Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Whenever I read a book and review it, I never go past a four and a half stars because, to me, the perfect book doesn’t exist. I’m changing that now because I genuinely think that Iron Widow is a perfect book.
Iron Widow is the perfect science fiction and East Asian mythological combo tale. We look through the eyes of 18-year-old Wu Zetian and share her endeavours towards abolishing the patriarchy and the deadly gender roles present in the setting of Huaxia. Wu Zetian’s is driven to avenge her older sister’s death at the hands of a man who wanted her power. In Huaxia, young girls are put to death in order for their male counterparts to gain power so as to be able fight the aliens over the wall. Wu Zetian plans to not only get revenge but to defeat every enactment of misogyny in a literal, physical sense and by breaking the societal norms.
Iron Widow contains representations from a myriad of different minorities, from the Chinese-coded cast and setting, to the disabled and bisexual main character, Zetian, the presence of multiple bisexual main characters, and a polyamory pairing between Wu Zetian, Li Shimin and Gao Yizhi (who is my personal favourite in this book). There are complex storylines and characters, in a story in which nothing is black and white.
This novel is truly, as E K Johnston described it, ‘a primal scream of a book’. It is a story I will read over and over again. My favourite line in this novel is ‘… love isn’t some scarce resource to battle over. Love can be infinite, as much as your heart can open.’ If that doesn’t make you want to read it, I don’t know what will.
Reviewed by Audrey, Year 12
Cerdon College, Merrylands NSW