Zoe Hana Mikuta

Two girls on opposite sides of a war discover they're fighting for a common purpose—and falling for each other—in Zoe Hana Mikuta's high-octane debut Gearbreakers, perfect for fans of Pacific Rim, Pierce Brown's Red Rising Saga, and Marie Lu's Legend series. We went past praying to deities and started to build them instead... The shadow of Godolia's tyrannical rule is spreading, aided by their giant mechanized weapons known as Windups. War and oppression are everyday constants for the people of the Badlands, who live under the thumb of their cruel Godolian overlords. Eris Shindanai is a Gearbreaker, a brash young rebel who specializes in taking down Windups from the inside. When one of her missions goes awry and she finds herself in a Godolian prison, Eris meets Sona Steelcrest, a cybernetically enhanced Windup pilot. At first Eris sees Sona as her mortal enemy, but Sona has a secret: She has intentionally infiltrated the Windup program to destroy Godolia from within. As the clock ticks down to their deadliest mission yet, a direct attack to end Godolia's reign once and for all, Eris and Sona grow closer—as comrades, friends, and perhaps something more...

Gearbreakers

Sparky

Bea 

I need her for so much. To dance terribly. To read my books. To keep the ash in my mouth at bay, to keep me blushing and breathing and fighting. To come home. I need her to live

Krys C.

4.25 🌟

Angry, feral, vengeful sapphics hellbent on taking down the government in a scifi cyberpunk dystopian setting. Say no more. I did wish we had more concrete plot direction than a loose sense of it and to see more depth to the found family aspect. It gets better as you read, though; I still loved this.

mmmmm sapphic enemies to lovers, mechas and morally grey characters.. cant get much better than this

Tatiana

Gearbreakers: 3.75/5


  “Because you choose sides in the war and I chose the one that makes me feel human, and this I will not apologize for.”

Premise:
Gearbeakers takes place in Godolia, a world that wished for gods so badly that they created them themselves, in the form of Windups or giant mechanized weapons (robots). Cyborg-esc individuals pilot these Mechas, but they have become so powerful that anybody who resists these gods is now at their mercy.

A rebel group called the Gearbreakers is committed to taking down Godalia and the gods with it, and Eris Shindanai, is tasked with going undercover to destroy the Windups from within. When the mission turns sour, Eris is captured but finds an unexpected ally. Sona Steelcrest is a recruit within the Godalia ranks but has her own agenda: to infiltrate the Windup program to take down Godalia. 

Sona and Eris could not be more different, but they embark on a mission of a lifetime with this common goal.

Writing & Plot:
I loved Zoe's writing style; I feel like I started it, no time passed, and it ended. I fell into the world of the book and was captivated, and I think that attributes to the ease and flow of Mikuta's writing. It's easy and approachable while still piquing the readers' interest and keeping us on our toes.

My main criticism for Gearbreakers is that I wish for more world-building. This is a common criticism I have for many YA Fantasy/Sci-Fi books, and I believe it is because there is a page limit for YA books. Furthermore, the reader is continuously asked to suspend their belief and roll with the punches, although none is explained. This can be frustrating for a reader, but I didn't run into too many issues regarding clarity.

Another criticism I have is that the plot sometimes felt stagnant. It picked up towards the end, but there were periods of times where it felt like the book was going nowhere, and plot points repeated to the point of annoyance.

All this said, I do think this book is highly worthwhile, and I did enjoy it. Despite the criticisms, the world is incredible and feels different from the other books I have read.

Characters:
I love Sona and Eris. Sona reminds me of Nebula from Guardians of the Galaxy, except she is trying to find her humanity. It's honestly incredible, and I liked the slow pining between our two main characters. There was a lot of repetition of "you are not allowed to die," which got exhausting, but again, not too much of an issue.

I think there is plenty of work that needs to happen regarding side characters. Not many of the side characters were explored (pls give us more Jenny content in Godslayers), and this created a weak found family. Fortunately, there is plenty of potential for the next book within this series, and I am excited to see where it goes.

Conclusion:
This series has a whole lot of potential. Is it perfect? No, but I think the concept and plot are there. There is a massive possibility, especially with world-building, and I am ecstatic to dive into the second installment of the series, Godslayers. If you are a sci-fi lover, I highly recommend this book, and I think it is fantastic.

