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Gearbreakers #2
Godslayers
Godslayers--Zoe Hana Mikuta's high-octane sequel to Gearbreakers--is perfect for fans of Pacific Rim, Pierce Brown's Red Rising Saga, and Marie Lu's Legend series.
The only way to kill a god is from the inside...
The Gearbreakers struck a devastating blow against Godolia on Heavensday, but the cost of victory has been steep. Months later, the few rebels who've managed to escape the tyrannical empire's bloody retribution have fled to the mountains, hunted by the last Zenith--Godolia's only surviving leader.
Eris has been held prisoner since the attack on the capital city, which almost killed her. And she begins to wish it had when she discovers Sona--the girl she loves, the girl she would tear down cities for--also survived, only to be captured and Corrupted by the Zenith. The cybernetic brainwashing that Sona has forcibly undergone now has her believing herself a loyal soldier for Godolia, and Eris' mortal enemy.
With the rebellion shattered and Godolia moving forward with an insidious plan to begin inducting Badlands children into a new Windup Pilot program, the odds have never been more stacked against the Gearbreakers. Their last hope for victory will depend on whether Eris and Sona can somehow find their way back to each other from opposite sides of a war...
The only way to kill a god is from the inside...
The Gearbreakers struck a devastating blow against Godolia on Heavensday, but the cost of victory has been steep. Months later, the few rebels who've managed to escape the tyrannical empire's bloody retribution have fled to the mountains, hunted by the last Zenith--Godolia's only surviving leader.
Eris has been held prisoner since the attack on the capital city, which almost killed her. And she begins to wish it had when she discovers Sona--the girl she loves, the girl she would tear down cities for--also survived, only to be captured and Corrupted by the Zenith. The cybernetic brainwashing that Sona has forcibly undergone now has her believing herself a loyal soldier for Godolia, and Eris' mortal enemy.
With the rebellion shattered and Godolia moving forward with an insidious plan to begin inducting Badlands children into a new Windup Pilot program, the odds have never been more stacked against the Gearbreakers. Their last hope for victory will depend on whether Eris and Sona can somehow find their way back to each other from opposite sides of a war...
416 pages, Hardcover
First published June 28, 2022
About the author
Zoe Hana Mikuta
4 books1,035 followersauthor | 24 | Seattle
THE COVEN TENDENCY 4.1.25/Hyperion
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS
GEARBREAKERS DUOLOGY
THE COVEN TENDENCY 4.1.25/Hyperion
OFF WITH THEIR HEADS
GEARBREAKERS DUOLOGY
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 428 reviews
February 6, 2023
hm ... underwater mecha fights . ...
March 11, 2022
The same worldbuilding issues from the first book carry over into this one, such as:
The mix of religions for some reason only includes European religions, many of which fell out of practice centuries ago.
No justification for why "resource villages" are routinely destroyed
The extremely expensive yet very low tech technology
Bad naming
Edgelord dialogue
Lack of descriptions
No good reason for keeping Bellsona or Eris alive
"Hangar" is specifically for things that can fly. The Windups are kept in garages, which sounds a lot less cool, I know, but it's what that sort of thing is called.
A metal hand closes around Eris' ankle. If the mecha is 160 feet tall, it's hand is about 20 feet across, each finger about 2 feet wide. Something that large can't wrap its fingers around her ankle.
"Electrical resistivity tomography imager" - just say ERT, or a scanner, or anything less wordy. The author doesn't know what this is or how it works, most of the target audience won't, and no one will interrupt the story to look it up.
"...fingertips searching to catch on a loose seam…" - the word you want to use here is "thread," but it's too obvious so the author substitutes a somewhat related word. The problem is that a seam isn't something that you can pull, it describes a line formed when two pieces of fabric meet. You can pull apart a seam, but you can't pull the seam itself.
The characters narrate in very pseudointellectual prose, the kind that sounds deep when you're writing it but when you revisit it ten years later is just pure cringe. Worse is that they all sound the same. For example:
"Greedy things, Gods - their hands rise, searching for me…" - Eris
"The Pilots were greedy, reaching for her…" - Sona, five pages later
You would think Eris reducing the mecha to their ostensible function as "gods" and Sona opting to emphasize the human beings within would indicate some depth and variety to how they perceive the world as individuals. This could be an intentional and clever choice the author made, but it isn't.
Mecha aren't something that would be created in the real world. They would be too expensive to build and maintain. If for some reason we did make them, just for shits and giggles, having a human pilot them would be unnecessary. It would be safer, and cheaper, to operate them remotely. In order to suspend disbelief i.e. throw it out the window with mecha, they need to be cool. Inelegant, slow moving, skyscraper-sized steampunk "windups" that are easily dismantled by a zany teenager are not cool.
Too many domestic scenes. I don't care about sleeping arrangements. It's boring.
How did the gearbreakers take over a cavern full of dozens of windups without anyone noticing. Why aren't the windups tracked in any way? An entire cohort of people piloting giant robots defected and instead of dealing with it it was covered up by "blueprints blotted from history" (how would blueprints for these things be publicly accessible in a totalitarian state) and "the Academy told to give a blank stare to anyone who asked around." Why would the people "asking around" be left alive in a country where "resource villages" on which the city is wholly dependent are routinely destroyed for minor infractions? The explanation given is that they destroyed another "hangar" and left a couple of their cohort in the rubble and moved to another location. But there is no possible way these mechas can be stealthily moved en masse.
The words "rot," "rotting," and "rotted" are used a lot.
"Shiels doesn't waste generator power on lighting up the hangar" - they have dozens of mecha running on some limitless "central power core". Use one of those.
"The ball is the only place we can be sure he'll be in public." Based on what? One person telling you? How is this not an obvious plot to draw them out - more importantly, how did no one in this ridiculous war room think of that possibility? Literally no resistance to this paper-thin plan. A few sentences later the plan changes to re-recruiting Sona to kill him? The one rational-seeming adult calls attention to how absurd the plan is, yet readily agrees with it.
"Devoid guard - posting an unpiloted mecha to scare off unwanted activity - is a new tactic…" - in what universe is a scarecrow a "new tactic"?
What even is a Zenith? Why are they special? Why are they important? How is this government structured? We spend so much time trapped in the characters' heads, so much time reading infodumps of the most mundane aspects of their lives, that we never learn anything about how the world works, or even what it looks like.
Lack of contractions for the...I don't even know what their side is called. The Godolians? "Do not be concerned." "You do not wear earrings." This is so overdone that it's more likely to be parodied than played straight, like the author does here.
