Graphic courtesy of Jieru Ye ‘23.
By Halle Wyatt ’25
Staff Writer
“For eighteen years, my unibrow has saved me from being sold into a painful, terrifying death,” Xiran Jay Zhao writes in their debut novel, “Iron Widow.”
“Iron Widow” is not for the faint of heart.
A story about a thirst for vengeance and hunger for power, brimming with the pain caused by a deeply misogynistic society, the novel is for angry girls — the girls who have been beaten down and poked just enough to snap. For anyone who is aching to break out of the claustrophobic boxes that make up our world — “Iron Widow” is a novel of catharsis, or as the endorsement quote on the cover from E.K. Johnston states, “A primal scream of a book.”
Zhao, who is first generation Chinese-Canadian, gained attention last year with their viral Youtube video titled “EVERYTHING CULTURALLY WRONG WITH MULAN 2020 (And How They Could’ve Been Fixed),” which now has 2.8 million views. They have since released fourteen more videos primarily focusing on Chinese history, culture and media inspired by it.
The novel is inspired by the history surrounding Wu Zetian, China’s only female emperor, “Iron Widow” creates an alternate version of the 7th and 8th century empress, set in the far future on an alien planet plagued by violent sexism. It is the first book in its duology, the second of which will be published in 2022.
In the novel’s world, the country Huaxia and an alien race called the Hunduns are locked in an ongoing war. Battles are fought along the Great Wall, with humans occupying enormous mecha-robots called Chrysalises. Each Chrysalis contains one male and one female pilot. The male pilot is meant to “power” the robot using the female pilot’s energy, killing her in the process. The elder sister of Zetian — the story’s protagonist — was one of these female pilots. After her sister’s death at the hand of her co-pilot, Yang Guang, Zetian plans for revenge. What wasn’t part of her plan was surviving it. After she publicly announces her murder of Yang Guang, the war strategists name Zetian an Iron Widow, a female pilot who can harness the male pilot’s energy instead. To stifle her power, the strategists force her to pair with Li Shimin, who is known as the strongest Chrysalis pilot. The longer that Zetian fights at the Great Wall, even with many attempts on her life, the less logical the misogynistic pilot system seems, and the more she wants to destroy it.
When it comes to displaying the brutal realities of misogyny, “Iron Widow” pulls no punches. In just the second chapter, Zhao describes in graphic detail Zetian’s forced foot-binding at the hands of her grandmother when she was only a child. Due to the chronic pain that comes with the process, Zetian’s narration notes, “The pain can’t surprise me because it has never left. A lightning strike of it shoots up my legs with every step I take. Every. Single. Step.”
It is a difficult section to read without feeling sick to your stomach. However, it perfectly illustrates the functionality of Huaxia’s society when it comes to female lives, while also instating a deep sadness and rage on Zetian’s behalf.
While “Iron Widow” is intense, the book is not without its softer points, including Zetian’s relationships with both Shimin and Yizhi, the latter being her longtime best friend and crush. The feature of polyamory over the traditional love triangle is a much-appreciated change of pace in the young adult genre. While some scenes between Zetian and her boyfriends, who are together themselves, create light-hearted breaks in the narrative, they also represent the romance’s purpose of breaking down traditional boxes. In a conversation between Zetian and Yizhi about her feelings for Shimin, Yizhi says, “Love isn’t some scarce resource to battle over. Love can be infinite, as much as your heart can open.”
“Iron Widow” is a pure adrenaline rush that will remind the reader of their power. It’s a book for anyone who has personally felt the effects of sexism, or anyone who has ever been made to feel weak by systems that thrive on the powerlessness they create. This is a book for anyone who has ever desired to rip the patriarchy — the binary, the status quo — apart with their fingernails and light it on fire until nothing but ashes remains.
As Zetian screamed from the cockpit beside Yang Guang’s lifeless body, “You’ve been living a dream for long enough… Welcome to your nightmare!’”