A review by elwirax
Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta

adventurous dark 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

3.0

CW- gore, death, mass murder, blood, torture 

Rep-  Biracial ( Korean- white), lesbian MC, Biracial (Korean- white), bisexual MC. 

“It makes sense that, when the times were desperate enough, when the people were frenzied enough, at a certain point we went past praying to deities and started to build them instead."


"Because you choose sides in war and I choose the one that makes me feel human and this I will not apologise for."



Gearbreakers immediately caught my attention with a promise of the found family trope, Asian representation, Queer enemies-to-lovers, mechas, and swordfights. Despite this, I didn't want to set expectations too high for myself and ended up enjoying it well enough. 

The start to Gearbreakers was uneven and I think this is something most people who have read it would agree on. In the first 20% the writing felt very messy and at times over written to the point it was clunky and nonsensical. The writing style almost made me DNF this book at 8%. I decided to continue and found that by the 30% mark the story began to fall into a sort of enjoyable rhythm. The world building was atmospheric and interesting although it could've been expanded in some areas as I found it difficult to picture the surroundings. I also wish we had learned more about Godolia's history, what the need to build mechas was and how this way of life came to be. While you get inklings of the answers, I still found myself questioning this throughout. 

Gearbreaker was a very thematic book as it's set in a world were there is never truly peace and focuses on the struggles faced by children stuck in the crossfire of pointless war while trying to stay alive. It gave good commentary on being biracial. The use of Korean words and reference to Korean culture was a great way of establishing the identities of the main characters and their need to reconnect with this part of themselves. 

The main characters were great. I found myself liking Sona more that Eris. The former's development as a character was more fleshed out compared to the latter who (while likeable) seemed rather repetitive in her actions. The author did a great jobs of contrasting the background of these two characters (Hollows vs Godolia) which made their meeting that much more tense. While the romance between them is not the usual type, there is a warm bond established there. There is no physical intimacy just the fierce will to fight for one another and I must admit that this is definitely one of the best romances I've read in a while.The crew of Gearbreakers was also a great aspect of this book. Through them you get to see the characters as the children they are which made me sympathise with them much more. While non of them were particularly memorable they were definitely entertaining in the calm portions of this book. Additionally, I very much appreciated the sister dynamic between Eris and Jenny- they quarrelled a lot but it was clear they really loved eachother. 

I had issues with the last part of the story which was infuriating to say the least. Hopefully it will be resolved in the sequel. Not going to lie, I also hated  the continuous use of "growls/ed",  (but that's just a personal irk). 

Overall, I went into Gearbreakers with low expectations and I enjoyed it but it didn't fully do it for me. However, it terms of a debut release this was a solid start and I'm really interested in seeing what Mikuta releases in the future as well as how she choose to continue this series.
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