Book Review: Iron Widow
- Amazing Grace L. Danso
- Feb 3
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 27
Book Review: Iron Widow
Author: Xiran Jay Zhao 🇨🇳🇨🇦
Type of work (Genre): Fiction (dystopian)
Number of pages: 394
Own or Borrowed: own, purchased from The Word Playce Bookstore
Overall Impressions: Enjoyed it overall. A delightful FU to the patriarchy and systemic oppression. Zhao’s activism strongly came through in the story. That was a good thing albeit feeling a bit too preachy at times but I suspect it’s because I am in the activist space myself and am familiar with the language. So, seeing it presented in this art form took some getting used to. One thing that I loved was how Zhao made sure the lead character, a girl, was not very likeable. She was very mean and dark and that was a refreshing change of pace. I read in their acknowledgments at the end how they had to edit this book to make it less dark and wish their editors had allowed them to lean into the darkness fully. Also, I thoroughly enjoyed the pull from Chinese history and the glimpses we saw of Chinese culture. I wish I saw even more of it. The book was enjoyable from start but I felt it picked up pace in the very last part and chapters. I understand there are to be three books in the series and the second, Heavenly Tyrant, was just released. I look forward to reading it and hopefully getting some gaps filled and some questions answered.
Something that stood out: the female lead character. She was rebellious and defiant in very aspirational ways.
Overall Rating:🖋🖋🖋.5 (out of 5 fountain pens).
Recommend or nah: I wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s an enjoyable read and very nice change of pace for how dystopian type of books tend to go.
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