If you liked the previous book you'll like this one since it's more of the same. For me, the lack of improvement over the author's previous work was fatal to this sequel.
The mix of religions for some reason only includes European religions, many of which fell out of practice centuries ago.
No justification for why "resource villages" are routinely destroyed
The extremely expensive yet very low tech technology
Bad naming
Edgelord dialogue
Lack of descriptions
No good reason for keeping Bellsona or Eris alive
"Hangar" is specifically for things that can fly. The Windups are kept in garages, which sounds a lot less cool, I know, but it's what that sort of thing is called.
A metal hand closes around Eris' ankle. If the mecha is 160 feet tall, it's hand is about 20 feet across, each finger about 2 feet wide. Something that large can't wrap its fingers around her ankle.
"Electrical resistivity tomography imager" - just say ERT, or a scanner, or anything less wordy. The author doesn't know what this is or how it works, most of the target audience won't, and no one will interrupt the story to look it up.
"...fingertips searching to catch on a loose seam…" - the word you want to use here is "thread," but it's too obvious so the author substitutes a somewhat related word. The problem is that a seam isn't something that you can pull, it describes a line formed when two pieces of fabric meet. You can pull apart a seam, but you can't pull the seam itself.
The characters narrate in very pseudointellectual prose, the kind that sounds deep when you're writing it but when you revisit it ten years later is just pure cringe. Worse is that they all sound the same. For example:
"Greedy things, Gods - their hands rise, searching for me…" - Eris
"The Pilots were greedy, reaching for her…" - Sona, five pages later
You would think Eris reducing the mecha to their ostensible function as "gods" and Sona opting to emphasize the human beings within would indicate some depth and variety to how they perceive the world as individuals. This could be an intentional and clever choice the author made, but it isn't.
Mecha aren't something that would be created in the real world. They would be too expensive to build and maintain. If for some reason we did make them, just for shits and giggles, having a human pilot them would be unnecessary. It would be safer, and cheaper, to operate them remotely. In order to suspend disbelief i.e. throw it out the window with mecha, they need to be cool. Inelegant, slow moving, skyscraper-sized steampunk "windups" that are easily dismantled by a zany teenager are not cool.
Too many domestic scenes. I don't care about sleeping arrangements. It's boring.
How did the gearbreakers take over a cavern full of dozens of windups without anyone noticing. Why aren't the windups tracked in any way? An entire cohort of people piloting giant robots defected and instead of dealing with it it was covered up by "blueprints blotted from history" (how would blueprints for these things be publicly accessible in a totalitarian state) and "the Academy told to give a blank stare to anyone who asked around." Why would the people "asking around" be left alive in a country where "resource villages" on which the city is wholly dependent are routinely destroyed for minor infractions? The explanation given is that they destroyed another "hangar" and left a couple of their cohort in the rubble and moved to another location. But there is no possible way these mechas can be stealthily moved en masse.
The words "rot," "rotting," and "rotted" are used a lot.
"Shiels doesn't waste generator power on lighting up the hangar" - they have dozens of mecha running on some limitless "central power core". Use one of those.
"The ball is the only place we can be sure he'll be in public." Based on what? One person telling you? How is this not an obvious plot to draw them out - more importantly, how did no one in this ridiculous war room think of that possibility? Literally no resistance to this paper-thin plan. A few sentences later the plan changes to re-recruiting Sona to kill him? The one rational-seeming adult calls attention to how absurd the plan is, yet readily agrees with it.
"Devoid guard - posting an unpiloted mecha to scare off unwanted activity - is a new tactic…" - in what universe is a scarecrow a "new tactic"?
What even is a Zenith? Why are they special? Why are they important? How is this government structured? We spend so much time trapped in the characters' heads, so much time reading infodumps of the most mundane aspects of their lives, that we never learn anything about how the world works, or even what it looks like.
Lack of contractions for the...I don't even know what their side is called. The Godolians? "Do not be concerned." "You do not wear earrings." This is so overdone that it's more likely to be parodied than played straight, like the author does here.
If you liked the previous book you'll like this one since it's more of the same. For me, the lack of improvement over the author's previous work was fatal to this sequel.
Want to read
July 11, 2021I AM SO EXCITED BUT ALSO TERRIFIED
July 18, 2022
I want to crawl inside this book and let the prose soak into my bones so I can emerge a better writer
July 6, 2022
4.5/5
Thank you to Pride Book Tours and Fierce Reads for a physical copy in exchange for an honest review and promotion. All opinions are my own.
What a conclusion!!
Godslayers picks up after a small time break. The prologue gives us a glimpse into Jenny’s mind and then we’re back to Sona and Eris. The two are seemingly back where they started: on opposite sides of the war. But their emotional connection is stronger than ever. Can the two ultimately stop the devastation that is the Godolia government?
Godslayers was just as strong a book, if not more so than Gearbreakers for me. Like book 1 there is a ton of action and quite a lot of gore (including some pretty graphic scenes). I love this world and seeing how all the mechas work and how the Gearbreakers take them apart. This book has great commentary on colonisation and authoritarian governments.
What really drives this series for me is the characters. I love them all so much. Sona, Eris and Jenny are such badasses and I want the best things for them. Plus seeing Eris with her Gearbreakers always makes me so soft. The FOUND FAMILY I CRY! They all deserve to retire in a lovely woodland cottage and be happy forever. Also, I loved seeing more of Zamaya in this one. She is so feral and I love her and Jenny so much.
Bottom line: READ THIS SERIES!! It has so much revenge, action and enemies to lovers. What’s not to like?!
Rep: Asian bisexual female MC with one hand, Asian lesbian female MC with an eye implant, Asian genius female side character with various implants, queer Asian cis male side character, asexual side characters, queer normative world.
CWs: Death, violence, blood, gore, child death, gun violence, murder, war, body horror. Moderate: suicide, mentions of genocide, grief, death of parent, gaslighting, injury/injury detail, suicidal thoughts, torture, confinement, toxic friendship, vomit, police brutality, medical content, kidnapping, medical trauma. Minor: cursing.
Thank you to Pride Book Tours and Fierce Reads for a physical copy in exchange for an honest review and promotion. All opinions are my own.
What a conclusion!!
Godslayers picks up after a small time break. The prologue gives us a glimpse into Jenny’s mind and then we’re back to Sona and Eris. The two are seemingly back where they started: on opposite sides of the war. But their emotional connection is stronger than ever. Can the two ultimately stop the devastation that is the Godolia government?
