#polyam rep

Another thing this book delivered flawlessly was unhinged women. The internet keeps talking about people written by men or by women, but I’m here for something else: people written by Xiran Jay Zhao. Wu Zetian wields her rage fearlessly, she’s shady and ruthless. Her moral compass is messy. I’ve waited for a character like her my whole life, but hadn’t known it until she’d been given to me on a silver platter. No, it’s better than that: given to me on a document sent to my e-mail, then to my Kindle, like most delightful things are. 

Not only did Xiran give me Wu Zetian, though, but on my Kindle silver platter, there was also Gao Yizhi and Li Shimin, her outstanding love interests. While Li Shimin fits the tormented bad boy criteria (but better, because that’s just what Xiran does, makes good things better), Gao Yizhi would fit the rich good boy one (yes, eat-the-rich-romantically trope!). But while he is kind and nice, we’re led to believe that there is something dark in him, though maybe his morals aren’t as messy as Zetian’s. Their dynamic can probably be described as Bonnie, Clyde, and their househusband. Perfection, truly. 

The plot is also marvellous, including the oppression at the core of the system, how dirty the powerful people play to get what they want, as well as realistic plot twists. Something I liked, too, was the way Xiran Jay Zhao dealt with the action in the book: I’m usually not all for action-packed books, but the way Xiran did it pulled me in. It’s intense and involves a lot of emotion, something that usually lacks action scenes (one of the reasons why I don’t like them all that much). 

The way trauma is handled in ‘Iron Widow’ is spectacular, too. There are all sorts of these included, from family trauma to ones caused by alcoholism (I’d disclose more on that, but I’m not sure how spoilery that would be), and it doesn’t show only the “pretty” part of it: we get to see the anger that’s so often played in a way as to make the traumatised person feel guilty and the lashing out. 

Besides, ‘Iron Widow’ has everything: hate-to-love? Yup. Friends to lovers? Absolutely! Fake dating/arranged marriage? You bet! Overthrowing the government? 100% yes! That’s basically the plot of the book. Femme fatale trope where a character seduces, then kills a man? Again, that’s basically the (initial) plot. Forbidden/secret relationship? Lots of it. Morally gray characters? Basically all of them are. Fighting while injured and not 100% healthy yet? Mhm. Intense fights with giant, magic mecha suits inspired by mythology? I got you (Xiran does, actually)! Plot twists? YES! One party of the relationship finding a way to help/save their loved one from a dangerous situation that was almost impossible to do so? Yes!!!! 

"Hey, Red!" 

She jumped as her friend tapped her on the shoulder and spoke  in her ear. "O- oh, hi Blue."

Her friend, Blair, nicknamed Blue, snorted. She was looking at Red's notebook, where the page it was open to was covered with hearts and a few names. "Class is almost over, I just wanted to see if you'll be sitting with us or not."

Red nodded, scrambling to close the notebook, her face almost as red as her hair. "Yeah, of course."

"Don't go disappearing into the library again, then."

"Yeah, of course not," She packed up her things and got up as the bell rang, wondering if Blue saw the names in the notebook while she was staring at the back of her friends' heads. 

Blue rushed off in a hurry while Red walked away slowly, headed for her next class, which was just down the hall. 

Someone else tapped Red's shoulder to get her attention, and she was almost mad until she saw who it was.

"You ok, Red?" It was Green, and he was grinning at her. 

"Yeah, of course. Just... distracted." She smiled back nervously.

"Alright, then. Blue said you were going to sit with us for once?" He grabbed her arm and steered her around a group of people that were standing and talking in the middle of the hall.

"Yeah, I will. Ms. Hemmings said I should stop hanging out in there anyway."

"Really?"

"Yeah," she sat down in her seat in the next class, and he sat next to her.

"I'm surprised, honestly." 

"Really?"

"Yup, I expected her to want you to keep helping with books."

"Good point... I think Blue is planning something."

"She is, but I can't tell you what."

She looked at him, surprised. "Really?!"

"It's for your birthday, but I can't say anything else." He held a finger to his lips and smiled at her.

She looked away, looking at the board. One of her drawings was in the corner still, all the way back from last semester. 

"Don't worry, it's nothing bad."

"Yeah... didn't think it was."

"Sure."

She elbowed him and whispered for him to be quiet. 

He slid a notebook to her, it was open to a new page with "Do you like me?" written on the first line.

She glanced at it and then looked at what the teacher was writing on the board.

It was a list of people that were missing assignments. Her name wasn't up there, so she yawned and pulled a book from her backpack instead of responding to Green's note. 

