Iron Widow (Book 1)

By: Xiran Jay Zhao

Narrated by: Rong Fu

An instant #1 New York Times bestseller!

A USA Today bestseller!

Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid's Tale in this blend of Chinese history and mecha science fiction for YA audiences.

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn't matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.

When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it's to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister's death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.​

To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia​. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

©2021 Xiran Jay Zhao (P)2021 Penguin Teen

Critic reviews

2024, Washington Evergreen Young Adult Book Award, Nominated

2023, Green Mountain Book Award, Winner

2022, Amy Mathers Teen Book Award, Winner

2022, Arlene Barlin Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy, Winner

2022, Aurora Award—Best YA Novel, Short-listed

2022, Barnes & Noble Children's & YA Book Awards—Young Adult, Winner

2021, British Science Fiction Association Award, Winner

2021, GoodReads Choice Award, Nominated

Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller!

An Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best Young Adult

An Amazon Editor’s Pick for Best Science Fiction and Fantasy

A Polygon Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Book of 2021

An Indigo #1 Teen Book of the Year

An Indigo Best Teen Book (2021)

An Indigo Best Teen Sci-Fi & Fantasy Book (2021)

A Barnes & Noble's Best YA Fantasy & Adventure of 2021

A New York Public Library Best Book for Teens (2021)

A Canadian Children's Book Centre Favourite Book of the Year (2021)

A Boston Globe Best Book of 2021

A Cultured Vultures’ “21 Best Books Of 2021”

A 2021 Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee, Best Young Adult & Science Fiction

Nominated for the Science Fiction Writers of America's Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction

"[This] duology opener will appeal to those seeking high-energy, feminist, queer narratives." (Publishers Weekly)

WHEN IS THE NEXT ONE?!

This was an amazing read and performance with messages from which we all could learn.
Not only are the action sequences feel powerful and visceral but I loved the representation of gender, sexuality and how well the author highlighted the difference between reality and cultural appropriateness.

Fantastic reading and writing, can't wait 4 more

Fantastic reading and writing, can't wait 4 more. The narrator got pronunciation fantastically and the writer did an amazing job world building with a strong female protagonist.

Enthralling

I have a brain that likes to wander, but this book kept my rapt attention the entire time. It digs into all sorts of social critiques while having plenty of action. There are layers upon layers that make the reader question the origins and legitimacies of their own deep seeded biases. If a sequel doesn't come out soon I might explode. (Also 10/10 on the narrator.)

Best book ever

You've probably read Erin Keane's tweet "Every woman I know has been storing anger for years in her body and it's starting to feel like bees are going to pour out of all our mouths at the same time." This book sees, validates, and encourages my inner bees. If you're someone who is not a man and you've been pissed about...well..everything that the world does to systematically oppress and kill women, this is the wish fulfillment story for you. Our heroine faces an absurd amount of systematic oppression, and she's (rightfully) rip roaring mad. She refuses to take it anymore and she's not playing nice. Listening to her unleash her anger allowed me to fully feel my own anger. Listening to her find other traumatized people who she could bond with and trust helped me grow and trust in my own way. Damn it's just fulfilling on every level. It's so good. You won't regret it. Especially if you're so mad that you have your own inner hive.

What more could you ask for?

Xiran Jay Zhao’s first novel is so engrossing that I cannot phantom that it’s their first published work. It’s beautifully crafted, just everything you could possibly want. It lingered with me long after I put in down and didn’t leave until I picked it back up. It couldn’t have been more of a pleasure to absorb this story that I didn’t want to end. I’m looking forward to everything that comes next.

Also the performance of Rong Fu is truly astounding! It’s less of a narration and more of a one person full-cast recording. The story is brought to life in ways I’m going to judge all audiobooks going forward with.

Absolutely incredible

This is unlike any book I’ve ever read, and I mean that in the best possible way. I was hooked from the beginning to the bitter end, and DANG, that ending literally made my jaw drop. The authors storytelling is amazing. I absolutely cannot wait for the sequel(please let there be a sequel!!!)

so good!

I listened to this Soo quickly.
it was awesome! I enjoy the revenge fantasy very much.
if you like, neon genesis evangelion or Nier automata or anything with Chinese mythos you will be happy❤️

g*dd*MN

wow. just wow.

this book draws on many inspiration, but could represent the rebirth of a genre all its own.

good job Xiran. 👏🏻

LOVE this story

I have been a fan of Xiran Jay Zhao’s YouTube channel, and this novel embodies all of the aspects I love about hearing her content. This book surprised and delighted me. I can’t want until the next one comes out!

Listen to this NOW

Highly recommend! A little different than the fairytale reimagining I usually read, but in a good way. Middle is a little slow and I didn’t feel the chemistry among the character sometime, but still very good. Now I have to wait for the sequel! Also the performance is A+, she did an excellent job.