Iron Widow

This innovative YA science fiction novel integrates figures from Chinese history into a futuristic, feminist plot. Eighteen-year-old Zetian — based on Empress Regnant Wu, the only woman ever to rule China (during the Tang dynasty) — plans to avenge her sister’s death. She volunteers to become the concubine-pilot to the man who killed her sister in the hopes of assassinating him. Pilots defend Huaxia from aliens by using giant robots called Chrysalises. Psychic energy powers these robots. Male pilots channel the concubine woman pilot’s psychic energy to battle the aliens, and sometimes those women pilots die in the process. However, when Zetian goes into battle as the subservient woman pilot, she drains the male pilot’s psychic energy. She emerges from the Chrysalis as the Iron Widow, a woman who can suck the psychic powers of men and steer the Chrysalis herself. Officials try to force her into compliance by pairing her with the strongest male pilot, but Zetian refuses to be a tool for any man