Geoffrey Froggatt

This book is great for fans of movies like Pacific Rim and anyone who loves stories with giant mechs. Eris Shindanai is a Gearbreaker, a brash young rebel who specializes in taking down giant mechs called Windups from the inside. When one of her missions goes awry and she finds herself in a Godolia prison, Eris meets Sona Steelcrest, a cybernetically enhanced Windup pilot. At first Eris sees Sona as her mortal enemy, but Sona has a secret: She has intentionally infiltrated the Windup program to destroy Godolia from within. Content warning for war, torture, gore and death of a parent. I loved the premise and the ambition of the author for choosing a concept like this for their debut novel. The writing in the first 20% was weak, but the book found its voice and footing after that rough beginning. I had a problem visualizing the characters, and I felt like they could have been fleshed out better, especially the secondary characters. I felt like I couldn’t differentiate the two leads in terms of personality. The morally grey characters and storylines could have been given more depth and been expanded on. For a story featuring rebel fighters fighting against giant mechs, I expected a lot more violence and action rather than characters constantly bickering and bantering with each other. The action scenes that we do get aren’t described in a way that I could properly visualize the enemies and the fighting itself. I found some of the dialogue to be trying too hard, and the different variations on the “you do not have my permission to die” line were kind of cringey, but your mileage may vary. I would love to see this story refined and adapted as either a television series or an anime. This book reminds me of my experience reading Gideon the Ninth in the sense that I have trouble with connecting to the writing but I love the premise so much that I will continue with reading the series anyway.

JENALBEOEBELSBSKDJSKUEBSUEBWKSNDBJFBFB OHMYGODDDDDFD STOPPPPP

Kat 

grace richards

i feel like recently i have been swimming through a book haze where every book i have picked up has nearly killed me. they’ve lacked a certain je ne sais quoi. this book has that je ne sais quoi. the “i want to kill her” to “oh no i do not want to kill her” to “i’m trying not to see her as a monster” to “let’s kiss right before i make everything go to shit”. this book has STAKES. like people can lose things, the author is willing to kill characters, torture them, mess with relationships in order to create the necessary angst and tension. you can tell this book was good because it’s currently 5:30 in the morning and i’m contemplating starting the next one right now.

Kirsten Simkiss

This is a spoiler free review!

This is also a 3.5 star review. There were some things I thought were great about the book and there were some things I'd have changed.

There are two main characters, Eris and Sona. Of the two, Sona got on my nerves. Despite all of her training to become a Pilot so she can destroy Godolia from within, as the blurb says, she never really did anything to even slightly sabotage them until she was headed out the door. Meaning she wasn't destroying them from the inside anymore. And then when she gets an opportunity to use what they did to her against them, she balks real hard. She just lacked conviction a lot of the time and it rankled me. 

But actually what I disliked most about reading her chapters was the author's choice to not use any contractions when she spoke. I think it was an attempt to differentiate the voices of the main two characters, because Eris used plenty of them, but every time I read her speaking, it took me out of the story because it was just like, "Please just use 'I'm' instead of 'I am' - please." And then there were weird curve ball ones where a contraction WAS used and that took me out of the story too because I was so used to it NOT being there. Please please please just use contractions when your characters talk to each other. I am begging you. Just use the lack of them for tonal emphasis or it makes them sound like robots. And, to be clear, I think that might have been part of the goal of the voice of Sona. Sona is part machine, a point that the author constantly stressed throughout the book - which was fine - so I thought perhaps that was an intentional point: that the Pilot's are more mechanical in their communications. But then you meet the other Pilots and they all communicated like normal people, with normal contractions. And Mikuta made a point of having Sona state in the first chapter that they didn't alter her mind in any way, that they need that part of their Pilots intact. It just did not appeal to me. I kept holding out hope that the author might have that start changing over the course of the story, that maybe it was part of her Godolian accent, but nope. Never changed. It really bothered me.