Godslayers was just as strong a book, if not more so than Gearbreakers for me. Like book 1 there is a ton of action and quite a lot of gore (including some pretty graphic scenes). I love this world and seeing how all the mechas work and how the Gearbreakers take them apart. This book has great commentary on colonisation and authoritarian governments.
What really drives this series for me is the characters. I love them all so much. Sona, Eris and Jenny are such badasses and I want the best things for them. Plus seeing Eris with her Gearbreakers always makes me so soft. The FOUND FAMILY I CRY! They all deserve to retire in a lovely woodland cottage and be happy forever. Also, I loved seeing more of Zamaya in this one. She is so feral and I love her and Jenny so much.
Bottom line: READ THIS SERIES!! It has so much revenge, action and enemies to lovers. What’s not to like?!
Rep: Asian bisexual female MC with one hand, Asian lesbian female MC with an eye implant, Asian genius female side character with various implants, queer Asian cis male side character, asexual side characters, queer normative world.
CWs: Death, violence, blood, gore, child death, gun violence, murder, war, body horror. Moderate: suicide, mentions of genocide, grief, death of parent, gaslighting, injury/injury detail, suicidal thoughts, torture, confinement, toxic friendship, vomit, police brutality, medical content, kidnapping, medical trauma. Minor: cursing.
August 9, 2022
I’m not quite sure about that ending or how I feel about it.
Compared to the first book in this duology this felt dull in comparison - I truly can’t explain it any other way.
Compared to the first book in this duology this felt dull in comparison - I truly can’t explain it any other way.
July 31, 2022
"He thought he did not have a way out." I am nothing but the sobs fissuring my body, crying into Eris's shoulder, and it is just small and so, so dark here. "He thought he could not just run".
fuck me gently with a chainsaw
fuck me gently with a chainsaw
August 11, 2023
i love and support these lesbians with my life
May 6, 2022
DNF at 60%. This book was not for me. I did like the passion and soul mate feels between Eris and Sona. And Eris is such a cool name. Too many battle scenes and not enough background for me to envision the world that they are living in.
ARC received for a voluntary and honest review
ARC received for a voluntary and honest review
Want to read
October 6, 2021Oh boy, this is gonna hurt.
November 27, 2023
Sona, my beloved
August 2, 2024
What am I exactly supposed to do now that it's all over?!?! I need more.
October 11, 2022
4.5 stars.
Ahh, after my 2022 YA and SFF slump, reading this was the most fun I've had with an English book in months! My memory was a little hazy after reading the first book last year, but I was immediately drawn into the characters and the adventure. Godslayers cemented the Gearbreakers duology as one of my favorite YA series of all time. It's got that super fun, unhinged, self-indulgent, and honestly violent style that's clearly inspired by East Asian media. I adore it.
The author's prose greatly improved in this one. I also loved how this has a lesbian MC and a gay man who are best frien(enemies), and their platonic love for each other is just as important as the MC's romantic relationship with her girlfriend. Jenny also grew on me in this book; she just gets even wilder and more shameless, and you become really glad she's on the side of the heroes because whew... She'd make a scary villain lmao. Even scarier than the actual antagonist.
I mean, sure, there are still plot holes. But after this break away from books, I was able to turn off my mind and just enjoy the ride without thinking too hard. Godslayers is a necessary sequel that delivers everything it promised after the cliffhanger of the first book and gives you a satisfying conclusion. It may not be for everyone, but it was for me!
Ahh, after my 2022 YA and SFF slump, reading this was the most fun I've had with an English book in months! My memory was a little hazy after reading the first book last year, but I was immediately drawn into the characters and the adventure. Godslayers cemented the Gearbreakers duology as one of my favorite YA series of all time. It's got that super fun, unhinged, self-indulgent, and honestly violent style that's clearly inspired by East Asian media. I adore it.
The author's prose greatly improved in this one. I also loved how this has a lesbian MC and a gay man who are best frien(enemies), and their platonic love for each other is just as important as the MC's romantic relationship with her girlfriend. Jenny also grew on me in this book; she just gets even wilder and more shameless, and you become really glad she's on the side of the heroes because whew... She'd make a scary villain lmao. Even scarier than the actual antagonist.
I mean, sure, there are still plot holes. But after this break away from books, I was able to turn off my mind and just enjoy the ride without thinking too hard. Godslayers is a necessary sequel that delivers everything it promised after the cliffhanger of the first book and gives you a satisfying conclusion. It may not be for everyone, but it was for me!
June 28, 2022
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
TW: suicide
To say I was excited for Godslayers is an understatement. Gearbreakers is a book that took me by storm. And this sequel is no different. Captured and brainwashed, Sonya and Eris are apart and must figure out if they can find their way back to each other. At the beginning, I was 100% swept up in the feels. In looking at someone you used to know, to love, and seeing nothing staring back at you. I feel like at various points this can be what we experience in a relationship.
This disconnect between having someone once have been your everything, and then looking at them with nothing left. Or worse, with hated or anger. And so from the beginning, Godslayers felt like it was both relatable - because of those emotions - and also a slice of escape. Because there's no way I'd make it alive in this world. It begins with heartbreak, but very quickly Hana Mikuta sweeps us away with the action.
full review: https://utopia-state-of-mind.com/revi...
TW: suicide
To say I was excited for Godslayers is an understatement. Gearbreakers is a book that took me by storm. And this sequel is no different. Captured and brainwashed, Sonya and Eris are apart and must figure out if they can find their way back to each other. At the beginning, I was 100% swept up in the feels. In looking at someone you used to know, to love, and seeing nothing staring back at you. I feel like at various points this can be what we experience in a relationship.
This disconnect between having someone once have been your everything, and then looking at them with nothing left. Or worse, with hated or anger. And so from the beginning, Godslayers felt like it was both relatable - because of those emotions - and also a slice of escape. Because there's no way I'd make it alive in this world. It begins with heartbreak, but very quickly Hana Mikuta sweeps us away with the action.
full review: https://utopia-state-of-mind.com/revi...
July 13, 2022
incredible, showstopping, loved with my entire heart. Zoe Hana Mikuta’s writing is a gift.
May 5, 2024
Ok did I skim the last 40 pages of this? Yes! And you would have too. My main issue is that this is a duology and it is not structured like one. All the worldbuilding and character dynamics are genuinely very interesting and I’m like damn…i wish we got to read about that stuff.
On a good note, I find Sona and Eris to be genuinely adorable and the quiet moments between them were my favorite scenes of both books.
