that way but I think it is love that motivates the characters. Not only Zetian, Shimin and Yizhi’s love for one another, but also Zetian’s love for the innocence, for all the women who are suffering like her — this is why she is so ready to question and understand when the Emperor Hundun speaks with innocence and love, this is why she is able to wreck an ever-lying system.

I look forward to the sequel though I’m a little concerned for where the story’s going. I really hope Zetian’s total disregard for this world in the end is just a temporary blindness caused by grief and rage — her character development has come so far!
Wu Zetian’s Zhou Dynasty didn’t make it past her lifetime — she was her own rise and downfall, and her legacy lies in the wordless headstone that continues to perplex centuries of generations after.
What I want to see, I guess, is her becoming the monster she is fighting and realising that the hard way — perhaps my take is a little too tragic?
I look forward to what Xiran Jay Zhao will surprise me with.

“It takes a monster to slay a monster.” (102)

Content Warnings

More...