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A review by porshea
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content warning: graphic foot binding and other mentions of bodily harm; familial abuse; abuse of power
I’m just gonna say it: I love revenge. Like seriously, 😍 justice-fulfilling revenge. If that vengeance narrative is led by a confident woman who makes the world better by a stabby stab here or there, you can sign me up! Which is why when I heard the premise of Xiran Jay Zhao’s Iron Widow late in 2020, my levels of excitement and anticipation hit their peaks.
Funnily enough, looking forward to this book is counter to the emotional detachment that Iron Widow’s main character, Zeitan, feels for herself or those around her. As we start the book, Zeitan looks forward to one thing only, her impending conscription into her world’s mecha-based military. Far from patriotic, Zeitan has one mission in mind: kill the army’s golden boy just like he murdered her older sister. Of course, once she gets on the inside, she finds that achieving her primary objective is not enough. Deciding that she must make the world better for all women who have faced similar levels of familial and national mistreatment wherein patriarchal values uphold brutal measures of foot binding, domestic violence, and no real freedoms for those assigned female at birth. Zeitan quells her distaste for the system by trying to work within it to keep young women from being murdered without remorse in the brutal mecha conditions they are forced to endure. To do this, she must make alliances with the most unlikely of people: those who already benefit from this deadly world order.
Read more here: https://blackgirlscreate.org/2021/09/the-plot-thickens-iron-widow/
I’m just gonna say it: I love revenge. Like seriously, 😍 justice-fulfilling revenge. If that vengeance narrative is led by a confident woman who makes the world better by a stabby stab here or there, you can sign me up! Which is why when I heard the premise of Xiran Jay Zhao’s Iron Widow late in 2020, my levels of excitement and anticipation hit their peaks.
Funnily enough, looking forward to this book is counter to the emotional detachment that Iron Widow’s main character, Zeitan, feels for herself or those around her. As we start the book, Zeitan looks forward to one thing only, her impending conscription into her world’s mecha-based military. Far from patriotic, Zeitan has one mission in mind: kill the army’s golden boy just like he murdered her older sister. Of course, once she gets on the inside, she finds that achieving her primary objective is not enough. Deciding that she must make the world better for all women who have faced similar levels of familial and national mistreatment wherein patriarchal values uphold brutal measures of foot binding, domestic violence, and no real freedoms for those assigned female at birth. Zeitan quells her distaste for the system by trying to work within it to keep young women from being murdered without remorse in the brutal mecha conditions they are forced to endure. To do this, she must make alliances with the most unlikely of people: those who already benefit from this deadly world order.
Read more here: https://blackgirlscreate.org/2021/09/the-plot-thickens-iron-widow/
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Torture, Violence, and War