Iron Widow By Xiran Jay Zhao

Title: Iron Widow Author: Xiran Jay Zhao Series: Iron Widow: Book One Publisher: Penguin Teen

Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, LGBT

Format: Hardcover

Duration: 394

Date of Publication: September 21, 2021 My Rating: 5/5

Spice Level: 2/5

Synopsis (From Goodreads): 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.

My Thoughts:

Oh, my goodness, where to start?! Well, if you saw my rating, you know that I loved this book, but that doesn't quite describe the level that I LOVED slashed HATED this book, I'm pretty much borderline obsessive over this story. 😅

Let's just rip the band-aide off and start with why I hated this book. I absolutely, 100 percent eefing hated the government controlled stupid pilot system they had. I'm sure everyone who has read the book can agree too. It had major Handmaids Tale vibe to it, and I wanted to destroy everyone involved in the decision-making progress, that allowed young women to die, while the men would be hailed as heroes. F that with a capital F. I seriously wanted Zetian to destroy the whole freaking world. 😒😂

The other reason, I hated this book I can't say without ruining the story, but if you know you know. I will throw my book if this isn't fixed in the next book, I don't care how impossible it is. PLEASE just make it right again. 😭

Now to why I loved this story. Zetian. Zetian is a freaking badass and I want to be like her when I grow up. She has no F's to give and I absolutely love that. She's smart, sassy, and knows what she wants, and will even tell two guys hey this is how it's going to be. Omg, and I love the relationship the trio has, although I've been reading too many reverse harems lately because I wanted more from their relationship. 😂

Overall y'all need to read this book, I need the sequel to happen, I also need this to be made into a show and done properly I just need to live in their world for a little longer.