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spaghettii's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I loved the depth added to the characters that were on an opposing side to the main characters. I never thought I would sympathize with the guy that was supposed to be the genocidal villain in book one. The main reason I didn't give fiv stars was the skipping ahead in the plot. I understand the practicality of it, but I hated going to the next chapter and seeing that it's set several months into the future.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief, Gun violence, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicide attempt, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Suicide, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Religious bigotry, Genocide, Kidnapping, Mental illness, War, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Torture
grandiose_r's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Gun violence, Gore, Child death, War, Violence, Grief, and Death
Moderate: Suicide, Torture, and Suicidal thoughts
emily_mh's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Oof, this sequel did not live up to expectations. Behold as I list my woes.
My main woe was what Mikuta did with Sona’s character. Sona would NEVER come to love Enyo of her own volition, for the same reason that she never came to love anybody in her 7-8 years at the academy: they all actively support Godolia’s tyranny and imperialism, while Sona’s character is built around her hatred and resistance of these qualities. Enyo is one of those active supporters, when he’s literally in the best position possible to enact change. I get that Enyo is a scared kid, and there is a lot of time spent in this book showing how these characters are just kids having to make impossible choices, so I’m not trying to condemn or not condemn him as a person. I am making the point that while Sona might see herself in Enyo, or come to understand him, she wouldn’t love someone who made the choices he did, and CERTAINLY not to the level that she loves her family and Eris. It conflicts with the core of her character, solidly established in the first book. Making Sona love Enyo felt like a lazy writing choice so that there was a reason why Enyo didn’t die in the first half, thus giving this book its existence.
The brainwashing trope was not done well here. What triggered Sona’s proper break in her corruption? Why was she not confused over what was real and what she could trust seeing as either side was telling her the other side was corrupting her? Why do we not get more of a reaction from Sona over having had her worst nightmare come true? Where is her panic over what’s been happening to her family, her desperation over seeing them?
Ironically, there is a deus ex machina element of this book. It was way too convenient that a whole contingency of mechas who had escaped Godolia and were hiding out were discovered in this book, providing the perfect force with which to rebel against Godolia. It would not have been hard to foreshadow their existence in the first instalment.
The world-building was again a bit naff. We were still lacking the bigger picture and the cultural element that I wanted to see, as explained in my review of Gearbreakers.
The issue I had plot-wise with the latter part of Gearbreakers unfortunately characterised the whole plot of Godslayers. It was a bit too predictable, a bit too repetitive to be engaging, especially with the litany of other issues I had with the book.
Something about the writing style didn’t click for me this time around. It felt like the tense would chance mid-sentence and I would often get confused about what was meant by the author. However, I still loved how emotionally raw the prose was, as it could realistically depict teenagers facing a dystopian world.
This is a lot of negatives, I know. 2.75 stars may be a confusing rating to give it, but there were 3-4 elements which pulled through. The first being the romance, which was still written fantastically. Mikuta also nailed the found family element with her scenes of domesticity. The mecha fights were again strong; I especially loved reading the underwater mecha fight as this was something I hadn’t seen before. Finally, even though she was a bit stagnant in terms of development, Eris was still an interesting character to read from and I still fully felt for her.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Death, Murder, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, War, and Gun violence
Moderate: Grief, Gore, Cursing, Suicide, Blood, and Vomit
Minor: Confinement, Physical abuse, Ableism, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Major: mind control, loss of a loved one Minor: gambling, drowningabookwormspov's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, Gun violence, Murder, and Suicide
alouette's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
not as good as book 1 if i'm being perfectly honest, but still action-packed and exciting with plenty more of that awesome world-building. the side characters got more fleshed out while Eris and Sona fell a little bit more flat in this one, which really was a shame. i understand that they already had the "falling in love" part of their story but the synopsis really hyped up Sona's corruption to be a bigger, more irreversible deal than it was. this didn't feel as intricately plotted as the first book BUT it was still a great conclusion and i'm glad there were some happy endings to be found in all the war and loss.
and i even took pleasure in some of the supposedly sad endings! sona's love for enyo sat wrong with me for a lot of scenes so the turn it took for them was a relief to me lol
and i even took pleasure in some of the supposedly sad endings! sona's love for enyo sat wrong with me for a lot of scenes so the turn it took for them was a relief to me lol
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Grief, Medical content, Murder, Violence, Blood, Death, and Gun violence
Moderate: Religious bigotry
zoiejanelle's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
(Praying the author never reads this review because I desperately want to be friends with her, but I’m going to be honest here!)
