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A review by dembury
Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta
3.0
"Gearbreakers" biggest strength is delivering on the "Pacific Rim"-style mechas and mecha fights that it promises; reading about these giant robot weapons provides a very cinematic reading experience. The cast of characters is a little too quickly introduced and somewhat too one-dimensional to really get attached to, except Eris and Sona, especially Sona. She really steals the show and feels like the most fully-realized of them all. She was interesting to read whether she was alone or in a group or being seen through another character's POV.
The main aspect that was lacking in this book was worldbuilding. We get a lot of names, vague explanations of past wars, skirmishes between countries, but nothing concrete that explains how Godolia came to be, or really how it operates. There's just this plot of "bad Academy/Godolia VS the rebels" that feels like the framework of a story rather than a fully fleshed-out book. The physical world felt empty too: all I could picture was a big blank map with the Academy at one end and the Hollows at the other. Because of the lack of worldbuilding things ended up feeling fairly low stakes, even through the climactic fight.
All in all a pretty fun read, and I'm tempted to read the sequel when it comes out. With just a little polishing on the writing and more worldbuilding I think the next book could really be a blast!
The main aspect that was lacking in this book was worldbuilding. We get a lot of names, vague explanations of past wars, skirmishes between countries, but nothing concrete that explains how Godolia came to be, or really how it operates. There's just this plot of "bad Academy/Godolia VS the rebels" that feels like the framework of a story rather than a fully fleshed-out book. The physical world felt empty too: all I could picture was a big blank map with the Academy at one end and the Hollows at the other. Because of the lack of worldbuilding things ended up feeling fairly low stakes, even through the climactic fight.
All in all a pretty fun read, and I'm tempted to read the sequel when it comes out. With just a little polishing on the writing and more worldbuilding I think the next book could really be a blast!