Iron Widow was such a strangely refreshing read, in the fact that Zetian is unlike any other YA protagonist I’ve read so far. She, just like the prose and plot, is so brash and knows exactly what she wants. She tips the typical YA formula on its head. Instead of her being thrown into an unknown world and having to figure out where she fits, she dives into the unknown headfirst with a simple goal that she will go to the ends of the earth to achieve. I respect that so much about her character. By eliminating any passivity in her, the book benefits from having brutal, nonstop action.⁠
⁠
The supporting cast was a good foil to her as well, the other characters taking a more gentle approach to the world than she. Even so, their characterizations were not sacrificed. Every character had clear motivation. I loved that. And of course, one of the big selling points of this book was the polyamorous triad, which I did love, even though I do think we could have spent more time building up to it to make me truly believe in it.⁠
⁠
However, I just could not grasp how the magic/sci-fi elements worked in this book, and the worldbuilding felt rushed at times, especially at the very end of the book. I have a layman’s familiarity with the concept of qi, which could have been the problem. I am more familiar with Chinese history, and I think the fictionalization of true events was well done and very interesting, but that also wasn’t fleshed out enough for me. The final climax of the book involved a lot of world history that was only mentioned in passing earlier on, and was not elaborated on further after. I hope the worldbuilding is more of a focus in the second book, because I will be reading on in the series and would love to understand more.⁠
⁠
I would recommend this to anyone who may be getting bored of the YA genre. I guarantee Iron Widow will bring something new to the table for you.⁠