As far as the premise and the plot went, I enjoyed it! I thought the plot points were solid and the concept was really interesting. Was it a little rushed at times? Absolutely. Were there characters I thought just existed to stir up unnecessary drama? Absolutely. Did characters make dumb decisions just 'cause? Yup. But, for a debut novel, it was a good first installment in a duology. I feel very strongly that the story could have used more world building in terms of how humanity got to the point it did. Maybe we'll get more in the next book? They also could have done a lot more with what kind of mechs there were. It felt like the author just invented a new one for ease of plot at one time rather than laying out the different kinds still being used.

Eris was a great character, but the author kind of nudged her in the unfaithful bisexual direction, which I didn't love. Eris was a fabulous character though and absolutely saved this book for me. I really enjoyed her and her crew and her use of contractions.

This is also billed as a WLW romance and there's honestly more pining in it than romance. There's only the slightest amount toward the end. So if you're looking for slow burn, this duology may be for you, but don't expect much from this first book.

I would love to give a shout out to the cover artist, because that cover is stunning. 10/10. The artist definitely took the brief and went, "Hold my drink. I've got this."

All in all, I'll probably read on in the series, but this book may not be your particular cup of tea.

Carrington Kinslow

This book was so damn fun. I was highly entertained from the first page to the very last, and I was really fascinated by the world Mikuta created in Gearbreakers. Mikuta’s writing is a bit poetic, which I love, but I also see how that isn’t for everyone. She really hits you in the gut with some of these lines. These characters were great, I especially loved Sona. I liked Eris, but she aggravated me a lot too. And while I was definitely rooting for Sona and Eris, I have to admit I felt their relationship was really underdeveloped. For one, Eris had a boyfriend and continued to hook up with him while developing feelings for Sona. I can’t tell you how much this irked me, and it’s the sole reason I can’t give this book 5 stars. It wasn’t a love triangle necessarily, but it was really annoying to read Eris’ relationship with Milo while trying to enjoy the Sona/Eris crumbs. When Sona and Eris finally kissed, I just didn’t find it all that special when Eris is still kinda in love with her other boo thing. This was advertised as a sapphic book, and while of course, it technically is, the sapphic romance is overshadowed and hardly there at all when it does come to fruition. I expected a lot more in that aspect. I hope Sona and Eris get some depth in their relationship in the sequel, and that it’s actually about THEM. 

Gearbreakers - 4/5 Stars

Lia Yuliana

Update 27/06/2021

Find me review on :  An Ode to Fiction
Official Release Date : 29th June 2021 (US)
Buy the book :
 Amazon |  Book Depository

2/5 ⭐️


  
    “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.”
  


ARC provided by the publisher Feiwel & Friends / Macmillan Publishers through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When two people from opposite sides of the war find each other with a common chaotic goal to destroy and wreck havoc. A half bionic Windup pilot with a dark past and a gearbreaker with a dangerous taste for adrenaline. Two unlikely enemies team up to bring down the gods and panic in gay a few times in this explosive YA scifi debut.

First and foremost I would like to thank Colored Pages Tours for choosing me as one of the many amazing book bloggers for Gearbreakers tour from June 23rd to June 29th. Thank you as well to the author and publisher Feiwel & Friends / Macmillan Publishers for providing a digital ARC (Advance Readers Copy) as part of this blog tour. Also for sending a physical copy of the book!


  
    Because they did not simply create another Pilot. Another soldier. Another protector. They created nothing short of their own downfall.
  


Gearbreakers is a young adult sapphic scifi debut by one of the most hyped young authors Zoe Hana Mikuta. This soon to be adapted book will be the first of two books that will kick off the start to a thrilling, adventurous, and action packed series. Marketed as a book perfect for fans of Pacific Rim, Pierce Brown’s Red Rising Saga, and Marie Lu’s Legend series this book fulfills my fantasy of a sapphic version of Gundam or Gurren Lagann. Before diving deep into the book I would like to highlight the beautiful cover of this book done by the amazing Taj Francis and designed by Mike Burroughs. The illustration of the cover is just perfection with Sona and Eris up front and the font choice reflects the story so well. The head of the giant windup in the background is so subtle and the color scheme is also stunning! The cover definitely got me excited to dive into the book.