ALSO idk if this is just me being a prophet or whatever but I have such a good feeling about Zoe Hana Mikuta as an author like, did this hit? No. But I wouldn’t be surprised if she does write something really great in her career.
On a good note, I find Sona and Eris to be genuinely adorable and the quiet moments between them were my favorite scenes of both books.
ALSO idk if this is just me being a prophet or whatever but I have such a good feeling about Zoe Hana Mikuta as an author like, did this hit? No. But I wouldn’t be surprised if she does write something really great in her career.
August 22, 2022
this is the sequel to gearbreakers.
though the gearbreakers won against godolia, the cost of victory has been steeper than anyone imagined. this book takes place months after gearbreakers and sona and eris are seemingly on opposite sides of the war, though they have a strong emotional connection that may make it hard for it to stay that way.
like book one, this was super action-packed, which of course i love to see in a sci-fi book. i think the author also did well in further developing the characters and giving them satisfying arcs. i especially loved how eris and sona’s relationship developed throughout the book!
though the gearbreakers won against godolia, the cost of victory has been steeper than anyone imagined. this book takes place months after gearbreakers and sona and eris are seemingly on opposite sides of the war, though they have a strong emotional connection that may make it hard for it to stay that way.
like book one, this was super action-packed, which of course i love to see in a sci-fi book. i think the author also did well in further developing the characters and giving them satisfying arcs. i especially loved how eris and sona’s relationship developed throughout the book!
August 16, 2022
4.5☆
This duology is so cool!!! The characters are also so fun to read about (mostly Sona, Eris and Jenny obv)
I really liked the twist with Enyo too
The writing is so fun, idk why but I never got bored
Overall I would definitely recommend this duology if you want mecha fights and sapphics 😌
Btw, in the acknowledgments: "To the Castle, where we have always lived"??? We have always lived in the castle by Shirley Jackson?? 👀
Anyways, I will probably read anything this author writes
This duology is so cool!!! The characters are also so fun to read about (mostly Sona, Eris and Jenny obv)
I really liked the twist with Enyo too
The writing is so fun, idk why but I never got bored
Overall I would definitely recommend this duology if you want mecha fights and sapphics 😌
Btw, in the acknowledgments: "To the Castle, where we have always lived"??? We have always lived in the castle by Shirley Jackson?? 👀
Anyways, I will probably read anything this author writes
Shelved as 'dnf-s'
January 2, 2023my 2023 goal is to dnf more books that have no appeal to me anymore or just dnf when i feel like it. this book is just a chore for me to continue
January 17, 2023
“I think, in the midst of that divine hunger, I became someone else.”
The main emotion that this book made me feel was confusion. Spoiler warnings for Gearbreakers and Godslayers. And I mean a lot of spoilers. You’ve been warned.
The Gearbreakers attack on Heavensday was successful, but has come at a cost. The Gearbreakers are on the run, Eris is being held prisoner in Godolia, and Sona is brainwashed into believing she is a loyal Godolia pilot. When Godolia starts a program to induct Badlands kids into a Windup program, will the Gearbreakers stop them, or will they be crushed under the boot of one of Godolia’s mechas?
I spent most of this book wondering what was going on. That’s partially because I forgot most of what happened in Gearbreakers and partially because this book was really confusing.
Let's start off with what I liked. The writing style definitely got better in this book. Gearbreakers’s main problem was definitely the purple prose, which cleared up in this book. I really like the way Mikuta writes now, it’s pretty and brutal and serves the book well. She has a strong voice.
Eris and Sona’s romance is cute, if a bit cheesy sometimes. I liked their dynamic and them as characters. The found family vibes were cute. I really liked the ending, it felt right, even if I think more people should have died. I’m glad that Eris and Sona got a happy ending, and Jenny being a diplomat makes a lot of sense. I really like Jenny as a character too, I want a book about her.
I like how Korean culture was more included in this book.
The overall message of the series is sweet. I like the hopeful element.
Now what I didn’t like, which is going to be a much longer list.
The introduction of the Hydras, a discontinued Mecha line that are piloted by Godolians that went rogue. They end up helping the Gearbreakers, but it felt like a cop-out to give the main crew a bunch of mechas, and therefore an advantage. It also made it so the mecha fights were mecha v. mecha, instead of Gearbreakers v. mecha, which was one of my favorite parts of Gearbreakers. The mecha v. mecha fights were less exciting and made battle scenes less fun to read. It was a really random choice.
Speaking of random, this entire book felt random. The plot was very disjointed, if you can even call it a plot. I would call it a bunch of things happening, the Gearbreakers reacting to it, rinse and repeat. Despite this, I still can’t name anything that happened in the middle of this novel. It didn’t feel like Godslayers had a direction it was going in, which made it hard to stay invested in it.
Godslayers also suffers from a too-big cast. In Gearbreakers, Eris’s crew all have fairly distinct personality traits and roles as a crew (ex: Nova is chaotic, and she’s the getaway driver). They weren’t the best side characters, they weren’t super fleshed out, but they still had their own roles. In Godslayers, that just disappears. They’re practically interchangeable and don’t have much pagetime, and I wasn’t really emotionally invested in any of them. It was sad when June died, but I wasn’t nearly as sad as I would have been if she had died in Gearbreakers, back when she had an actual personality. The addition of Jenny’s crew, the Hydras, and those doctors didn’t help either. They didn’t even feel like side characters, just names that would appear on the page occasionally and then disappear for a while. I cared about Eris, Sona, and Jenny. That was it.
Enyo as a character was really random. He wants to be good and help people, but has inherited the role of being a leader of an empire that has a lot of blood on its hands. He had a lot of potential to be fascinating, but it was never capitalized upon. He’s just there, and I never really understood him. His relationship with Sona also had lots of potential, and I liked the snippets we got, but it didn’t really amount to anything. They were just weirdly obsessed with each other, and there weren’t enough interactions between them or depth to his character to justify that obsession. I understood what Mikuta was trying to do with his character, and if it was done well it would have been amazing, but it was executed poorly.
The worldbuilding was kind of bad and confusing. I’m not really sure where anything is in relation to each other and what’s part of Godolia and what isn’t. I really wish this book had a map, because that would help me envision Godolia. It feels like the world doesn’t exist outside of the story, if that makes sense. The religion was fascinating, but not built-up, which is really sad. The idea of people worshiping man-made mechas that kill them is so cool and not well-used at all, even though it’s such a central part of how Godolia works.