Godslayers pales in comparison to Gearbreakers, but was overall a good book that brought much more depth to the overarching conflicts in the series. The main reason this book isn’t a 5/5 for me is the middle… it is just so slow… which I understand. This series is, at its core, about war, and war can be excruciatingly boring. I didn’t experience the same sort of thrill that I got from book 1. The payoff, though, was worth it!
I also got lost in Mikuta’s writing. In book 1, the poetic style was charming, romantic. In this book I was confused and had to re-read several very important passages to understand what was going on. I totally understood the point of the style. It lends itself to allowing the reader to have startling, emotional realizations and experience what the characters were experiencing through sensory detail, but I’m dumb and need action scenes to be very clear or I can’t visualize the scene.
As for the good stuff…
This book explored more of Jenny’s character as well as Eris’s crew which was really fun. I also loved the new characters — especially Enyo — and reading how they interacted with our original cast. The twists and turns were great, and I must have said “oh, shit!” at least ten times (especially towards the end). I was very scared that this would be an ambiguous ending, and in some ways it was, but please rest assured this is a hopeful ending and provided the much-deserved closure our characters needed. I still highly recommend this series and it will hold a very special place in my heart for years to come.
Godslayers pales in comparison to Gearbreakers, but was overall a good book that brought much more depth to the overarching conflicts in the series. The main reason this book isn’t a 5/5 for me is the middle… it is just so slow… which I understand. This series is, at its core, about war, and war can be excruciatingly boring. I didn’t experience the same sort of thrill that I got from book 1. The payoff, though, was worth it!
I also got lost in Mikuta’s writing. In book 1, the poetic style was charming, romantic. In this book I was confused and had to re-read several very important passages to understand what was going on. I totally understood the point of the style. It lends itself to allowing the reader to have startling, emotional realizations and experience what the characters were experiencing through sensory detail, but I’m dumb and need action scenes to be very clear or I can’t visualize the scene.
As for the good stuff…
This book explored more of Jenny’s character as well as Eris’s crew which was really fun. I also loved the new characters — especially Enyo — and reading how they interacted with our original cast. The twists and turns were great, and I must have said “oh, shit!” at least ten times (especially towards the end). I was very scared that this would be an ambiguous ending, and in some ways it was, but please rest assured this is a hopeful ending and provided the much-deserved closure our characters needed. I still highly recommend this series and it will hold a very special place in my heart for years to come.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, and Violence
Moderate: Gore, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Blood, Mental illness, Torture, and Grief
Minor: Vomit and Suicide
potatoaficionado's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, War, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Death
Moderate: Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Death of parent
cb923's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Gun violence, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Suicide
melaniereadsbooks's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Thank you to Netgalley and Fiercereads for the arc of this book.
After the victory--and devastating loss--at the end of Gearbreakers, Sona has been corrupted into thinking she hates the Gearbreakers, and Eris is stuck in Godolia prison. But Sona's corruption doesn't stick the way Enyo is hoping it will, and Jenny and Eris have big plans.
This book!!! Was heartbreaking, first of all. Like, how dare you do that to my precious babies?! But also it is so good! And honestly the perfect ending to this duology and I couldn't ask for a better conclusion within the realm of believability for this world.
The continued world-building and character development in this book was so good I love Sona and Eris so much and I feel like they changed so much in this book but I still love them. A little older, a little less feral, but still determined and fierce and loving and hopeful, always hopeful.
The hope and change and resilience of the characters in this book is so important. It is so good. I think it's the core of what this book is about. I love it so much. I will always recommend this duology to everyone.
Go read it now!
