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A review by lighterthaneyre
Iron Cast by Destiny Soria
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
I genuinely cannot tell if this is me or not, but the magic system felt Extremely queer coded to me. Strongly associated with the arts, targeted politically as "dangerous deviants", hidden from family members for fear of rejection. There's a "coming out" scene with one character and her family, it's said a relative committed suicide rather live with it. Just, extremely queer coded. But with little to no actual queers. There's a gay adult living in a lavender marriage dating a gay teen whose labeled as a Coward, both men. Neither are main characters. Idk, this book was way too straight for how queer it felt.
Of the main characters: it focuses on two teenage girls with fierce loyalty for each other. The bits where it's the two of them together are great- they are opposite but complimentary, intensely capable, loyal to a fault. Very here for them.
That said, they get paired with romantic partners pretty early on, and a lot of the screen time ends up being the two couples, or the two of them plus the (annoying) male love interest. Ada and Charlie are a cute couple, and Ada has a lot more going on then Just Charlie. I like pretty much all the Ada focused scenes. But Corrine and Gabriel are Insufferable. Their bantering is way more like bickering, and since a lot of Corrine's solo screen time (and time with Ada!) is with him, I ended up really disliking her for big portions of the book.
The tone is Very YA, but I don't think that's a bad thing. There's a cool setting, cool build up to world building. Gotta love the 20s and speakeasies, the setup is very fun. Very much an "older teens swimming in a world with adults" kinda plot. Not predatory, but high stakes with teen protagonists. As long as your down to ride, I think the tone and style is pretty engagingly.
Pacing for the most part was pretty good! Engaging with time to make sure the reader understands the world building.The ending was a little jerky- it wanted to wind down to a close and also have action at every step. But that's only an issue for the last 50 pages or so.
Of the main characters: it focuses on two teenage girls with fierce loyalty for each other. The bits where it's the two of them together are great- they are opposite but complimentary, intensely capable, loyal to a fault. Very here for them.
That said, they get paired with romantic partners pretty early on, and a lot of the screen time ends up being the two couples, or the two of them plus the (annoying) male love interest. Ada and Charlie are a cute couple, and Ada has a lot more going on then Just Charlie. I like pretty much all the Ada focused scenes. But Corrine and Gabriel are Insufferable. Their bantering is way more like bickering, and since a lot of Corrine's solo screen time (and time with Ada!) is with him, I ended up really disliking her for big portions of the book.
The tone is Very YA, but I don't think that's a bad thing. There's a cool setting, cool build up to world building. Gotta love the 20s and speakeasies, the setup is very fun. Very much an "older teens swimming in a world with adults" kinda plot. Not predatory, but high stakes with teen protagonists. As long as your down to ride, I think the tone and style is pretty engagingly.
Pacing for the most part was pretty good! Engaging with time to make sure the reader understands the world building.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Racism and Torture
Minor: Suicide