The story of Gearbreakers takes place in a world where one nation proclaimed to be the capital of the world and the world’s only super power that emerged victorious from the Springtide War, a world war during which each nation battled each other using Windups to assert dominance and claim the limited amount of resources. Godolia became the nation that conquered the world during the war as they were the first to build the first generation of piloted Windups contrary to the common autonomous system. The Godolia’s technological advancement in syncing pilots to the giant two hundred feet robot proved to be superior to the other nation’s windups. Since then Godolia has continuously oppressed and exploits other nations to serve their needs for resources. Standing in defiance of Godolia’s power are the Gearbreakers, a chaotic resistance army that take down the god like Godolia Windups.


  
    Yeah, we’re small. Yeah, we’re human. But we’re also Gearbreakers, and we’re here to dismantle the fuckers who thought we’d just sit back and take it.
  


Mikuta created a world that is reminiscent to movies like Mad Max combined with the small walled cities in the anime Attack of Titan. Godolia is a crowded metropolitan city, separating the city is a wall that divides the city from the ravaged outside lands dubbed as the Badlands that have been heavily ruined by war and where the resource villages are located. The world building is simple, impactful, and vivid. Though some parts of the world could’ve been explained in even more detail and in depth it didn’t hinder me from enjoying the whole story. I liked the contrast between the Hollows and Godolia in the story. The Hollows is the Gearbreaker’s sanctuary that is hidden somewhere in the Badlands where there the skies are clearer, surrounded by trees and plants, and contained some of the natural essence of earth that don’t exist in Godolia. In Godolia the sky is covered with smog, the air is much more polluted, and it is jam packed with the human population. Unless they live somewhere of significance, such as the academy, life is harder and more dangerous on the streets.

Though I adored most parts the world building and the full scale of the world that came to view when I reached in the middle of the book. The quarter part of the book (~30% of the book) the writing is quite a hurdle to get over. Though I enjoyed the book there are parts that made it a bit hard and challenging. Mikuta’s ability in conveying the sheer emotions of her characters and setting the right mood of the story through her writing is articulate. Though I favored her writing style later on in the story; during the earlier chapters the prose felt scattered, the history felt convoluted, the world building is hard to follow at some parts, and the mythos could’ve been much more concise. I have to admit that I had to reread these earlier chapters to fully understand the world, it’s as though the first time I read it I only got fragments that I have to reread it at least twice to completely understand it. From the reviews I’ve read I am not the only one that struggled with this. I was too immersed in the vibes and was in prime condition for reading that I continued reading until the end. It did get better significantly the further you go into the story as the plot finally picks up and the messy scattered prose became much more cohesive. I would say that I adore the writing style as it carries the right amount of sharpness, sometimes brutal, captivating, and refreshing. I encourage readers to push through the earlier chapters as the writing doesn’t persist further into the book. The amazing story is worth it to push through the earlier chapters.


  
    It was from hate for them, hate for myself and the way my recklessness and childishness had forever bound me to this nation and the dream of its destruction, and hate of what I would become to achieve it.
  


In Gearbreakers the story follow two perspectives, Sona and Eris. The two are from the opposite sides of the war. With Sona standing on Godolia’s side as she established herself as one of the most elite and skilled pilots of the Valkyrie windups. On the other side is Eris Shindanai, the rebel leader that loves the thrill of a good Windup take down and when you think Elsa is icy, Eris is the blizzard. I loved the way Mikuta structured the story as the first half shows the contrasting life between the two main characters before they met each other. When they finally meet the crackle of tension and mutual pinning bleeds out of the page. Mikuta ability in fleshing out her characters by showing a depth, humanity, and emotion is astounding. There are so many heartbreaking and hear fluttering moments that thinking about it gives me chills. Though some moments felt a bit repetitive on Eris’ perspective whenever she’s in battle I liked her character growth and her role as the mother hen of her group. Eris shows her affection is the most tsundere way possible contrasting her sister, Jenny Shindanai, that is more unhinged and sometimes more vicious in expressing her feelings. Eris is a born leader, her strength and commanding presence carries an edge that tethers between the fearlessness of a Gearbreaker and a compassionate leader that cares for her team.


  
    And when I meet her gaze, the one that somehow seems to simmer more viciously than the artificial light forced into mine, I forget myself and draw a breath.
  


