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kaylamoran's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Blood and Torture
Moderate: Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Body horror, Grief, and Medical trauma
Minor: Genocide and Confinement
electrumempousa's review
- 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
4.5
Graphic: Torture, Murder, and War
mirrorstorm_'s review against another edition
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Death, War, Violence, and Body horror
Minor: Torture and Fire/Fire injury
audreyreadz's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Torture, War, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Classism
apersonfromflorida's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Death of parent and Torture
salemander's review against another edition
5.0
to be serious for a moment this book has some incredible dialogue around war and how children play such a huge role in it and goddamn is it fucking devastating. just heartbreaking and all too real.
now please give them the chance to be fucking happy in the next book PLEASE
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Genocide, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Torture, Body horror, Grief, Violence, and War
oliverreeds's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Police brutality, Torture, Alcohol, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, War, and Violence
recycled_personalities's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Torture, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Classism, Cursing, Medical content, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Murder, Physical abuse, Slavery, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and War
Moderate: Medical content, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Abandonment, Bullying, Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, and Physical abuse
janereadz's review against another edition
- 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? No
3.25
Graphic: Violence, Torture, War, and Fire/Fire injury
careinthelibrary's review against another edition
2.5
The worldbuilding just didn't click/didn't make sense? It hints at the past but doesn't explain it enough for it to stand on its own two feet. Some things just don't really make sense, at least not the way they're presented. The Godolia empire is killing its citizens because...evil? I wish there was more development for this world. Or maybe I missed something?
One thing I'm sure of is that I think there are too many characters. We didn't need this big of a "crew". It just meant that a few didn't get developed enough to matter. They are not memorable and it just led to confusion later on. I don't think I could even name them all, let alone what their specialty in gearbreaking is. It's not so much about the number of characters (there are books with more that are done well), but this was too many, too flat, too shallow, too similar.
Sona and Eris start out really different and interesting. I like the premise and think those first few chapters are really strong. The author has a great concept on their hands. As their experiences become more similar, their POVs became harder to distinguish (they are both concerned with Gearbreaking activities, hating Godolia, their plans for revenge etc).
The book is either too long or not enough happens in the middle. The middle third feels like the plot is just "rebel against the overlords" with no real strong plotline to follow. Just random skirmishes and the crew arguing with each other. I was rereading chapters to try and figure out what was important in there and eventually started skim reading. So in terms of my thoughts on worldbuilding above, I may have missed important stuff because of this dull chunk in the middle.
I like the concepts, the writing was good, liked the two povs (although the worldbuilding definitely makes each one's backstory suffer). The author is clearly a creative, imaginative, ambitious talent. I wouldn't swear off their work in their future based on this since it does have good moments. But something about <i>Gearbreakers</i> just never came together for me, I was left waiting for this book to take off and it left me waiting past the first page. But not in a way that makes me want to read the sequel. I had a stressful January so perhaps this has something to do with my lack of interest in this novel, but not entirely. There are some definite parts of this that would never have worked for me.
Graphic: Death, Blood, War, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Violence, and Confinement
Moderate: Torture