Xiran Jay Zhao's gripping debut novel introduces readers to Huaxia, a world inspired by historical China, where Chrysalises--giant mecha suits modeled off mythical creatures--battle alien invaders. Young men pilot the Chrysalises with female "concubine-pilots," usually "consuming the girls' [mind] and killing her" in the process. After a Chrysalis pilot murders her sister, 18-year-old Zetian seeks revenge by offering herself up as a concubine. Zetian then shocks the world when she kills her male pilot through their mental link, revealing herself to be a rare and deadly Iron Widow. Huaxia's government pairs Zetian up with Li Shimin, a powerful yet controversial pilot, to control her abilities. But Zetian has other plans: "Justice. Change. Vengeance. Power."
Iron Widow is an exciting, action-packed sci-fi story and a scathing indictment of patriarchal culture. Zetian is a ruthless yet sympathetic antiheroine whose determination to overturn the status quo, where women are "born to be used and discarded," will earn readers' compassion. -- Alanna Felton, freelance reviewer