There were so many time skips. I understand why they happened, since what happened between the time skips would have been horribly boring to read about, but it was still too much. They were also sometimes used to skip over dealing with the consequences of something, which I think is a really lazy and cheap writing tactic. I think that this series should have been a trilogy (despite the fact that there’s definitely not enough plot to sustain three books) just because of all these stupid time skips.
One of the things that is skipped over is Eris losing her hand. It is actually the stupidest thing to happen in this book. It has no consequences. It adds nothing to the story. It is literally pointless and did not need to happen. We don’t see her having phantom pains. We don’t see her adjusting to the loss of her hand, in physical and mental ways. We don’t see her dealing with the fact that her hand was blown off and all the trauma that comes with that. She loses her hand, there’s a one month time skip, and then Jenny’s made her a new hand so she’s good to go. It’s so lazy it makes me mad. Why did it even fucking happen if it wouldn’t affect the book or Eris’s character at all?
Sona’s corruption arc had the potential to be so good, and we got some good and angsty parts between her and Enyo, or her and Eris, but it kind of just disappeared. Again, a lot of potential that was wasted. I think her character development was okay, but it’s hard to say if Eris is really that different from the beginning of the series.
The Archangel showing up at the end of the book was so unnecessary and random, especially because they defeated it a page later. There was no point to it showing up.
Whenever any of the characters called each other “love”, I would imagine them saying it in a British accent. That’s a personal issue, but did not do Godslayers any favors.
Overall, Godslayers had a lot of potential and interesting ideas that were just wasted. The writing style improved, but everything else just got worse. It’s sad, since I know Mikuta has the ability to write a good book. Gearbreakers was genuinely fun and enjoyable to read, while reading Godslayers felt like I was in a confused haze. I’m not really sure if I’d recommend this series. I liked the first book a lot, but this was a disappointment. I do look forward to Mikuta’s future works though, her writing is good and this is her debut series. She’s got nowhere to go but up.
The main emotion that this book made me feel was confusion. Spoiler warnings for Gearbreakers and Godslayers. And I mean a lot of spoilers. You’ve been warned.
The Gearbreakers attack on Heavensday was successful, but has come at a cost. The Gearbreakers are on the run, Eris is being held prisoner in Godolia, and Sona is brainwashed into believing she is a loyal Godolia pilot. When Godolia starts a program to induct Badlands kids into a Windup program, will the Gearbreakers stop them, or will they be crushed under the boot of one of Godolia’s mechas?
I spent most of this book wondering what was going on. That’s partially because I forgot most of what happened in Gearbreakers and partially because this book was really confusing.
Let's start off with what I liked. The writing style definitely got better in this book. Gearbreakers’s main problem was definitely the purple prose, which cleared up in this book. I really like the way Mikuta writes now, it’s pretty and brutal and serves the book well. She has a strong voice.
Eris and Sona’s romance is cute, if a bit cheesy sometimes. I liked their dynamic and them as characters. The found family vibes were cute. I really liked the ending, it felt right, even if I think more people should have died. I’m glad that Eris and Sona got a happy ending, and Jenny being a diplomat makes a lot of sense. I really like Jenny as a character too, I want a book about her.
I like how Korean culture was more included in this book.
The overall message of the series is sweet. I like the hopeful element.
Now what I didn’t like, which is going to be a much longer list.
The introduction of the Hydras, a discontinued Mecha line that are piloted by Godolians that went rogue. They end up helping the Gearbreakers, but it felt like a cop-out to give the main crew a bunch of mechas, and therefore an advantage. It also made it so the mecha fights were mecha v. mecha, instead of Gearbreakers v. mecha, which was one of my favorite parts of Gearbreakers. The mecha v. mecha fights were less exciting and made battle scenes less fun to read. It was a really random choice.
Speaking of random, this entire book felt random. The plot was very disjointed, if you can even call it a plot. I would call it a bunch of things happening, the Gearbreakers reacting to it, rinse and repeat. Despite this, I still can’t name anything that happened in the middle of this novel. It didn’t feel like Godslayers had a direction it was going in, which made it hard to stay invested in it.
Godslayers also suffers from a too-big cast. In Gearbreakers, Eris’s crew all have fairly distinct personality traits and roles as a crew (ex: Nova is chaotic, and she’s the getaway driver). They weren’t the best side characters, they weren’t super fleshed out, but they still had their own roles. In Godslayers, that just disappears. They’re practically interchangeable and don’t have much pagetime, and I wasn’t really emotionally invested in any of them. It was sad when June died, but I wasn’t nearly as sad as I would have been if she had died in Gearbreakers, back when she had an actual personality. The addition of Jenny’s crew, the Hydras, and those doctors didn’t help either. They didn’t even feel like side characters, just names that would appear on the page occasionally and then disappear for a while. I cared about Eris, Sona, and Jenny. That was it.
Enyo as a character was really random. He wants to be good and help people, but has inherited the role of being a leader of an empire that has a lot of blood on its hands. He had a lot of potential to be fascinating, but it was never capitalized upon. He’s just there, and I never really understood him. His relationship with Sona also had lots of potential, and I liked the snippets we got, but it didn’t really amount to anything. They were just weirdly obsessed with each other, and there weren’t enough interactions between them or depth to his character to justify that obsession. I understood what Mikuta was trying to do with his character, and if it was done well it would have been amazing, but it was executed poorly.
The worldbuilding was kind of bad and confusing. I’m not really sure where anything is in relation to each other and what’s part of Godolia and what isn’t. I really wish this book had a map, because that would help me envision Godolia. It feels like the world doesn’t exist outside of the story, if that makes sense. The religion was fascinating, but not built-up, which is really sad. The idea of people worshiping man-made mechas that kill them is so cool and not well-used at all, even though it’s such a central part of how Godolia works.
There were so many time skips. I understand why they happened, since what happened between the time skips would have been horribly boring to read about, but it was still too much. They were also sometimes used to skip over dealing with the consequences of something, which I think is a really lazy and cheap writing tactic. I think that this series should have been a trilogy (despite the fact that there’s definitely not enough plot to sustain three books) just because of all these stupid time skips.
One of the things that is skipped over is Eris losing her hand. It is actually the stupidest thing to happen in this book. It has no consequences. It adds nothing to the story. It is literally pointless and did not need to happen. We don’t see her having phantom pains. We don’t see her adjusting to the loss of her hand, in physical and mental ways. We don’t see her dealing with the fact that her hand was blown off and all the trauma that comes with that. She loses her hand, there’s a one month time skip, and then Jenny’s made her a new hand so she’s good to go. It’s so lazy it makes me mad. Why did it even fucking happen if it wouldn’t affect the book or Eris’s character at all?
