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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
funny
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
emotional
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
a fun an interesting concept with a ragtag group of characters! the audiobook has dual narrators and the one for sona got on my last nerve. i truly think i would have rated it higher if the audiobook was better or i just read it all physically. i was just so put out by the end lol. i do wanna read the sequel and will def be snagging a physical copy!
3.5! good debut novel. i was super invested in the characters and the world by the end, even if the first quarter of the story was a rocky start for me. made me giggle out loud a few times. sapphics deserve grand stories like this :) will report back after finishing godslayers
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Self harm, Torture
Minor: Sexual content
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
Zoe Hana Mikuta’s Gearbreakers arrives with a thunderous aesthetic—towering mechas, rebel girls with gods to kill, and a queer romance simmering beneath the blaze of revolution. It’s an audacious debut, fueled by grit and cinematic flair. And yet, for all its bombast and potential, the execution occasionally stutters beneath the weight of its own momentum.
The novel opens with a brutal, kinetic promise: Eris is a Gearbreaker, a saboteur devoted to dismantling the towering Windups—colossal weapons piloted by the ruling Godolia regime. She’s ruthless, charismatic, and already tangled in a relationship before her path collides with Sona, a Windup pilot hiding a rebel heart. What follows is an enemies-to-lovers dynamic that’s emotionally high-stakes but also, regrettably, rushed in its delivery.
The queerness of the romance is never in question—if anything, it’s a refreshing anchor in a genre too often starved of it. But the emotional transition? Jarring. Eris’ prior relationship, quietly sidelined, leaves a sour tang—what unfolds feels not like the birth of a new love but a sudden narrative pivot. There’s little introspection about the emotional cost, and what lingers is not exhilaration, but the uneasy echo of emotional cheating.
Mikuta’s prose swings between razor-sharp and overclocked. Her action sequences shine, scattered with visceral violence and defiant swagger. But outside the cockpit, the worldbuilding falters. Godolia is all tyranny and glimmering control, but the scaffolding that holds it together—its politics, social strata, even its daily life—is only sporadically illuminated. It’s a world that should feel enormous, but often reads like a sketch rather than a blueprint.
The supporting cast, too, suffers from the same fate. Revolutionary sidekicks are given roles, but seldom rise beyond their archetypes. Unlike Pacific Rim or Attack on Titan, Gearbreakers never quite lands that ensemble chemistry, that feeling of a rebellion forged not just by common cause, but genuine camaraderie.
Still, there’s no denying the fire in Mikuta’s vision. Gearbreakers roars with aesthetic confidence, and its themes—of defiance, identity, found family—strike chords even when the melody wavers. It’s a book that burns bright but not clean, charged with passion but begging for more clarity, more steadiness, more truth in its quietest moments.
For fans of queer sci-fi rebellion and mechanized mayhem, Gearbreakers is a worthy, if uneven, ride. Just don’t expect every part of the machine to be well-oiled.