Ashley Poston

Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09 one of the last remaining illegal Metals has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him.

Heart of iron

Nessa Luna

An Anastasia retelling, in space? Sign me UP! I love it when books are surprising, and Heart of Iron was certainly a surprising book. It went in a way I had not expected it would go and that made me enjoy it just a bit more. For a moment, about halfway through, I was afraid it was going to disappoint (view spoiler)[because Ana got revealed as being the lost heir already, I had not expected that to happen until the end (hide spoiler)] but the story picked up SO MUCH after this. 

I loved all the characters (especially Jax and Robb), I loved the relationships, and I really loved the Anastasia/Romanov influences throughout the story. If you loved the animated movie and if you love reading about the actual Romanovs, I recommend you try this book out!

Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09 -- one of the last remaining illegal Metals -- has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him. Ana's desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he doesn't care what he'll sacrifice to keep them. When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them -- and the coordinates -- and not everyone wants them captured alive. What they find in a lost corner of the universe will change all their lives -- and unearth dangerous secrets. But when a darkness from Ana's past returns, she must face an impossible choice: does she protect a kingdom that wants her dead or save the Metal boy she loves?

Heart of Iron

Gillian Rose

4.5 stars

Oh, this was a fun sci-fi retelling of Anastasia! It really felt like a mash-up of Anastasia and Star Wars except very gay. I loved all the characters, especially Jax and Robb. I can't wait to see how it ends!

Jamieson

“Stalo ban ach van’en. Stars are not afraid.”



if I was marketing you this book I'd say it's Anastasia meets Treasure Planet and you know what? Those are two of my favourite animated movies. Despite that, I didn't actually go into this with many expectations (which helped) and I ended up really enjoying it. It was entertaining. but I also spent three hours being perpetually frustrated about all the wasted potential. WE COULD OF HAD IT ALL THIS COULD HAVE BEEN EVERYTHING. Lets break down:

🚀 the good 🚀

• CHARACTERS: god, I loved the characters. So loveable, so easy to get on board with. You know when characters just win you over and your heart is immediately set on supporting them in everything they do no matter what? Yeah, that. 

ANA is our main character and she's fun. She's feisty and funny and courageous and determined to help her best friend/crush D09, an AI, restore his broken memory chip so he ... doesn't suffer robot death. (basically). AND I LIKED HER. I liked she was smart and fairly nice and had good friendships with people around her. 

D09 D09 is basically Dmitri, but he's an AI. WHICH WAS INTERESTING. I thought it was an awesome, spacey concept and something fresh. I really am getting into the human/AI romance thing. But he was also probably my least favourite character? I mean, he was okay. but hard to get a grasp on. And I found him so frustrating in the second half. 

Jax MY FAVOURITE. MY SON. Jax is an alien with a secret and I just really liked him. He was funny and the 'banter' member of the group (I always fall for them) and I just really liked him. I hope his problems and history come more into book 2 then they did in book 1. Also, he was queer ! 

Robb the prince on the run. he was definitely interesting and I liked his friendship with Ana and romance with Jax. He just seemed like a Giant Good and I always love those characters. I also hope he's in book 2 more. 

• ROMANCE: the romance was so cute ! I loved Jax/Robb, Ana/D09 and also the two women who were the captains whose names I can't remember but they're married (bless). Anyway, I actually really heckin shipped everyone. Robb and Jax had fun banter and also angst which is the two most important ship ingredients so I was sooo in for them. 

• ENTERTAINING AF: Seriously! this book kept me turning the pages. It just had that something that makes it so you physically can not stop reading. And honestly I appreciate that. It made reading this so enjoyable and really is a big reason why I ultimately feel positively about this book despite The Issues

• PERSPECTIVE: This is 3rd person, multi POV and if you didn't know that happens to be my FAVOURITE perspective style. Like, actually ideal. And honestly I really liked it here. I think the rapidly changing pov made the pacing more faster and allowed for some nice reveals. 

