Thank you for Penguin Teen and NetGalley for providing this book as a digital galley in exchange for an honest review.
One-Sentence Summary:
Wu Zetian’s successful revenge plot results in higher stakes than she imagined in this sci-fi book inspired by Chinese history.
My Review:
Oh. My. Gosh.
HOW DO YOU GIVE A BOOK MORE THAN FIVE STARS???
First of all, unlikeable female protagonist alert. I’ve never really understood that term though: Zetian is extremely murderous and I LOVE her for it. This entire book is taking down the patriarchy, but, like, literally, she murders a bunch of people. Like. That’s how it’s done. Also, Iron Widow has got to be the coolest title ever, for the book and for Zetian.
Obviously there was a lot of sexism in this book since it’s kind of half of the point, but Zetian is never portrayed as weak, even when she relies on other people. Shoutout to the author for “resolving” the love triangle how she did, I was not prepared to make a choice (the characters are poly, you can read more about the author’s decisions about that in her Goodreads review).
This book is inspired by Chinese history, which I’m not qualified to talk about, but it’s also a sci-fi/fantasy, which I’m quite familiar with. There was really complex, consistent world-building, and this might be the first sci-fi I haven’t been confused by in,,, too long.
I truly don’t know if this’ll be my favorite book of 2021, but it’s worth reading and all of you should!!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
The Fiction Feature 