Iron Widow was one of my anticipated reads for this year, but it has disappointed me at every turn.

I am so tired of books that are marketed and touted as "feminist" but (1) the female main character has no meaningful relationships or interactions with women, (2) she looks down on other women and ideas of femininity, (3) she thinks all men are shit except for the love interest(s) who never question her or have a personality outside of worshiping the ground she walks on, (4) she does not get questioned or challenged on her wrong beliefs therefore maintaining that she is correct throughout the book, (5) there is no nuance to her feminist ideas and perpetuates misogynistic stereotypes, (6) she's portrayed that she's "not like other girls", and (7) she shows no growth or introspection on her journey and ideals. It sets such a bad example for a younger audience, especially for Young Adult books.

The world-building was underbaked, told not shown, and lacked description to fully immerse me. The writing is also underbaked, resorting mostly to summarizing what had happened in such a juvenile way. I read another comment that described it accurately as "given the menu and not the meal". The references to GenZ slang in the narration and dialogue take you out of the immersion of a dark, controlling world in the middle of a war. Though I was excited about the poly relationship, it fell flat for me, and at times it felt more like a harem for Zetian with the two males (who had the potential to be great characters but also fell flat and only served as stepping stones and echo chambers for the MC ) only liking each other if it's on Zetian's terms. Just icky overall. I did like Shimin's character and his quiet strength, but the way his character was handled was messy and treated as an afterthought. I don't even want to go into how they murdered his characterization by making him the murderer that he didn't want to be (spoiler) during the torture/waterboarding scene (/spoiler). I think the novel required more editing to polish it. It needed a clearer direction, nuance, and better writing.

I also think I would have liked this more if the story was very clearly a villain origin story or a clear descent into madness. However, the writing did not signal that. Instead, we are hit over the head with how "right" Zetian was and that her actions were justified. If this was a villain story, your readers should be able to get that instead of questioning if it was.