Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta

12 reviews

building_a_bookdom's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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: Death of parent, Death, Torture, War, Violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Body horror, Murder, Alcohol, Confinement, Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Genocide, and Fire/Fire injury

thewillowwood's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense 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

4.0

This book was pretty good! It was charming, and the love story and world were interesting. I do think it suffered a bit from dialogue/speeches that erred on the side of being overdramatic and cheesy, but for the first published book of a writer it’s really nothing aggregate. Good fast paced sci fi action read; it’s “gay pacific rim” as my roommate described it.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Murder, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, War, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Gore, Gun violence, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Child death, Vomit, and Physical abuse

deb_is_reading's review

adventurous emotional 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

2.5

 So I would say this isn't bad and I truly feel split down the middle about this.

Has a lot of themes and elements I would normally love and I did like seeing them put to paper.

I do wish there was more grounding of the setting and lead up to the start of the story. We only got some really vague notions about how this authoritarian regime came to be but I would have preferred more. Same with the Gearbreaker camp, I wanted to know how this society structures itself having seen a terrible Gondolia.

Some of the dialogue was cringey or slightly bothersome but nothing to completely make me hate the book. Just a little lackluster overall. But the 2nd half was much better and there was one character that I thought had a emotional breakthrough which I appreciated. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, and Torture

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

talonsontypewriters's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5

I was really looking forward to this since I'm a huge mecha fan and have heard great things, but perhaps my expectations were too high. The worldbuilding is... virtually nonexistent; the side characters are all forgettable and interchangeable, and Eris and Sona aren't much better; their relationship is poorly developed and unconvincing; the pacing is very disjointed, rushing through the opening only to screech to a complete halt for the majority of the book and then seem to remember there's a main driving plot only in the last like 5 chapters; the writing is simultaneously painfully purple and dry as hell, managing to say in two paragraphs what could be achieved in a sentence while also frequently not really saying anything at all. The heavy helping of classic YA dystopia melodrama also made me roll my eyes so hard and so often I thought I was going to give myself a headache.

The ideas behind Gearbreakers aren't bad at all, but their execution left a lot to be desired for me -- I kind of wish I had just rewatched Evangelion or a Gundam series instead. I'll hesitantly keep an eye on Mikuta's future releases, though, as the flaws may even themselves out with age and experience.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Child death, Confinement, Kidnapping, Murder, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture

Moderate: Genocide, Medical content, Xenophobia, Bullying, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, and Grief

Minor: Alcohol, Sexual content, and Vomit

Eye trauma/gore.

audreyreadz's review

adventurous dark funny sad tense 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: 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

recycled_personalities's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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? It's complicated

4.75

HOLY SHIT! Ok it’s like a little slow at the beginning BUT I SWEAR JUST KEEP GOING IT GETS SO GOOD. I’m immediately buying the sequel.

---

Content Warnings

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

foreverinastory's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-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 really enjoyed this one!

Rep: Asian bisexual female MC, Asian lesbian female MC with an eye implant, Asian genius female side character, queer normative world.

CWs: Blood, body horror, child death, death, fire/fire injury, gore, grief, gun violence, injury/injury detail, kidnapping, medical content and unconsented medical experimentation, murder, torture, violence, war. Moderate: Car accident, colonisation, confinement, cursing, death of parent, emotional abuse, genocide, medical trauma, mental illness (anxiety and PTSD), police brutality, physical abuse, self-harm, toxic relationship, xenophobia. Minor: Panic attacks, vomit. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gun violence, Grief, Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, War, Blood, Body horror, Medical content, Murder, Death, Kidnapping, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Medical trauma, Police brutality, Toxic relationship, Confinement, Car accident, Cursing, Mental illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Xenophobia, Colonisation, and Genocide

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Vomit

cottlestonpie's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Violence, War, Xenophobia, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Torture, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Physical abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, and Gun violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Alcohol, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Genocide, Gore, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, Stalking, Infidelity, and Cursing

angelsfw's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad tense 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

4.0

“yeah we’re small. yeah we’re human. but we’re also gearbreakers, and we’re here to dismantle the fuckers who thought we’d just sit back and take it.”

i was really really excited for this book when it was announced. the premise of this book was just so cool to me. however, there were several places it fell flat for me. the mechas were so detailed and flushed out; however, i think the worldbuilding suffered because of this. i had so many questions about godolia and how it even came to be. none were ever answered in this book. i am still holding out hope that they will be in the second book.

another thing was this book very much reads as a debut novel. that being said, i think this author is extremely talented and this series has some major potential. i loved the characters, particularly sona’s POVS. one thing this author does extremely well is capture the feeling of grief and losing important pieces of yourself. sona’s grief was portrayed in such a poetic way and it was overall really done well.

i do encourage people to give this series a chance and i will definitely be picking up the second novel when it releases.

tw: grief, murder, blood, torture, kidnapping, panic attacks, body dysmorphia, body mutilations, and PTSD.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, and Violence

Moderate: Body horror

ibazelle's review

adventurous emotional inspiring sad 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: Blood, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, Torture, War, and Murder