Review by dragonaion - Metal Slinger

dragonaion 's review for:

Metal Slinger by Rachel Schneider

3.5

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

The main character is a Mary Sue-esq lead, who has a habit of "humble not humble", and after completing her life goal of being a guard, is suddenly told she's a princess being rescued by a man who

threatened to cut her hand off for thieving not a few chapters prior

. Then, realism hits as she's weakened at sea, and she then has a damsel-in-distress romance bloom with the male lead suddenly becoming a femme fatal. There is also an odd mix of being chaste (no sex before marriage) in some areas with some people, but it's thrown to the wind in other areas with other people with very little discussion.
The story is trying too hard to be romantic, but tragic, and clever without filling the reader in. It's like the author is sitting us down at a cafe, going on about her story after reading other books she read, and she's missing out on telling you what's precisely in her head. At the end, it's a comforting typical fantasy, feeling like a rough draft of "The Shield of Sparrows" with a "surprise ending" that will seem flat if you've read "The Lies of Locke Lamora". Lastly, the title of the book is the nickname of the male lead, even though this is intended to be female-centric? If there's a hidden meaning there, I'm missing it.

Content Warnings