After the victory--and devastating loss--at the end of Gearbreakers, Sona has been corrupted into thinking she hates the Gearbreakers, and Eris is stuck in Godolia prison. But Sona's corruption doesn't stick the way Enyo is hoping it will, and Jenny and Eris have big plans.
This book!!! Was heartbreaking, first of all. Like, how dare you do that to my precious babies?! But also it is so good! And honestly the perfect ending to this duology and I couldn't ask for a better conclusion within the realm of believability for this world.
The continued world-building and character development in this book was so good I love Sona and Eris so much and I feel like they changed so much in this book but I still love them. A little older, a little less feral, but still determined and fierce and loving and hopeful, always hopeful.
The hope and change and resilience of the characters in this book is so important. It is so good. I think it's the core of what this book is about. I love it so much. I will always recommend this duology to everyone.
Go read it now!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, War, Violence, Blood, Murder, Gun violence, and Death
Moderate: Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Grief, Confinement, Suicide, Medical content, Body horror, and Child death
Minor: Vomit and Cursing
betweentheshelves's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
After striking a devastating blow to Godolia, the Gearbreakers have falled back to recover. Now, those same rebels are being hunted by Zenith. The last surviving leader of Godolia. Since the attack, Eris has been Godolia's prisoner. When discovers Sona, the girl she loves, also survived, she has a moment of hope. Until she realizes Sona has once again become a brainwashed soldier of Godolia. And Eris's mortal enemy.
With the rebellion barely holding on and Godolia moving forward inducting children to their cause, the odds have never been stacked higher against the Gearbreakers. Their only hope is Sona and Eris finding their way back to each other. From opposite sides of the war.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's for an advanced copy of Godslayers to review! I loved Gearbreakers last year and I couldn't wait to see how it ended. Especially with that cliffhanger! Thank goodness this is just a duology.
Where Mikuta really excels is her characters. Not only are the heroes fully developed, but we get complex development from the villains as well. Honestly, that's a mark of a good character writer. If you can get us to care about the villain in some capacity. I loved the development between Eris and Sona in this book as well. While Sona might be brainwashed for part of it, you can feel their strong connection despite it all. You're still rooting for them even though the odds might be stacked against them.
My only complaint is that at times, it was a bit difficult to follow everything that was going on. However, this very well could be attributed to it being awhile since I read the first book. Science fiction and fantasy books with this much detail are always hard to read with a gap between them. There are so many details you forget! Reading them back to back would actually help to clear up any confusion!
Despite that, I was invested in the story. If you like battles in your science fiction, there are quite a few in here! In generall, Mikuta did a good job wiwth the action scenes. The action itself was easy to follow, which is always a bonus in a novel like this.
All in all, this is a strong follow up to the first book! If yo'ure looking for a new sci-fi duology for the summer, I'd recommend picking this one up.
With the rebellion barely holding on and Godolia moving forward inducting children to their cause, the odds have never been stacked higher against the Gearbreakers. Their only hope is Sona and Eris finding their way back to each other. From opposite sides of the war.
Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's for an advanced copy of Godslayers to review! I loved Gearbreakers last year and I couldn't wait to see how it ended. Especially with that cliffhanger! Thank goodness this is just a duology.
Where Mikuta really excels is her characters. Not only are the heroes fully developed, but we get complex development from the villains as well. Honestly, that's a mark of a good character writer. If you can get us to care about the villain in some capacity. I loved the development between Eris and Sona in this book as well. While Sona might be brainwashed for part of it, you can feel their strong connection despite it all. You're still rooting for them even though the odds might be stacked against them.
My only complaint is that at times, it was a bit difficult to follow everything that was going on. However, this very well could be attributed to it being awhile since I read the first book. Science fiction and fantasy books with this much detail are always hard to read with a gap between them. There are so many details you forget! Reading them back to back would actually help to clear up any confusion!
Despite that, I was invested in the story. If you like battles in your science fiction, there are quite a few in here! In generall, Mikuta did a good job wiwth the action scenes. The action itself was easy to follow, which is always a bonus in a novel like this.
All in all, this is a strong follow up to the first book! If yo'ure looking for a new sci-fi duology for the summer, I'd recommend picking this one up.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, and Gun violence
Moderate: Suicide