Sona’s corruption arc had the potential to be so good, and we got some good and angsty parts between her and Enyo, or her and Eris, but it kind of just disappeared. Again, a lot of potential that was wasted. I think her character development was okay, but it’s hard to say if Eris is really that different from the beginning of the series.
The Archangel showing up at the end of the book was so unnecessary and random, especially because they defeated it a page later. There was no point to it showing up.
Whenever any of the characters called each other “love”, I would imagine them saying it in a British accent. That’s a personal issue, but did not do Godslayers any favors.
Overall, Godslayers had a lot of potential and interesting ideas that were just wasted. The writing style improved, but everything else just got worse. It’s sad, since I know Mikuta has the ability to write a good book. Gearbreakers was genuinely fun and enjoyable to read, while reading Godslayers felt like I was in a confused haze. I’m not really sure if I’d recommend this series. I liked the first book a lot, but this was a disappointment. I do look forward to Mikuta’s future works though, her writing is good and this is her debut series. She’s got nowhere to go but up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 2, 2023
Ended up falling into a major reading slump again, but I’m glad I finished this. I would’ve enjoyed it better as a back to back release in 2021. The writing doesn’t click with me anymore and nothing really happened in this book. It desperately needed a third POV to enrich the plot, themes, and psychological beats. Also, the end of as extremely rushed and not that exciting.
A great queer sci-fi for people aged 12-17, but just not my thing anymore. I’ll definitely try Mikuta’s next release though!
A great queer sci-fi for people aged 12-17, but just not my thing anymore. I’ll definitely try Mikuta’s next release though!
July 7, 2022
EVERYONE READ THIS DUOLOGY! In simple terms: CYBER PUNK SAPPHIC ENEMIES TO LOVERS ROMANCE MEETS SCAWY ROBOT GODS MEETS THE FOUND FAMILY TROPE MEETS THE MOST BADASS CHARACTERS EVER! ITS SO BEAUTIFUL AND ACTION PACKED AND HEARTBREAKING AND WONDERFUL AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN!
December 5, 2022
I think it’s safe to say that I’m scared of this book 😭😭
*it was great but I’m pretty sure that YA books aren’t my jam anymore :/
*it was great but I’m pretty sure that YA books aren’t my jam anymore :/
July 8, 2022
Disclaimer: I bought my own copy of the book. Support your authors! All opinions are my own.
Book: Godslayers
Author: Zoe Hana Mikuta
Book Series: Gearbreakers Book 2
Rating: 3.5/5
Diversity: Bisexual Asian inspired MC, Lesbian Asian inspired MC, sapphic romance
Recommended For...: young adult readers, sci-fi, LGBT, queer, dystopian, mechas
Publication Date: June 28, 2022
Genre: YA Sci-Fi Dystopian
Age Relevance:16+ (violence, gore, religion, cursing, torture, alcohol consumption, death, parental death, romance)
Explanation of Above: There was a lot of violence, weapons and physical, and gore with blood and some mentions of vomit. There is also a lot of death mentioned, especially parental death. Religion is discussed and mentioned throughout the book. There is torture mentioned and shown throughout the book. There is a lot of cursing. There is one mention of alcohol consumption. There is some romance and some show of PTSD.
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Pages: 402
Synopsis: The only way to kill a god is from the inside...
The Gearbreakers struck a devastating blow against Godolia on Heavensday, but the cost of victory has been steep. Months later, the few rebels who've managed to escape the tyrannical empire's bloody retribution have fled to the mountains, hunted by the last Zenith--Godolia's only surviving leader.
Eris has been held prisoner since the attack on the capital city, which almost killed her. And she begins to wish it had when she discovers Sona--the girl she loves, the girl she would tear down cities for--also survived, only to be captured and Corrupted by the Zenith. The cybernetic brainwashing that Sona has forcibly undergone now has her believing herself a loyal soldier for Godolia, and Eris' mortal enemy.
With the rebellion shattered and Godolia moving forward with an insidious plan to begin inducting Badlands children into a new Windup Pilot program, the odds have never been more stacked against the Gearbreakers. Their last hope for victory will depend on whether Eris and Sona can somehow find their way back to each other from opposite sides of a war...
Review: For the most part this was a fun read. The book immediately picked up from the first book and it didn’t let up throughout the book. The book is a fun enemies to lovers that plays with a few tropes to keep up that vibe throughout. The character development continued in this book and was great and I loved the romance overall.
However, there were a few issues I had. I was confused throughout most of the book because it just felt like anytime the main characters were in a life or death situation, they immediately got out of it. The book continues to need more background world building. The book is incredibly too fast paced. And the time jumps annoyed the hell out of me. I feel like time jumps are incredibly lazy writing and I wish that more was done with that time than just jumping around and confusing the audience. This is another book that feels like it should have been two books, which is a shame cause the concept overall is amazing.
Verdict: It’s good just needs to be developed more.
Book: Godslayers
Author: Zoe Hana Mikuta
Book Series: Gearbreakers Book 2
Rating: 3.5/5
Diversity: Bisexual Asian inspired MC, Lesbian Asian inspired MC, sapphic romance
Recommended For...: young adult readers, sci-fi, LGBT, queer, dystopian, mechas
Publication Date: June 28, 2022
Genre: YA Sci-Fi Dystopian
Age Relevance:16+ (violence, gore, religion, cursing, torture, alcohol consumption, death, parental death, romance)
Explanation of Above: There was a lot of violence, weapons and physical, and gore with blood and some mentions of vomit. There is also a lot of death mentioned, especially parental death. Religion is discussed and mentioned throughout the book. There is torture mentioned and shown throughout the book. There is a lot of cursing. There is one mention of alcohol consumption. There is some romance and some show of PTSD.
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Pages: 402
Synopsis: The only way to kill a god is from the inside...
The Gearbreakers struck a devastating blow against Godolia on Heavensday, but the cost of victory has been steep. Months later, the few rebels who've managed to escape the tyrannical empire's bloody retribution have fled to the mountains, hunted by the last Zenith--Godolia's only surviving leader.
Eris has been held prisoner since the attack on the capital city, which almost killed her. And she begins to wish it had when she discovers Sona--the girl she loves, the girl she would tear down cities for--also survived, only to be captured and Corrupted by the Zenith. The cybernetic brainwashing that Sona has forcibly undergone now has her believing herself a loyal soldier for Godolia, and Eris' mortal enemy.