Sona on the other hand is complex and carries with her the weight of her pain close as a reminder of the tragic reality she is living in. Her development as a character is prominent in propelling the story forward. At first her intentions were simple and innocent but it then grew to be something grand as Sona is given an important task that might turn the tides of the war. Personally, Sona is much more well fleshed out than the other characters as her development comes to a full circle by the end of the story. Following Sona’s train of thought is painful to an extent as she struggles to accept her robot side as it dawned on her what Godolia did to her and what she put herself through. These struggle are heavily explored by Mikuta showing a different perspective in the war through Sona’s character. But overall Sona’s journeying is clearly centered around her humanity and how she measures her humanity not just from her physical aspects but also a deeper root such as her mind and heart. Luckily, Sona has Eris that helps her by giving her support and affection when Sona needs it most. The chemistry and tension is crackling, they are so intimate with each other it’s as though I’m invading their privacy.


  
    “I will not die in a Windup. I will not die following their orders, and I will not die as their protector. I will die human or I will not die at all.”
  


The side characters in Gearbreakers all have a unique quality to them that is endearing and playful. Eris’ crew consist of some of the youngest members in the Hollows, a rag tag team bunch deemed as problematic became the perfect members for Eris to lead. When Mikuta introduced these characters it was done in such a way that left a deep impression on me. It’s surprising how this story carries themes of war and children that are forced to pick up arms to join the resistance. How Mikuta brings forth this thematic story might be a heroic at some points but there are also moments when the humanity and child like innocence breaks the surface of that bravery. For instance each of the Gearbreaker aren’t afraid of death (so they say), at their young age death shouldn’t loom over them everyday but they have lived with it for so long it became a habit. But when death finally knocks on their door or all of the power to break free is taken from them the terror is clearly depicted by Mikuta. I love this about the characters even during dire moments they choose to fight until the end, kicking and screaming taking down as many of their enemies with them. The found family aspect became the safe haven for the characters and vital in their continued efforts in fighting the war. It goes to show that there is comfort amongst the pain and fear that follows them everywhere.


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


Final thoughts, Gearbreakers is an overall good book and I highly recommend anyone to pick it up. If you love dystopian, robots, found family, and feral strong female characters this is the book for you. It is action packed, filled with robot against robot fighting sequences and robot against humans scenes that left me floored and highly entertained. I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of this book though I have issues with the last act of the story hopefully it will be resolved in the sequel. I’m looking forward to how Mikuta will continue the story because there are many possibilities that left me curious. Fair warning the ending is infuriating to say the least in a good way, My emotions are still reeling from it. Once again I highly recommend for anyone to pick this up and enjoy the sapphic mutual pining all the while killing robots, toppling nations and being as feral, angry, and ruthless as possible.

The quotes in this review were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication.

An electric YA debut novel about colossal mechas, a tyrannical regime, and two girls on opposite sides of a war who discover they're fighting for a common purpose—and falling for each other.

Naty Corbett

** spoiler alert **
           I was pretty excited for this book... Until I started reading it. I felt the world and character building was lackluster at best. The 'Evil Empire' was just supremely bad and no other descriptions of how it worked really were given. And their evil actions don't make any sense whatsoever; if one settlement fails to give the entire quota just kill them all. Why? Who will fill that quota now?
And the characters, oh the characters. I found myself being confused about which character I was seeing the world through because their motivations and internal monologue are very similar. Their sidekicks were forgettable at best, and more often than not annoying. 
But above all, I could not ever get immersed in the book because the it seemed the book was unsure of its identity: was is a YA book or one for an older audience? The story, the plot, and the characters all have the little depth that a young YA book has, because kids, but then the detailed descriptions of slicing someone's neck open and watching them try to mouth something as they slowly bleed out and die did not seem appropriate for the age group that the story, as disappointing as it was, was written for.
I will not be reading any more of this series.
Omg don't get me started on the Mechas. Just make tanks or warplanes! Human bodies are kinda terrible and making giant metal ones with so many failure points is stupid. 
Ugh, I wish I had the motivation to get up and go to my computer to write a better review because I have so much more I want to say but honestly, this review from my thumbs via my phone is all it's getting.

Edit: ok, I was pretty harsh in my review. I feel bad and I hope the author doesn't read it because she should be proud of writing it if for no other reason than she's done something most of us will never do. And that's awesome.

