A review by humblebee20
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

5.0

A whirlwind of a book that I devoured in less than a week. While there were somethings I didn't love, I found myself head over heels for this book. I found myself desperately trying to find something similar. I'm not a huge mecha fan and yet this book made it work and had me invested from the first fight. The alluring concept is what really sold the book for me, and Zhao is a master at not letting things get too mushy or too much action without purpose. Everytime I thought things were slowing down, there was something crazy in the next chapter. I'm not a huge romance person and seeing a poly relationship was something that I found to be incredible, especially for a young adult novel. It's always nice to see more than just a cis-het relationship because boy and girl are there, so they must kiss. The characters have purpose and while they can be a little over the top at some points, the world is over the top to compensate and in an engaging way. Some of the prose felt a little amateur and I will admit some lines made me cringe a little, but the story more than made up for it all. The disability awareness through the foot binding of the main character was another excellent detail that never gets pushed to the side. Her feet are bound, and that means she can never walk properly. Most authors would never dare make a character with a disability that can't easily be fixed, especially for the main character. It was a breath of fresh air. My only qualms were the prose as previously mentioned and the one character who does have a fridge wife, but that's about it. A fun sci-fi read with a character who acyually gets stuff done, and isn't afraid of getting their hands dirty.