• The Gays and the Lesbeans: There is an m/m and f/f couple in this ! we are blessed ! I wish the f/f couple had a more prominent role though :( but the relationship between Robb and Jax was nicely done and I'm just glad for the LG representation

🚀 the bad 🚀

• Worldbuilding: just ... not great. it feels like the author just threw their hands in the air and went "ITS SPACE. THERE'S STARS AND SHIPS ENOUGH SAID" and it's NOT enough said. I need worldbuilding. Throwing in random references to stars and space ships is not enough. the worldbuilding was confusing and kinda .. boring? I'm sick of sci-fi worlds having the same basic set up as star wars. more creativity please. The lack of worldbuilding was just really noticeable and definitely hindered my enjoyment of the book. It also made so many things unclear: like why they always made references to iron and stars. Also, big plot points like the HIVE weren't properly explained so it was hard to grasp why it was relevant and what it all meant. 

• Obvious Villains Listen, if anyone knows mildly anything about the story of Anastasia / The Romanovs you're gonna know who the villain is immediately. I get this is a retelling and there's only so much you can do but if you know the story you already know every plot twist. Which I kinda understand it's not the authors fault, but I also think it would have been cool if my expectations were subverted instead of ... followed through exactly. 

🚀 the weird 🚀

• References: there are SO many references to other media and I'm not sure if it's intentional or if they were meant to be references but I noticed. Examples: there is a planet called Iliad, the throne is literally called The Iron Throne (Game of thrones?) characters called Rhys, Wylan, Robb and Tobias (ACoTAR, Six of crows, Game of Thrones, divergent ??) Maybe it wasn't supposed to be a reference to any of these things but so many familiar names in a row kinda made me 👀

• Awkward Dialogue: there is a bit where a character says "did I stutter" which is obviously a meme. There is also so many references to "iron and stars". Eg, "he would miss her more than iron and stars" WHAT DOES THIS MEAN. I assume Iron has an importance to the society, or that the catchphrase means something since it's used a lot, but the lack of worldbuilding meant I don't know why its thrown in so goddamn often. 

🚀 BUT OVERALL 🚀

Like I said, I overall really enjoyed this. And I actually want book two like, right now. Because god, this series has POTENTIAL. I mean, I am in love with the characters. And now the Anastasia bit of the plot is done I'm excited to see what happens. If the worldbuilding was shaped up ... if we had more surprise. We could have a good ass series on our hands. 

Because honestly, I actually had a lot of fun reading this. It was so entertaining and fun and just a good ol' romp through space. With some work it really could be great. 

So definitely looking forward to book two, and honestly I would probably buy this book if I saw it in shops. A solid 3.5 star read. Sure, it had it's issues. But I had a lot of fun reading it and really ? the entertainment factor kinda weighs out the other mess

Christine Bruce

So disappointed in myself but I can’t bring myself to finish this book... the over explaining and detailing is one thing. Do I need a page and a half describing the future version of the game bull? No. But that may be someone else’s cup of tea. 
My problem is that I got this book because of the promise of “Anastasia in space” this is not Anastasia simply because this version of dmitri is a robot- okay sure- who is already in love with Ana from the start of the book. The antagonism between them was a major part of the movie for the majority of its fans. And this book did not live up to that. 
I tried my Dambdest to finish this book, and it has some really great things going for it. But not for me. 
I guess I came into it with too high expectations, and that’s on me.

jess

“All stories are built from the  bones of something true. You are the daughter of iron and stars. You are the symbol of hope in a time when light only shines from things that burn."


I was so excited about this premise. I love Anastasia. I love space. Anastasia in space sounded like it would be such a fun romp through the stars. The execution, however, disappointed me; I had such high expectations for this book. The characters were fun and all the homages to the original movie were great, but ultimately I think Heart of Iron lacked originality and depth that would have made this book seem so much livelier.

