Publisher: Penguin Teen Canada, September 21st 2021

Format: ebook

Pages: 400

Rating: 4/5 stars

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

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.

My Review:

Thank you Penguin Teen Canada for the copy of this book.
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Read if you like: futuristic dystopian, retellings.
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Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot in order to assassinate the person responsible for her sisters death. Through this experience she shows everyone she is much stronger than both she and others thought, and is labeled the Iron Widow.
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I really loved the incorporation of Chinese mythology as well as the conversation around the role of women in society. Zetian works hard to figure out why the pilot system is so misogynistic and then fights to change society.
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CW: misogyny, foot biding, death of a family member, war, violence, murder, alcoholism and addiction, trauma.