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Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
Genre: YA science fiction
Content warnings: Suicidal ideation, violent misogyny, racism, body mutilation (foot binding), violence, mention of rape (non-graphic)
Overall, I loved this.
I'm not always the biggest fan of feminist SFF—not because of feminist messaging itself, but because my own relationship to my gender is complicated. But I felt like Xiran Jay Zhao did an excellent job balancing a feminist story with at least the contemplation that trans/nonbinary individuals could exist as well as the message that gender norms are all artificial, anyway.
I adored the mecha battles in this story—I'm a huge fan of Pacific Rim and anime, so that was a foregone conclusion. I also loved the way the story delved into the celebrity culture around Chrysalis pilots, and the twists were so good. Wu Zetian and her two love interests are all sympathetic but also morally gray protagonists, and I applaud the author for committing to writing a protagonist who does morally questionable things and doesn't regret them.
I do have a few quibbles with the story. One is that I thought the prologue, written in third person, wasn't written as well as the rest of the book, which was in first person. It felt weirdly distant and encyclopedic, and I was left scratching my head when the narrative style of the rest of the book was just fine. I hope it's not a case of an author who is worse at writing third person than first person POVs, or maybe the author will be able to improve in the future.
Another was that it would've been nice if Wu Zetian had any female friends, because every other female character in the book seemed either meekly complicit in upholding the patriarchy or a Mean Girl who doesn't like Zetian. I have some hopes that Zetian might be able to bond with another female character in the sequel, but we'll see.
Finally, I do wonder a bit about the author's choices regarding reinterpreting Chinese history. The world of Huaxia in Iron Widow is extremely misogynistic, which yes, is the point of the book, but the author also cherry-picked some of the most misogynistic practices from Chinese history. For example, the real-life Wu Zetian did not live during the time period when Chinese women bound their feet, and I worry a bit about white people coming away from this book with an oversimplified view of sexism in China. (I've already seen one white reviewer say "foot binding was practiced throughout all of Chinese history" which........cringe, because that is absolutely NOT true.) Plus, the real-life Wu Zetian was a bit unusual in that her father educated her during a time when Chinese women were rarely educated, which definitely contributed to her later success. But Wu Zetian in Iron Widow comes from an abusive, misogynistic family. It might have answered the critique some people had of the book, regarding why Wu Zetian seems so uber-feminist when she comes from an abusive and misogynistic family, if the author kept the point that feminist figures in history are often privileged in other ways (namely, class and education). Not that I necessarily agree with that critique—do people think every radical figure needs to have a mentor before they develop their radical ideas? But, just saying.
I wanted to do something a bit unusual, which is to address other reviews of this book.
It bothers me, a LOT, that I've seen a number of negative reviews say they "expected so much more" from this book. My question is: Why? Because in a vacuum, this sounds like upholding the idea that BIPOC writers need to write genius literary masterpieces in order to garner any praise.
And that's problematic.
I thought Iron Widow was a fun, commercial book that has some thought-provoking exploration of misogyny and gender norms. But even if a Chinese diaspora author wanted to write a book that was the literary equivalent of the Transformers movies—giant robots smashing into aliens and nothing else—so what? Why do BIPOC authors have to write something flawless and deeply intellectual in order to be taken seriously?
Also, I'm used to seeing reviews for books that are straight-up false and misleading about the content of the book, but I feel like I've seen more of these kinds of reviews for Iron Widow, and that baffles me. Like people saying the polyamorous romance in the book is entirely instalove...when Wu Zetian and Li Shimin don't even get together until the 70% or 80% mark. Or people saying Gao Yizhi's actions didn't make sense, even though they were foreshadowed in the third or fourth chapter of the book. Like...come on, people. Are you even paying attention to the book at all???
Genre: YA science fiction
Content warnings: Suicidal ideation, violent misogyny, racism, body mutilation (foot binding), violence, mention of rape (non-graphic)
Overall, I loved this.
I'm not always the biggest fan of feminist SFF—not because of feminist messaging itself, but because my own relationship to my gender is complicated. But I felt like Xiran Jay Zhao did an excellent job balancing a feminist story with at least the contemplation that trans/nonbinary individuals could exist as well as the message that gender norms are all artificial, anyway.
I adored the mecha battles in this story—I'm a huge fan of Pacific Rim and anime, so that was a foregone conclusion. I also loved the way the story delved into the celebrity culture around Chrysalis pilots, and the twists were so good. Wu Zetian and her two love interests are all sympathetic but also morally gray protagonists, and I applaud the author for committing to writing a protagonist who does morally questionable things and doesn't regret them.
I do have a few quibbles with the story. One is that I thought the prologue, written in third person, wasn't written as well as the rest of the book, which was in first person. It felt weirdly distant and encyclopedic, and I was left scratching my head when the narrative style of the rest of the book was just fine. I hope it's not a case of an author who is worse at writing third person than first person POVs, or maybe the author will be able to improve in the future.
Another was that it would've been nice if Wu Zetian had any female friends, because every other female character in the book seemed either meekly complicit in upholding the patriarchy or a Mean Girl who doesn't like Zetian. I have some hopes that Zetian might be able to bond with another female character in the sequel, but we'll see.
Finally, I do wonder a bit about the author's choices regarding reinterpreting Chinese history. The world of Huaxia in Iron Widow is extremely misogynistic, which yes, is the point of the book, but the author also cherry-picked some of the most misogynistic practices from Chinese history. For example, the real-life Wu Zetian did not live during the time period when Chinese women bound their feet, and I worry a bit about white people coming away from this book with an oversimplified view of sexism in China. (I've already seen one white reviewer say "foot binding was practiced throughout all of Chinese history" which........cringe, because that is absolutely NOT true.) Plus, the real-life Wu Zetian was a bit unusual in that her father educated her during a time when Chinese women were rarely educated, which definitely contributed to her later success. But Wu Zetian in Iron Widow comes from an abusive, misogynistic family. It might have answered the critique some people had of the book, regarding why Wu Zetian seems so uber-feminist when she comes from an abusive and misogynistic family, if the author kept the point that feminist figures in history are often privileged in other ways (namely, class and education). Not that I necessarily agree with that critique—do people think every radical figure needs to have a mentor before they develop their radical ideas? But, just saying.
I wanted to do something a bit unusual, which is to address other reviews of this book.
It bothers me, a LOT, that I've seen a number of negative reviews say they "expected so much more" from this book. My question is: Why? Because in a vacuum, this sounds like upholding the idea that BIPOC writers need to write genius literary masterpieces in order to garner any praise.
And that's problematic.
I thought Iron Widow was a fun, commercial book that has some thought-provoking exploration of misogyny and gender norms. But even if a Chinese diaspora author wanted to write a book that was the literary equivalent of the Transformers movies—giant robots smashing into aliens and nothing else—so what? Why do BIPOC authors have to write something flawless and deeply intellectual in order to be taken seriously?
Also, I'm used to seeing reviews for books that are straight-up false and misleading about the content of the book, but I feel like I've seen more of these kinds of reviews for Iron Widow, and that baffles me. Like people saying the polyamorous romance in the book is entirely instalove...when Wu Zetian and Li Shimin don't even get together until the 70% or 80% mark. Or people saying Gao Yizhi's actions didn't make sense, even though they were foreshadowed in the third or fourth chapter of the book. Like...come on, people. Are you even paying attention to the book at all???
