“If I were a boy, I’d be living a dream. I could fight mecha-aliens in my own giant transforming war machine, be loved and praised as a celebrity, and be serviced by a watchtower full of concubines. But I’m not a boy […]”

Wu Zetian has just one wish: enlist to become a concubine pilot of a Chrysalis. These mecha war machines are designed to battle earths intruders, the Hunduns. Regrettably women rarely survive these battles. The risk of dying doesn’t bother Zetian as she’s out for revenge for the murder of her sister.

Unfortunately this book felt mediocre. Iron Widow has been hyped a lot and I’ve seen raving reviews. It was supposed to be the next young adult masterpiece; a sci-fi resembling the Handmaids Tale combined with Pacific Rim.
And yes, I can see the resemblance, but beside the story, which is fast paced, action packed and has a lot of interesting plot twists, this lacked a few important elements for me to be a masterpiece. It missed a layered world building as did the time period it took place in. It gave only minimal explanation of how the world came to be, minimal clarification on these mecha war machines, the war at hand or even on the intruders.
On the whole I did like the book to a certain degree. I definitely loved the disability rep., was in love with the strong feministic approach and loved that the author illustrated how misogyny is the real villain. The ending really pulled it all together with a plot twist of magnitude you cannot comprehend.
However as I couldn’t get a grip on the world it self it lost me half way.

TW: domestic violence, suicide, addiction, sexual assault, torture