The difference is that, with rare exceptions, the women do not survive major battles because the male pilot consumes all of their Qi, their life force, to boost his own power. Each machine needs two people to power it: a man (the pilot) and a woman (the concubine pilot). The small number of young men with Spirit Levels high enough to be pilots are lauded as heroes, with massive followings on social media and all the privileges of wealth and rank, as long as they keep fighting. The machines are powered by Qi or Spirit Level that enables machine and pilot to become one.

The Great Wall is defended by huge fighting machines (think Pacific Rim but add in an ability to grow and transform depending on the power fed to them). The story is set in a far future where what is left of humanity lives behind the Great Wall, their only defence against the hoards of faceless Hundun, alien creatures made of spirit metal. It turned out that, like almost everyone in the book, I underestimated the depth of her hatred, the lengths she would go to and the price she would pay to get her revenge.

It was a great start but I doubted that even this indomitable young woman would be able to maintain her passion for the 400 pages of the book. In the first two chapters, the book roared into life, filled with a fierce anger, an intense rage that was ready to rip and tear, to burn down the world to get revenge. ‘Iron Widow’ was one of the most surprising books I read in 2021.

Iron widow by xiran jay zhao