I can't do this right now. Sorry not sorry.
Dnf at 45%

My name is in here and I hate it. 

I haven't read sci-fi for a long time, so I don't remember if this is a thing, but the use of modern slang greatly annoyed me. And their standoffish snarky attitude. Practically every character: Look at me, I'm so badass and edgy. I curse and destroy shit. Being kind and gentle is for the weak. Sona and Eris, additionally: I'm so angry, destroy Godolia. I want revenge. 

I was so confused when Sona and Victoria started kissing. 🤨

The worldbuilding was weak and made no sense. Who were the Zenith? Why is Godolia terrorizing with the windups? What is the point? Found family? You mean an annoying bunch of kids.

Disclaimer: I bought my own copy of the book. Support your authors! All opinions are my own.

Diversity: Bisexual Asian inspired MC, Lesbian Asian inspired MC, sapphic romance

Recommended For...: young adult readers, sci-fi, LGBT, queer, dystopian, mechas

Age Relevance:16+ (violence, gore, religion, sexual content, 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 some very vague sexual content mentions and torture is mentioned and shown throughout the book. There is a lot of cursing. There is one mention of alcohol consumption. There is some slight romance.

We went past praying to deities and started to build them instead.

The shadow of Godolia's tyrannical rule is spreading, aided by their giant mechanized weapons known as Windups. War and oppression are everyday constants for the people of the Badlands, who live under the thumb of their cruel Godolia overlords.

Eris Shindanai is a Gearbreaker, a brash young rebel who specializes in taking down Windups from the inside. When one of her missions goes awry and she finds herself in a Godolia prison, Eris meets Sona Steelcrest, a cybernetically enhanced Windup pilot. At first Eris sees Sona as her mortal enemy, but Sona has a secret: She has intentionally infiltrated the Windup program to destroy Godolia from within.

As the clock ticks down to their deadliest mission yet, a direct attack to end Godolia's reign once and for all, Eris and Sona grow closer--as comrades, friends, and perhaps something more...

Review: For the most part I really liked this book. The book is incredibly action packed and it’s constantly going. The book is multi POV and reminds me a lot of Iron Widow and Crier’s War. The world building is decent and the character development is great. The book has a lot of fun moments in it and it also has some of the most interesting villains I’ve seen in a bit.

However, I was severely confused by the beginning of the book until about halfway through it and I still think that I didn’t fully grasp the concept of it. The book needs a lot more background building and it honestly feels like a book that was supposed to be two books but had to be squeezed into one. It began weirdly and it felt complete at several points mid book.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I bought my own copy of the book. Support your authors! All opinions are my own.

 

Book: Gearbreakers

 

Author: Zoe Hana Mikuta

 

Book Series: Gearbreakers Book 1

 

Rating: 4/5

 

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 29, 2021

 

Genre: YA Sci-Fi Dystopian

 

Age Relevance:16+ (violence, gore, religion, sexual content, 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 some very vague sexual content mentions and torture is mentioned and shown throughout the book. There is a lot of cursing. There is one mention of alcohol consumption. There is some slight romance.

 

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

 

Pages: 401

 

Synopsis: We went past praying to deities and started to build them instead...

The shadow of Godolia's tyrannical rule is spreading, aided by their giant mechanized weapons known as Windups. War and oppression are everyday constants for the people of the Badlands, who live under the thumb of their cruel Godolia overlords.

Eris Shindanai is a Gearbreaker, a brash young rebel who specializes in taking down Windups from the inside. When one of her missions goes awry and she finds herself in a Godolia prison, Eris meets Sona Steelcrest, a cybernetically enhanced Windup pilot. At first Eris sees Sona as her mortal enemy, but Sona has a secret: She has intentionally infiltrated the Windup program to destroy Godolia from within.

As the clock ticks down to their deadliest mission yet, a direct attack to end Godolia's reign once and for all, Eris and Sona grow closer--as comrades, friends, and perhaps something more...

 

Review: For the most part I really liked this book. The book is incredibly action packed and it’s constantly going. The book is multi POV and reminds me a lot of Iron Widow and Crier’s War. The world building is decent and the character development is great. The book has a lot of fun moments in it and it also has some of the most interesting villains I’ve seen in a bit.

