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Iron Widow

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Iron Widow

By: Xiran Jay Zhao
Narrated by: Rong Fu
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Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid's Tale in this blend of Chinese history and mecha science fiction for YA listeners.

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 Oneworld Publications (P)2021 Penguin Random House Canada Limited Asian Creators Fiction LGBTQIA+ Creators Literature & Fiction Multicultural Science Fiction Science Fiction & Fantasy Women's Voices Aviation
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Devoured it in a day, great writing, great characters, excited for the sequel later this year!

Amazing Sci-Fi/Chinese Mythology Gem

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Loved the world building, the author balances the extraordinary and mundane in a way which makes the world almost believable

Great set up to a rich storyline

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I enjoyed this title very much and the narration was excellent. The story had so much going on all the time that I feel you really need to concentrate on what's happening. If you're working or doing tasks etc, it can be easy to lose track. But overall an excellent read. If they make a film of this book I think that would work very well.

Enjoyable but hard to keep up with what's going on

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Interesting concept wonderfully executed.
I'm not usually a fan of mecha-style media and was unsure if I'd enjoy it but I was happily surprised! Can't wait for book 2

Enthralling

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Great story line will defo read the next book in the series, love the way they explore different themes

👍🏽

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