A review by aliciasrealm
Heart of Iron by Ashley Poston

3.0

When I read that this book was a reimagining of Anastasia I had certain expectations, namely in the relationship between the Anastasia inspired character and the Dimitri inspired character, and in that respect this book was a major disappointment. I was hoping for a relationship that evolved from "can't stand each other" to "friends" to "lovers", but casting the Dimitri character as an AI robot resulted in an entirely different (and subpar) dynamic. Adding an insta-love romance between two other characters did not help this book.

The world building was lacking and overall there were too many POVs for the length, and the short chapters/constantly shifting POV did not help. The relationships and character development could have been so much better. If you've seen the animated Anastasia movie then major plot revelations may be too predictable. It's cool that two of the main characters are POC though it was more window dressing than substantive representation.

I loved Poston's Geekerella series and enjoyed her adult romance novels, but this sci-fi / romantasy story just didn't work for me. I'm not sure whether I want to read the sequel yet.