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building_a_bookdom'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
5.0
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
- 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, 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
spaghettii'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
5.0
Moderate: Child death, Confinement, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Blood, Bullying, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, Body horror, Body shaming, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, War, Death, Death of parent, and Genocide
emerentina's review
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Graphic: Violence, Torture, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, War, Blood, Death, Physical abuse, Murder, and Grief
Moderate: Gun violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Genocide, Medical trauma, Kidnapping, Child death, Body horror, Colonisation, Confinement, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content and Misogyny
kananineko'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
3.5
So, I loved the characters in this, especially the two main characters. I felt really connected to them, felt they were distinct, easily rooted for them, and loved their relationship and all of its developments. I also loved pretty much all of the side characters even though they weren't very fleshed out (I thought that was okay because this book really focused on the two MCs). The found family dynamic in this was amazing as well.
The atmosphere of this book was really cool and I enjoyed the idea of the Windups (mechas) and Gearbreakers. But I will say that the worldbuilding was... kinda bad tbh. I didn't really understand the whole thing with the Windups being gods but also not really, and there was a lot of worldbuilding infodumping early on in the book that didn't really make logical sense...
And this leads me to my point about this book making me realize that maybe I need to stop reading YA scifi/fantasy. The iffy worldbuilding and teenagers-overthrowing-an-evil-government plot strongly reminded me of all those YA dystopias that were really popular back in the 2010s. Don't get me wrong, not all of those were bad, and I think this is leagues better than a lot of them (especially relationship/character-wise) but I'm starting to realize that I'm finally tired of those types of books.
And the writing style was the worst offender in terms of YA typicality. The author is definitely talented and I'm sure a lot of people will love her writing, but to me it just felt so... overdone. Overdramatic. Dare I say... "I'm 14 and this is deep"? Even when I empathized/agreed with things the characters were feeling or thinking, I couldn't stand the way the author phrased them. And there were so many one-line paragraphs!
So.
Many.
Why? Just why?
And this is coming from someone who loves flowery, metaphor-heavy writing (ex. Laini Taylor). It wasn't done well here in my opinion. It wasn't unreadable, but did make the story a bit clunky at times, especially during fast-paced action scenes. I just think that the writing style and the plot and world are so deeply YA, which is totally okay! Just not something I am super into anymore.
You're probably wondering why, after that rant, I'm giving it 4/3.5 stars, but it's because, despite my complaints, I had a lot of fun reading this! I really enjoyed the characters, their relationships, and the found family dynamic. I found it relatively easy to read and fun. I'm also hoping that the worldbuilding will get a little more solid in the sequel, which I will be reading because I want to see the characters get a happy ending (hopefully).
However, no matter how enjoyable I found this book to be, I don't think I want to read any more fun but shallow YA dystopian/scifi/fantasy stories anymore. This very well may be my last one. Actually, that will probably be the sequel to this book, but oh, well. Point still stands.
Graphic: Murder, Torture, Violence, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Grief, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Classism, Gore, Gun violence, Toxic relationship, War, Body horror, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Alcohol, Cursing, and Kidnapping
talonsontypewriters's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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.pitchblackkoi'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
4.5
Graphic: Violence, Body horror, Death, and War
Moderate: Torture and Grief
emily_mh'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
4.5
The characters were definitely the strength of this book. The two POV characters, Eris and Sona, were distinct from the off which was a great sign. It only got better when the narrative drew out their complexities. Both are filled with anger and the purpose of toppling Godolia. Eris has been trained to be a leader and feels so much responsibility and love for her crew. Her emotions feel like a vulnerability for her and so she grows thorns even though she just wants to be soft. I felt particularly compelled by Sona, though, being a person straddling the lines between human and bot and desperately trying to land as the former. She is terrified of herself and what she’s done, so her deepest wish is to be loved regardless. I found the scenes where she grapples with herself so heartfelt. I just got so attached to both MCs in a way that doesn’t often happen to me. I think the raw writing style really showcased the emotional state of the characters, giving the reader something real to resonate with.
Because Eris and Sona were such dynamic characters, the romance they shared was utterly believable. While there is instant attraction (at least on Sona’s part), it wasn’t instalove. Instead, Mikuta makes sure to include a range of scenes where the MCs explore and deepen their connection. The tension she crafted was spot-on. In my opinion, this was a good execution of the enemies-to-lovers trope.
In terms of world-building, I understood why the mechas were created and how they shaped the world as it was in this book. However, there was bigger-picture context missing in terms of how far in the future we were and what the global situation was. I also wanted more description of how religious colonisation impacted culture in Godolia and beyond. I was interested to know if religious and political conformity meant cultural conformity as well, as there was some evidence to the contrary in this book. I wanted to know what clothes, food, languages, etc. existed and why. So in this way the world-building was not fully realised and ended up being a bit plain.
Graphic: Murder, Colonisation, Physical abuse, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Cursing, Torture, Confinement, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Gun violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Grief, and Blood
Minor: Self harm, Sexual content, Medical content, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Ableism, Animal death, and Alcohol
Moderate: loss of a loved one Minor: gamblingkaylamoran's review against another edition
- 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
audreyreadz'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
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