With the rebellion shattered and Godolia moving forward with an insidious plan to begin inducting Badlands children into a new Windup Pilot program, the odds have never been more stacked against the Gearbreakers. Their last hope for victory will depend on whether Eris and Sona can somehow find their way back to each other from opposite sides of a war...
Review: For the most part this was a fun read. The book immediately picked up from the first book and it didn’t let up throughout the book. The book is a fun enemies to lovers that plays with a few tropes to keep up that vibe throughout. The character development continued in this book and was great and I loved the romance overall.
However, there were a few issues I had. I was confused throughout most of the book because it just felt like anytime the main characters were in a life or death situation, they immediately got out of it. The book continues to need more background world building. The book is incredibly too fast paced. And the time jumps annoyed the hell out of me. I feel like time jumps are incredibly lazy writing and I wish that more was done with that time than just jumping around and confusing the audience. This is another book that feels like it should have been two books, which is a shame cause the concept overall is amazing.
Verdict: It’s good just needs to be developed more.
November 9, 2023
Zuallererst möchte ich mich für das Rezensionsexemplar bedanken, welches mir von CroCu bereitgestellt wurde. Dieser Fakt beeinflusst aber in keiner Weise meine persönliche Meinung zu diesem Buch. Der Post enthält Werbung und die Rechte liegen beim Verlag.
ACHTUNG! HIERBEI HANDELT ES SICH UM EINEN ZWEITEN BAND. DIE REZENSION ENTHÄLT SPOILER ZU GEARBREAKER!
Natürlich ist dies nur meine persönliche Meinung und nur weil ich diesem Buch diese Bewertung zukommen lasse, heißt es nicht, dass es auf jeden anderen zutrifft.
Band eins fand ich wirklich gut. Ich habe sogar ein Interview mit einer Zeitschrift gehabt, wo ich dieses Buch vorgestellt habe. Ich habe mich sehr auf das Finale gefreut aber leider wurde ich enttäuscht.
Ich möchte ein paar Sachen vorweg sagen:
Ich habe Band eins nicht nochmal vorher gelesen, was ich hätte tun sollen, da ich dadurch, dass ich mich nicht komplett an den Plot erinnert habe, einige Startschwierigkeiten hatte. Außerdem befinde ich mich momentan in einer komischen Lesestimmung und auch privat war einiges los zu dem Lesezeitpunkt. Natürlich spielen solche Sachen immer irgendwie auf irgendeine Art und Weise mit in eine Buchbewertung rein, da man ja auch das Leseerlebnis bewertet. Ich glaube, dass ich dieses Buch einfach nicht zum richtigen Zeitpunkt gelesen habe und ich habe mir fest vorgenommen, dass ich die Reihe nochmal lese in einem Jahr oder so, um meine Bewertung zu überprüfen. Bitte nehmt also meine Sternebewertung nicht ganz so ernst.
Ich bin eigentlich ziemlich durch die Seiten geflogen aber trotzdem hatte ich an manchen Stellen das Gefühl, dass sich die Story zieht und an anderen ging es mir zu schnell. Bestimmte Sachen passieren einfach und werden danach nicht nochmal später thematisiert. Ich habe mich irgendwie etwas verloren in der Welt gefühlt und ich weiß nicht, ob das ausschliesslich daran lag, dass ich Band eins nicht nochmal gerereadet habe. Leider war auch einer meiner Lieblingsfaktoren an Buch eiins nicht mehr vorhanden aber ich kann nicht näher darauf eingehen ohne zu spoilern.
Es gab plötzlich sooo viele Charaktere, dass ich nicht mehr ganz mitkam. Da zwischen Band 1 und 2 einen Zeitsprung gibt war mir die Beziehung zwischen Enyo (dem Anführer) und Sona nicht so ganz ersichtlich. Generell habe ich die Beziehungen nicht mehr so ganz gespürt.
Ich finde die Idee immernoch großartig aber ich glaube, dass es mehr Spaß gemacht hätte, wenn ich mich an mehr erinnert hätte. Ich freue mich aber schon wirklich sehr auf den Reread in einem Jahr.
Fazit
Leider etwas schlechter als der erste Band!
Für weitere Rezensionen oder buchigen Content schau doch gerne auf meinem Blog ( https://paulajosina.wordpress.com/ ) oder meinen Instagramkanal (@bloggerinthejogger) vorbei
ACHTUNG! HIERBEI HANDELT ES SICH UM EINEN ZWEITEN BAND. DIE REZENSION ENTHÄLT SPOILER ZU GEARBREAKER!
Natürlich ist dies nur meine persönliche Meinung und nur weil ich diesem Buch diese Bewertung zukommen lasse, heißt es nicht, dass es auf jeden anderen zutrifft.
Band eins fand ich wirklich gut. Ich habe sogar ein Interview mit einer Zeitschrift gehabt, wo ich dieses Buch vorgestellt habe. Ich habe mich sehr auf das Finale gefreut aber leider wurde ich enttäuscht.
Ich möchte ein paar Sachen vorweg sagen:
Ich habe Band eins nicht nochmal vorher gelesen, was ich hätte tun sollen, da ich dadurch, dass ich mich nicht komplett an den Plot erinnert habe, einige Startschwierigkeiten hatte. Außerdem befinde ich mich momentan in einer komischen Lesestimmung und auch privat war einiges los zu dem Lesezeitpunkt. Natürlich spielen solche Sachen immer irgendwie auf irgendeine Art und Weise mit in eine Buchbewertung rein, da man ja auch das Leseerlebnis bewertet. Ich glaube, dass ich dieses Buch einfach nicht zum richtigen Zeitpunkt gelesen habe und ich habe mir fest vorgenommen, dass ich die Reihe nochmal lese in einem Jahr oder so, um meine Bewertung zu überprüfen. Bitte nehmt also meine Sternebewertung nicht ganz so ernst.
Ich bin eigentlich ziemlich durch die Seiten geflogen aber trotzdem hatte ich an manchen Stellen das Gefühl, dass sich die Story zieht und an anderen ging es mir zu schnell. Bestimmte Sachen passieren einfach und werden danach nicht nochmal später thematisiert. Ich habe mich irgendwie etwas verloren in der Welt gefühlt und ich weiß nicht, ob das ausschliesslich daran lag, dass ich Band eins nicht nochmal gerereadet habe. Leider war auch einer meiner Lieblingsfaktoren an Buch eiins nicht mehr vorhanden aber ich kann nicht näher darauf eingehen ohne zu spoilern.
