Note: This interview was originally published on Audible.com.
Xiran Jay Zhao took the YA world by storm in 2021 with her debut novel, Iron Widow. It was fresh, ruthless, and insanely plotted. Now listeners are clamoring for the sequel, Heavenly Tyrant, and they won’t be disappointed in Zhao’s delivery of her mecha-weilding, angsty retelling of the life of China’s Empress Wu.
Melissa Bendixen: We’re trying not to go into spoilers here, but oh man! So much happens at the end of Iron Widow. Did you know how the story would progress in Heavenly Tyrant or was part of it also a mystery to you until you wrote it?
Xiran Jay Zhao: I knew how Heavenly Tyrant would end, but the path to getting there went through a hell of a lot of changes along the way. My first outline of it is extremely different from the final product, and the outline is really funny to read now, considering how many plot points were dropped. It was initially a much closer adaptation of the court machinations the historical Empress Wu played during her rise to power, with a complex web of different competing political factions.
But ultimately, this is an action sci-fi series, not a political drama. I got quite a few complaints from beta readers about there being too much "boring politics," so I had to edit up until very late in the production process in hopes of streamlining the story. This is not to say that I took all the politics out—those who know the history well will still spot some iconic moments and lines taken verbatim from actual contemporary denunciations of Empress Wu.
What are you most excited for listeners to discover in this next installment?
The greater scope of world-building, especially regarding how Chrysalises work, and the exploration of the limits to "girlboss feminism." I have long said that I would not call Zetian an actual feminist in Iron Widow—she is more bumbling around in a state of general female rage and taking it out on everything and everyone in her vicinity. She falls into pitfalls that I think many girls do when they become aware that they will suffer many injustices solely because of their gender. She's conscious enough to say, "THIS IS UNFAIR," but she doesn't necessarily have the emotional maturity or deeper systemic analysis to know what to do about it besides yelling at people and being defiant however she can. No peasant girl is born with a full gender studies degree in her head, after all.
But in Heavenly Tyrant, she'll be confronted with the hard-hitting questions of how society must change for all women to be uplifted, not just girlbosses who can pilot giant robots. I believe it'll be very rewarding for people with the patience to have recognized that Iron Widow was the first book of a series, and Zetian has only begun on her character arc.
If you were to meet Zetian on the street, what would you say to her?
I'd say, "Please don't kill me." Then I think she'd tell me to not worry about that … unless I'm plotting against her.
It must be mentioned that Rong Fu did such an amazing job narrating Iron Widow, and she’s returning for Heavenly Tyrant. What were you looking for in your narrator originally, and what do you like about Rong Fu’s narration?
I was looking for a strong, striking voice from a native Mandarin speaker who could pronounce the names and Mandarin terms in the book perfectly, and Rong Fu was the ideal candidate! I didn't have to listen to her audition for long to decide she was the one. I can't wait to hear her take on Heavenly Tyrant, though I'm terribly sorry for some of the scenes she's gonna have to read. You'll know which when you get to them.
What would you recommend for fans to listen to next while they wait for Zetian's story to continue after they’ve finished Heavenly Tyrant?
The First Sister by Linden A. Lewis and Heavenbreaker by Sara Wolf! They're both sci-fi epics that I think anyone who liked Iron Widow would really enjoy.
