Book Review: Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book right here…OMG. I felt like I just got done reading a two season anime and I want the third one. This book was so good that I almost cried because of how good it was. Even though this book is a retelling and reimaging of the life of Wu Zeitan, this was very well done. Polyamory relationship between Zeitan, Shimin and Yizhi? Beautiful. The most beautiful thing I”ve ever read in my life. Because I need more of this book, and if its a series, I’m going to buy the second book and read it immediately because holy shit this book was SO GOOD.

Like I said in the beginning, this book is the reimagined life of Wu Zeitan, the Chinese Empress that lived in the seventh century of China, but with mechas. Zeitan wants revenge on the pilot of the Nine-Tailed Fox, Yang Guang, who had murdered her sister, and she does, thanks to her family who practically sold her to be a concubine-pilot to the pilot of the Chryaslises they had. First night from being alone with Yang Guang, she went into the Nine-Tailed Fox and helped him fight the Hunduns. Once she got into the cockpit and went inside his mind jungle, she saw Yang Guang do horrible things to females and decided to turn around and kill him, thus taking over the Nine Tailed Fox and finished off the Hunduns. When the cockpit opened, she stepped out and yelled into the crowd, Welcome to your Nightmare!

Soon, Zeitan is in chains and is brought in front of Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang, and was also given the name Iron Widow. She is partnered up with the pilot of the Vermillion Bird, Li Shimin, also known as the Iron Demon, and found out that this so called “Iron Demon” was nothing more than a nineteen year old boy who was getting alcohol abused by the army so they don’t have to deal with his emotions, a boy who went to school and wrote beautiful calligraphy and had studied while he was fighting, thus fucking up his eyesight. And he’s a tall-ass teddy bear, thus my nickname for him ‘Iron Teddy Bear’, and he felt so much guilt for killing his concubine-pilot, Wende and the girls. Then Yizhi got into the mix, and everything felt so much better…

UNTIL THE ENDING.

XIRAN, IF YOUR READING THIS, I WANT TO DUEL YOU FOR SHIMIN’S SOUL (and then lose because I haven’t played Yu-Gi-Oh! In a long-ass time). That ending with stick with me for a long time, because yes, finally, Zeitan is showing the world that girls can control the Chrysalis and beat the Hunduns, and that the yin and yang didn’t matter which seat the boy and the girl was in. BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO MY SHIMIN…I WANTED TO PROTECT HIM AS MUCH AS I CAN. But noooo, he just turned around and is now the Metal Emperor (I think…because I’m trying to figure it out if its really him or not) and now I’m worried. I don’t want nothing happening to Shimin and I hope Zeitan and Yizhi figure out how to save him…

Along I don’t care about the bloody Tortoise anymore. I did for a minute, then they did that to the bird and I hated them.

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