Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
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
I enjoyed this book more than the first. The story was cute, predictable, vanilla, and fairly wholesome. I am not sure I would read it again, but as I mentioned in my first book review, I like queer novels, and this is just that. It isn’t forced, it is just a lil’ fantasy with a war and a sapphic theme.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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:
Complicated
This duology is a lesbian love story with decent worldbuilding and a political plot that is very much secondary to the romance, and that shows.
Maybe I was simply expecting too much from a YA (?) book, but while the writing remained good, and while Iron Heart wraps up the story without leaving any glaringly obvious loose ends, in the end I feel very... whelmed... by the ending.
Other, more minor (?) things that irked me: the entirety of Crier's War and the first half(ish) of Iron Heart led us to believe that the titular Iron Heart 'mine' is this super secret, impossible to find location... except when it isn't. First a group of human rebels find a compass (which was apparently stolen from a Watcher - and no one raised an alarm? No one noticed that this super important compass is missing?), then Storme ex machina - showing up to save the day... Speaking of which, it's never really explained why Queen Junn decided to take over Rabu within those few days when Ayla was gone, is it?
And does anyone ever find out about Queen Junn actually being human? Has she really avoided suspicion on the basis of 'no Automae is ever going to listen to my heartbeat because they believe I'm one of them'? Because that sounds like a really... uh... dubious strategy, in the long term.
What I liked, in no particular order: the heartstone plot twist, the cute conclusion of the love story, the general writing style.
All in all, do I regret reading these books? No. Will I read them again? Most likely also no (and not just because I barely have the time to read the many yet-untouched books gathering dust on my shelves).
Maybe I was simply expecting too much from a YA (?) book, but while the writing remained good, and while Iron Heart wraps up the story without leaving any glaringly obvious loose ends, in the end I feel very... whelmed... by the ending.
Spoiler
After 600+ pages leading up to the Big Conflict, the quiet and seemingly instant resolution was just... a little bit disappointing? Okay, Kinok was killed, but I find it hard to believe that all of his two hundred (give or take) followers just looked at his body and immediately went 'oh, okay, guess that's it then' and immediately forgot all about their distaste for humans. And those are only the ones who showed up to the battle - how many more silent sympathizers were left unmonitored? The last ten or so pages of Iron Heart show a bright and hopeful future where all three territories collaborate to make a better world, Automae and humans live in harmony, and all Automae get their new Tourmaline hearts, and that's just... Well, I might be complaining too much. This does wrap the story up nicely; the exploration of how this new coexistence actually works out would make a separate series. (What about Automae who still think humans are vermin? What about humans whose trauma and rage run too deep to truly accept a peace treaty with 'leeches'?) And yet.Other, more minor (?) things that irked me: the entirety of Crier's War and the first half(ish) of Iron Heart led us to believe that the titular Iron Heart 'mine' is this super secret, impossible to find location... except when it isn't. First a group of human rebels find a compass (which was apparently stolen from a Watcher - and no one raised an alarm? No one noticed that this super important compass is missing?), then Storme ex machina - showing up to save the day... Speaking of which, it's never really explained why Queen Junn decided to take over Rabu within those few days when Ayla was gone, is it?
And does anyone ever find out about Queen Junn actually being human? Has she really avoided suspicion on the basis of 'no Automae is ever going to listen to my heartbeat because they believe I'm one of them'? Because that sounds like a really... uh... dubious strategy, in the long term.
What I liked, in no particular order: the heartstone plot twist, the cute conclusion of the love story, the general writing style.
All in all, do I regret reading these books? No. Will I read them again? Most likely also no (and not just because I barely have the time to read the many yet-untouched books gathering dust on my shelves).
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
hopeful
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
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
I found this duology to be incredibly inventive and exciting, and the kind one could return to again and again. The way that robot vs. human supremacy is turned on its head here, and watching the oppressor learn to understand the oppressed from the comparatively alien perspective of a constructed being is engaging.