 

However, I was severely confused by the beginning of the book until about halfway through it and I still think that I didn’t fully grasp the concept of it. The book needs a lot more background building and it honestly feels like a book that was supposed to be two books but had to be squeezed into one. It began weirdly and it felt complete at several points mid book.

 

Verdict: It’s good just confusing.

Two girls on opposite sides of a war discover they're fighting for a common purpose—and falling for each other—in Zoe Hana Mikuta's high-octane debut Gearbreakers, perfect for fans of Pacific Rim, Pierce Brown's Red Rising Saga, and Marie Lu's Legend series. We went past praying to deities and started to build them instead... The shadow of Godolia's tyrannical rule is spreading, aided by their giant mechanized weapons known as Windups. War and oppression are everyday constants for the people of the Badlands, who live under the thumb of their cruel Godolia overlords. Eris Shindanai is a Gearbreaker, a brash young rebel who specializes in taking down Windups from the inside. When one of her missions goes awry and she finds herself in a Godolia prison, Eris meets Sona Steelcrest, a cybernetically enhanced Windup pilot. At first Eris sees Sona as her mortal enemy, but Sona has a secret: She has intentionally infiltrated the Windup program to destroy Godolia from within. As the clock ticks down to their deadliest mission yet, a direct attack to end Godolia's reign once and for all, Eris and Sona grow closer—as comrades, friends, and perhaps something more... Praise for Gearbreakers: "An absolute joyride of a story set in a vivid, arresting world. Gearbreakers is sci-fi at its very finest, combining the grandeur of mecha fighting machines with the intimacy of (splendidly feral) found family. Zoe Hana Mikuta is a talent to be in awe of." —Chloe Gong, New York Times-bestselling author of These Violent Delights

Eliza Gonzalez

*takes a deep breath*

  AAAAAHHHHHHHH


Thank god I am done and did not DNF my first 2022 book. I have so many thoughts about this book, so if my review is messy, I apologize in advance. It is also going to be long... Just check the ratings on the categories and the TLDR at the bottom if you wanna skip over it. This is NOT a friendly review, so if you really love the book, be warned.




Plot Concept: 5/5

This story markets itself as a wlw enemies to lovers set to the backdrop of a dystopian world where giant human-powered mechas rule it all. It sounds right up my alley! In fact, I was very interested and invested at first. The world seemed pretty cool, the characters had potential, and I was looking forward to watching two girls on opposite sides of a war grow close and find out that they're really fighting for the same cause. Sadly what I got was not really that.



Plot Execution: 0/5

Let me start off by stamping out the enemies to lovers rumor. They were NEVER enemies. Eris hated Sona for a whole 5 minutes before coming around to her. Sona was enchanted by Eris the moment she laid eyes on her. I'm so tired of books that push the enemies to lovers narrative and they are not enemies to lovers. 

The wlw aspect of this also fell short for me, because they start the book with Eris in a relationship with someone already. And because you have the meta knowledge that Eris and Sona will end up together, you know there's only two paths that are likely to be taken in this regard: Milo will die or he will be made into a raging douchebag. So from Eris' very first chapter I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop and also being mad about it. It's a terrible cliche for a love triangle and it's lazy as hell. The story could have taken out the Milo/Eris relationship altogether and it would not have suffered, so I don't know why it's there to begin with.

I will give it to the story for having the dystopian world filled with mechas but ... the worldbuilding is practically nonexistent, so it gets no points for that. I don't know what the world is like. I don't know what the town that the gearbreakers live in is like. I don't know what Godolia is like other than they're the Big Bad Evil. I don't know even what most of the scene settings are like and often was just picturing these characters in the fucking void. There is so much purple prose going on in the characters head at any given time, yet none of that gets transferred to describing the world around them or anything in that world being fleshed out. 

Then we have some glaring plot holes that just serve to jar me out of the book even more like... Why does Godolia slaughter its own resource villages? Whole, entire villages? Sure, there is more of them (I guess, because we are told late in the book, even though early in the book it made it seem like most of civilization was wiped out in wars), but its still nonsensical? You didn't bring me enough coal! Now I shall destroy the entire village so I never get ANY coal from here again! Muahahahaha. My god.... how fucking stupid. The villain of the story literally comes off as a children's TV show villain. 