One of the major problems was the multiple POVs. I felt like four was way too much for this book; I constantly felt like I was being thrown around, and in a lot of cases, switched to another POV in the middle of the scene. None of the characters were as well-developed as I would have liked for a book with four main characters and because of it I felt like they all had really similar voices. I feel like this book could have been cut down to two POVs and it could have worked much better. I liked Anna and Robb, who were both super badass. Of the four, though, my favourite character was Jax, who was fun and snarky and basically everything I like in my characters. One thing I did like was that the crew was really diverse, with queer characters, POC, and fictional species.

I would have really liked to know more about the world that Heart of Iron is set in, especially the Solani and the Metals. I always find different humanoid races in sci-fi really cool because the author has so much freedom unlike in fantasy. Generally, I liked the worldbuilding, but I feel like it could have been expanded on a bit considering that the Solani--Jax in particular--has the potential to see the future. I also feel like the rebellion of the Metals could have been really cool if it had just been touched on a bit more. Everything in this book just seemed to happen so fast and easily, like things were skimmed over for the sake of the romance plot--and I wasn't really interested in the romance subplot.

Even though Heart of Iron wasn't for me I still thought it was a pretty cool book with worldbuilding and characters that definitely have a good amount of potential.

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Casey Stevens

THIS. T H I S . IS MY NEW FAV DUOLOGY. I USUALLY HATE SCIFI. Amazing.

laura

I don't know why it took me so long to pick up this book but I really flew through it. I loved all these characters so much and was so invested in all the POVS. I really enjoyed the short chapters and also the plot had me super engaged. I really flew through this book. I also love the diversity of this cast but also how Poston turn the lost princess myth on its head! I really enjoyed this book and also am dying for book 2!

Alexis 

5/5 stars 

OH MY GOSH! I LOVED this book. This is an anastasia retelling, which already has me excited. I loved the writing in this book. I loved the characters and the world. After i finished reading it honestly left me in a bit of a small slump afterwards it was soo good. I am now very impatiently waiting for the next book because i NEED to know what happens!!

Paige Green

Rating: 4.5/5

Genre: YA Sci-Fi/Dystopian

Recommended Age: 15+ (violence, gore)

Pages: 467

Author Website

Amazon Link

Disclaimer: None! I got this book in my Blu’s Bookish Bag!

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him.
Ana’s desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he doesn’t care what he’ll sacrifice to keep them.
When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them—and the coordinates—and not everyone wants them captured alive.
What they find in a lost corner of the universe will change all their lives—and unearth dangerous secrets. But when a darkness from Ana’s past returns, she must face an impossible choice: does she protect a kingdom that wants her dead or save the Metal boy she loves?


I’ve heard a rumor in St. Petersburg that this book was a journey to the past, a retelling of Anatasia in space. I couldn’t contain my excitement and read this as soon as I received it! Once upon a December, or in the dark of the night since this is set in space, a young girl and a robot were found floating in space and they floated their way into my heart throughout this story. But the crew they found themselves with are into the whole Firefly thing so they learn to do it too. Anyways, as a retelling I was really surprised how accurate it stayed to the cartoon and legend of Anatasia. It even had a whole “Paris holds the key to your heart” element to the story. But at the beginning of the story you can definitely tell this is an unique story that can hold its own. The book did very well with the character development and the plot. The book never felt stale and the pacing keep the book moving at a well timed speed. The book is in multiple POV, but that let the characters have their own exemplary development.

However, the book did have a couple of downfalls. A prologue would have been great in this book and the nightmare of this book was all the spelling errors found on simple words. The book will kidnap and reunion you with its fast paced scene and character changes and the part where the Ana is reminiscing with Grandma isn’t what I expected, but the finale is what makes this book wonderful and it’s worth a read.

Verdict: If you didn’t realize what I did there then make sure to read very slowly, maybe with a song or two playing in the background.

