The main trio reminds me a bit of Rin, Nezha, and Kitay from The Poppy War but somehow 10 times more chaotic...

Iron Widow is an action-packed YA novel that blends fantasy and sci-fi elements with a story of female rage. I've seen a lot of reviews complaining that it claims to champion feminism but depicts it instead as "overly violent" or stereotypical, but I thought it did well at picking out how deeply ingrained sexism can be in society. I also think it focused more on discussing gender roles as a whole than specifically feminism, especially with Zetian's inner monologue regarding the way gender is perceived. The criticisms regarding a lack of worldbuilding feel more warranted, and I agree that I don't think I fully understood the reasoning behind the war against the Hunduns (or what they were) or how the Chrysalises actually worked. That being said, I was more than willing to just be suspended in the vibes of the story, and I'm hoping that, given the ending of this book, we'll get a bit more worldbuilding/explanation in book 2.
After Zetian's sister is killed by a male pilot of one of the giant robots that defend the country, she swears revenge and manages to assassinate him, leaving her as an "Iron Widow" that needs to be controlled by another, more powerful pilot: Li Shimin. This book was very fast-paced, but a lot of this can be attributed to the skipping of training/development scenes. On one hand, I'm glad the plot wasn't bogged down too much by training scenes that kind of feel repetitive given the genre, but I also understand that the ending may feel a bit more unrealistic due to this. I also wish (as I said before) that there was just a little bit more attention given to worldbuilding beyond the gender roles of society. I found the commentary to be well-written and I liked the "female rage" vibes of the story. The ending plot twist was predictable in my opinion, but I've read enough books from the genre to anticipate it at this point. I am super excited for book two because I really enjoyed this one and probably could have read it in one sitting.
The cast of characters was super entertaining as well. Zetian is an incredibly strong protagonist and I enjoyed seeing her overcome her upbringing, her physical disability, and the men who think she's weak. I've seen reviews saying it's clear the author wants us to love her, and while I think that's true, I think her flaws are still visible and impact the story, though I'm interested in seeing her develop more in book two. I surprisingly really liked Shimin, though I didn't think I would at first. I think it's just the backstory, but I also liked how he interacted with Zetian and how they complemented each other's wrath. Yizhi took me a bit longer to get used to (and he's still not my favorite), but I think I just disregarded him after his initial appearance, and when he reappeared, I kind of just assumed he'd leave again. Now that I know his role in the story, I'm hoping I like him more in book two. I didn't really love any of the side characters, but I think many of the antagonists were appropriately hateable.
Iron Widow is a YA SFF novel brimming with female rage and action-packed battles, perfect for fans of The Poppy War and Of Jade and Dragons.

4.25/5