He poked her with it. His name was on the board, and she pointed at it.

He poked her with the notebook again. 

She grabbed it and wrote "I'll tell you if you do your work". 

He looked at it, then her, and finally sighed dramatically and grabbed the assignment from his bag.

She read until he poked her and took the assignment to the teacher. She grabbed the notebook and wrote "Maybe" in response.

He looked at her. She looked at him. The answer was actually yes, but he probably already knew that. 

He looked away, then wrote "What about Orange?" and passed the notebook to her again.

"Yes."

He made a face and looked at the paper. "Seriously?" he wrote.

She shrugged and scribbled down another message. "Do you like me?"

"Yes."

"Do you like Orange?"

He just looked at her, then at the paper, all without responding.

"Your silence says enough, you know." She looked at her book and started reading again, ignoring him poking her.

***

She walked into the cafeteria and made her way to a table, where her friends were sitting. She was humming, the song was Waiting For Love.

Her group of friends was a whole rainbow of nicknames, all for various reasons. Her own nickname was because of her hair. Her actual name was Jen.

Orange was called that because she used to wear an orange hoodie everywhere. Said hoodie was now too small to wear and was replaced with a black jacket, but the name stuck. She was actually an Izabella.

Yellow makes flower crowns from dandelions, and once a young kid pointed at him and shouted Yellow. His actual name was Carter.

Green once dyed his hair blue, but the color faded, leaving a brilliant green that was still visible even now, on the ends of his hair. He was actually an Isaac.

Blue wore and still wears a blue ribbon in her hair. It matched the ever present blue nail polish. She was, of course, Blair. 

Purple got her name when Yellow learned that purple and violet are the same color. Her name was Violet.

There was an Indigo, but he moved before this year started.

She walked up to the table, but there was someone in her usual seat. She didn't recognize him, and just shrugged before heading for the library instead. 

He didn't notice her, but both Orange and Green looked up. They saw her walking away and both walked after her.

Red set her backpack down next to a table in the library and walked up to the desk. "Do you have any books to put up?" She asked the librarian, Ms. Hemmings.

Ms. Hemmings nodded to the books on the cart. "All of those are ready to go back on the shelves."

Red nodded and wheeled the cart over to the nonfiction section and started putting the books up.

Orange and Green walked in at the same time and looked for her, but Red was hidden behind the shelves. They looked at Ms. Hemmings, who pointed to the shelves Red was behind. 

They set her stuff down next to hers and went to her. Orange started helping with the books while Green leaned against a shelf.

"Hey guys," Red said when she saw them, smiling a bit.

"You ok?" Orange asked as she crouched down to put a book on the bottom shelf.

"Yeah, thanks." Red answered.

Green sighed. "Let's sit down, I brought you something to eat." 

Red looked at the cart of books and finally nodded, moving to sit at the table she set her stuff next to. Orange sat next to her and offered a cookie, while Green slid her a sandwich from the cafeteria.

"Thanks, both of you." Red took the offered food and ate quickly.

"Blue told us what was in your notebook." Orange eventually said.

Red nearly choked on her food, Green looked at Orange.

"I'm sorry, I should have kept it to myself." Orange looked down and slid a folded piece of paper to Red.

Red looked at it and pocketed it when she saw a name on the outside, written in what looked like random letters. A code.

Green muttered something and looked at the floor.

Red looked at him. The bell rang, making all of them jump. They headed to their classes, which none of them had together.

***

Red decoded the note during her next class. Orange liked her too. Red stared at it the entire rest of the time, only looking away to take notes. 

She ran into Orange in the hallway after class. Quite literally, too. They looked at each other, then walked to their next class together. Green joined them, and they all sat together again. 

Red kept her hand in her pocket, holding the note Orange had given her.

Green smiled. He knew what was in the note, of course. He got out his notebook, opened it to a clean page, and wrote "So?" before nudging it onto Red's desk.

She looked at it, then at Orange, who was pretending to look away.

She scribbled in the notebook: "You both know I like both of you already. Blue would have told you that."

Orange and Green both looked at it and nodded.

Red took the notebook back again. "Do you like each other?"

Orange blushed and looked away, Green smiled. That was answer enough.

Orange took the notebook. "So now what?"

Green took it. "You two date each other, it's fine."

Red looked at it, then at her friends. Orange was playing with the zipper of her jacket, Green was tapping his fingers on the desk. She grabbed the notebook. "But if we all like each other..." They both looked at her. Red blushed and kept writing. "We could all date each other?" 

Green was nodding, Orange looked very surprised. 

***