Rosie Qua

If you like Firefly and the Anastasia story this book is for you! Now.... the wait for the next book!!!

Taylor Roth 

** spoiler alert **
           I'm really mad at the author for taking away Di and making him evil. He's such a precious cinnamon roll and then he goes and gets brainwashed and then becomes the emperor and then the book ends and I'm feeling so many emotions. At first I thought the book was a little rushed in the beginning and how it was almost the same thing as Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Only the part where Ana finds out she's the lost princess and her family died in a fire and the whole kingdom/galaxy thought she was dead. And that there's a plague. And how a member of the royal council wanted her dead. (If anyone's read the entirety of the Lunar Chronicles then you know what I'm talking about). But other than that, I need the sequel!!!!

Belle Ellrich

I got to meet Ashley Poston at Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville, and let me just say that she is one of the most down-to-earth people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. However, I've been putting off reading her book due to the fact that I was scared it would break what's left of my fragile, glass heart.

Spoiler alert: it didn't. It just made me mentally numb for an entire night. And that was a good sign!

Heart of Iron may be a thick book, but it is in no way slow. It was fast-paced and action-packed with drama drama drama. I love that in sci-fi/fantasy books. I feel like drama is a must have, and she made this book have just enough of it to keep us readers entertained.

On top of that, it was FUNNY. When was the last time you heard about a sci-fi/fantasy book being funny? Because, from what I can remember, the Martian was the last one I read. This one was filled with sarcastic and flirty remarks, dry senses of humor, and definitely a bit of family 'oh no!'s that make you gut laugh. Seriously, Robb's mother may be a freaking viper (she's not actually, just using it to describe her), but some of the "serious" things she said make me cackle. 

"...Rob was vain enough to want a better eulogy than my son killed himself the way his late father did—with a Metal and a misguided sense of duty.
Like hell he'd let his mother write that eulogy."

I think this might've been my favorite quote from the book. It made me laugh really hard, and I don't know if it was supposed to or not. But, you know, those types are the best, aren't they?

The only part of this book I had a problem with was about a quarter of the way through it. I don't think it was intentional, but there was a dead giveaway about who one of the characters actually was that kind of upset me—I'm usually all for wanting to be made aware of that, but this time, I was waiting to be surprised and just wasn't. Though, the ending's other events definitely helped make up for that.

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. I was able to binge read it in one day (how I did that, I still don't know???) and I hope to read it again soon. For that, I rate this book 4.5 stars. I highly suggest you pick this book up.

I'm very excited for the sequel, and I hope Ashley goes back to Naperville for the tour!

Manon van Heumen

I'm giving this 3.5 stars. I completely loved the storyline, but it didn't draw me in. The characters didn't make sense at times and the trail of thought didn't make sense as well.

An action-packed tale full of romance, royalty, and adventure, inspired by the story of Anastasia. Perfect for fans of Six of Crows, Cinder, and the cult classic television show Firefly. Seventeen-year-old Ana is a scoundrel by nurture and an outlaw by nature. Found as a child drifting through space with a sentient android called D09, Ana was saved by a fearsome space captain and the grizzled crew she now calls family. But D09—one of the last remaining illegal Metals—has been glitching, and Ana will stop at nothing to find a way to fix him. Ana’s desperate effort to save D09 leads her on a quest to steal the coordinates to a lost ship that could offer all the answers. But at the last moment, a spoiled Ironblood boy beats Ana to her prize. He has his own reasons for taking the coordinates, and he doesn’t care what he’ll sacrifice to keep them. When everything goes wrong, she and the Ironblood end up as fugitives on the run. Now their entire kingdom is after them—and the coordinates—and not everyone wants them captured alive. What they find in a lost corner of the universe will change all their lives—and unearth dangerous secrets. But when a darkness from Ana’s past returns, she must face an impossible choice: does she protect a kingdom that wants her dead or save the Metal boy she loves?

Heart of iron

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