Jefferson County Library: Iron Widow By Xiran Jay Zhao

Press release from the Jefferson County Library:

Julia Johns

October 31, 2021

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao - 400 pages"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." This is a standard YA fantasy book, expect for the fact that it's technically sci-fi. It's fast-paced and mostly plot-driven with decent characters, so I was able to read it in just a few days. And that should have be that. However, the last 30 or so pages were so unexpected and exciting that it completely changed my opinion. This is going to be a duology, and I'll absolutely be reading the next book.

This press release was produced by the Jefferson County Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.