Es gab plötzlich sooo viele Charaktere, dass ich nicht mehr ganz mitkam. Da zwischen Band 1 und 2 einen Zeitsprung gibt war mir die Beziehung zwischen Enyo (dem Anführer) und Sona nicht so ganz ersichtlich. Generell habe ich die Beziehungen nicht mehr so ganz gespürt.
Ich finde die Idee immernoch großartig aber ich glaube, dass es mehr Spaß gemacht hätte, wenn ich mich an mehr erinnert hätte. Ich freue mich aber schon wirklich sehr auf den Reread in einem Jahr.
Fazit
Leider etwas schlechter als der erste Band!
Für weitere Rezensionen oder buchigen Content schau doch gerne auf meinem Blog ( https://paulajosina.wordpress.com/ ) oder meinen Instagramkanal (@bloggerinthejogger) vorbei
June 29, 2022
Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review
Godslayers is the closing to the Godslayers duology and it closed with a bang. I think Godslayers did a really good job wrapping up the plot and characters. It did a good job of picking up where it left off, especially after the cliffhanger that Gearbreakers ended on, which a lot of sequels typically fail at doing.
I did find that the first third of the book was a little slow, but it quickly picked up pace and never felt repetitive. Even in that first part of the book, it’s still good at holding your attention.
The characters are the main highlight of this book, however. I absolutely adore the two main characters, Sona and Eris. They are both fully-realized and their trauma is handled really well. Their romance is also done well; their chemistry is effortless.
Overall, Godslayers is a great sequel to Gearbreakers and perfect if you loved the last book. Give this duology a read!
Godslayers is the closing to the Godslayers duology and it closed with a bang. I think Godslayers did a really good job wrapping up the plot and characters. It did a good job of picking up where it left off, especially after the cliffhanger that Gearbreakers ended on, which a lot of sequels typically fail at doing.
I did find that the first third of the book was a little slow, but it quickly picked up pace and never felt repetitive. Even in that first part of the book, it’s still good at holding your attention.
The characters are the main highlight of this book, however. I absolutely adore the two main characters, Sona and Eris. They are both fully-realized and their trauma is handled really well. Their romance is also done well; their chemistry is effortless.
Overall, Godslayers is a great sequel to Gearbreakers and perfect if you loved the last book. Give this duology a read!
June 29, 2022
TL;DR: A stunning work of philosophy, psychology, and romance all packed into a wild (and forgiveably chaotic) mech story
Godslayers is not quite a masterpiece, but it sure is close. The sheer depth of psychology that goes into these characters, the wit and style of the writing, and the bold ideological choices are truly amazing. The only thing holding it back is something I've seen with so many YA duologies: this is a trilogy across two books (specifically two books crammed into the final one). There is a very clear climax and pause in the middle, where the boundless momentum halts and we have to rebuild it, but in quite a limited space. The first half is truly one of the greatest reading experiences I've had - tense, heartrending, thoughtful, all at once. The second half is just a bit too chaotic to connect to in the same way, with so much happening - but honestly, by the end, I really didn't care. I can forgive some messiness in a series so fundamentally about how messy and difficult life and love is. Sona and Eris's love story will go down as one of my favourites, and the fact that there is a whole epic sci-fi deconstruction of war as well is more than I could have asked for.
Rating breakdown
5 stars without rounding
10/10 in personal rating system
Godslayers is not quite a masterpiece, but it sure is close. The sheer depth of psychology that goes into these characters, the wit and style of the writing, and the bold ideological choices are truly amazing. The only thing holding it back is something I've seen with so many YA duologies: this is a trilogy across two books (specifically two books crammed into the final one). There is a very clear climax and pause in the middle, where the boundless momentum halts and we have to rebuild it, but in quite a limited space. The first half is truly one of the greatest reading experiences I've had - tense, heartrending, thoughtful, all at once. The second half is just a bit too chaotic to connect to in the same way, with so much happening - but honestly, by the end, I really didn't care. I can forgive some messiness in a series so fundamentally about how messy and difficult life and love is. Sona and Eris's love story will go down as one of my favourites, and the fact that there is a whole epic sci-fi deconstruction of war as well is more than I could have asked for.
Rating breakdown
5 stars without rounding
10/10 in personal rating system
March 8, 2023
I wanted to love this book as much as Gearbreakers but it feel a bit short for me.
Aside from the same world building issues as it’s predecessor, the narrative felt a bit immature and underdeveloped. A constant stream of “and then” left me exhausted - seriously how many world-ending things can happen in a row - and the reliance on the emotional connections made in book 1 was a bit tired. I did still adore Sona and Eris but I found many of the others characters (especially Jenny) to be really 1 dimensional, reduced to a singular personality trait or catchphrase.
Overall I liked this book ok but it was definitely a disappointing sequel to me and a hit of an effort to get through. I am excited to read more from this author in the future!
Aside from the same world building issues as it’s predecessor, the narrative felt a bit immature and underdeveloped. A constant stream of “and then” left me exhausted - seriously how many world-ending things can happen in a row - and the reliance on the emotional connections made in book 1 was a bit tired. I did still adore Sona and Eris but I found many of the others characters (especially Jenny) to be really 1 dimensional, reduced to a singular personality trait or catchphrase.
Overall I liked this book ok but it was definitely a disappointing sequel to me and a hit of an effort to get through. I am excited to read more from this author in the future!
September 10, 2023
↦ 211/ 100
I don't know if this book should have been a standalone or if the duology is best enjoyed when binged back-to-back but overall this finale really underwhelmed me.
I LOVED Gearbreakers, the first book in this duology, but this one just felt like the same things were happening over and over again and I got really bored of it. Don't get me wrong, I love Zoe Hana Mikuta and all of the awful things she puts her characters through, but I think this could have been shorter or perhaps the whole series just should have been one long book. I understand why it was two, especially with the way book one ended it definitely built suspense and got me excited for this book, but like I said, I was just really disappointed.
I don't know if this book should have been a standalone or if the duology is best enjoyed when binged back-to-back but overall this finale really underwhelmed me.
I LOVED Gearbreakers, the first book in this duology, but this one just felt like the same things were happening over and over again and I got really bored of it. Don't get me wrong, I love Zoe Hana Mikuta and all of the awful things she puts her characters through, but I think this could have been shorter or perhaps the whole series just should have been one long book. I understand why it was two, especially with the way book one ended it definitely built suspense and got me excited for this book, but like I said, I was just really disappointed.
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