Even the presence of a strong female protagonist is strongly associated with anime, a result of Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki making a conscious effort to include strong female lead characters in his movies. What’s more, the non-traditional roles and relationships are reminiscent well-known anime, many of which were the first introductions of gay and transgender people to members of Western audiences. On the video sharing platform TikTok, Zhao has jokingly moved their work from a bookstore shelf dedicated to sci-fi into the more appropriate manga section. When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, its to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sisters death. Xiran Jay Zhao is a self-proclaimed anime fan, and the giant mecha battles which populate their work are pulled straight from anime and manga. ‘A primal scream of a book, Iron Widow delivers on all that fury and more, combining meticulous pacing and brilliant world building to make a truly epic read.’ E.K. Secondly, she does so in a giant flying mech suit, one of many used by her fellow countrymen to defend against the creatures. By the end of the book she becomes downright villainous. As in, she literally tortures and murders people. Zetian here is violent, hypocritical, judgmental, entitled, ignorant, arrogant, narcissistic, and, er, checks notes evil. For one, the protagonist goes up against gigantic, alien beasts. YA fiction is sadly notorious for its poorly-written female chauvinist protagonists, but this one takes the grand prize. There are, however, two major twists that make this adaptation more than a simple historical tale. Set in a country based off of ancient China, Iron Widow is a retelling of the life of Wu Zetian, Empress of China.

Iron widow novel