On the same vein, Godolia is so smart but they just put this fancy tech into pilots and dont have any trackers or shut down switches? They can't simply power off a rogue fighter? They control every breath anyone in their city takes, but having a failsafe for turning humans into metal gods slipped their mind??

It also must have slipped Jenny's mind that as an impossibly prodigal engineer, she could have been using the downed mechas to create weapons and robots for her cause all these years. She makes super fancy gloves for her and her sister with fire & ice powers that can recognize their DNA and somehow not harm them and then sits on her thumbs for years without ever considering using the tech coming out of Godolia. 

This story felt like a first draft that should have been patched up but was rushed into bookstores instead.



Pacing: 1/5

The pacing for the beginning was fine. I was interested enough in this new world and what was going on to not think about how fast or slow anything was happening. And then somewhere around 30-40 percent, they leave Godolia and.... the book comes to a grinding halt. They're mostly puttering around doing fuck all for the next 30-40 percent of the book, pages upon pages being filled with Quirky Found Family and interpersonal drama that is so lacking in depth or nuance that I wanted to weep. I considered DNFing multiple times at this point, but I pushed on. I deserve a gold star.

Then, all at once near the ending, Things Are Happening!! I WANNA GO TO WAR! I WANT A LIGHTERSABER! I'M A MAN!!! WAR!!!!! Or something like that. I started to black out at this point and barely could follow the fighting, but I think Sona started killing people indiscriminately? She mentioned something about not caring about the bystanders. I don't know, my brain was fried by the end of this book.



Writing: 1/5

Many times while reading, I had to think to myself, "Calm down, Edgelord." The attempts at being philosophical about men making 'gods' were sometimes cringeworthy, and so fucking overdone. Please, we get it, we GET IT. There was so much repetitive writing in here that I began to wonder if the author had some mild short term memory. It wants SO bad to be seen as a groundbreaking, edgy dystopian with ""feral"" main characters causing chaos and havoc. It is practically begging you at every page to take it seriously, but I was so often rolling my eyes. You want an edgy dystopian sci-fi that didn't get on its hands and knees to implore you to see it as an edgy dystopian scifi? Read Divergent or The Hunger Games or The Maze Runner. This book could really take a page or two or two hundred out of them to improve itself.

Also, I can't end this section without bringing up how stilted and ridiculous a lot of the dialogue felt. Sona doesn't use contractions, for reasons unknown? What is this character choice? Why does she speak like this? It makes her sound so robotic and awkward. And then the rest of the dialogue from the other characters is just infected by the problems I talked about above. I wish I could provide examples, but I may cry if I have to pick the book up again.
 


Characters: 0/5

These characters are so bland, underdeveloped, and boring that - barring physical ability - any could be switched out with another and it would barely change the story. I can't tell you anything about the side characters. We practically have found family being shoved down our throats but it is so unearned and the characters are so similar that it feels like some satirical farce. When bad things happen to the characters, I feel nothing. I have no connection to them, no interest in their plights (or victories). 

Even with the two main characters, I felt no attachment. Eris' only defining qualities are hating Godolia so hard that she's constantly angry and loving Sona. Sona's defining qualities are ... also hating Godolia and loving Eris? Except make her super inconsistent in tone and personality from one chapter to the next. In fact, sometimes I straight up forgot which POV I was reading because the characters are so damn similar.

I also would have liked to see some indication on how mentally fucked up these kids are due to being child soldiers and killing people, some PTSD and night terrors about the horrors they inflict and maybe a mental breakdown or at least some in book acknowledgement that the characters lack of feeling toward killing people, even enemies, is very much Not Normal and sad and terrible. But we did not really get that. In fact, one of the first things Eris does in the book is talk about shooting someone dead after they hesitate to kill her because she's a teen and feeling 0 things about doing it. Begging authors who write about times of war to research the psychological effects of war. 



Romance: -5/5

Ladies, you ever meet someone and a couple days later they're asking doesn't it feel like you belong to each other? Not with. To. And how about after that she disregards your own free will and choices to try to force you to be captured by the enemy for your own good? Ladies??? 🤪 🚨🚩🚩🚩🚨

The romance was just. Terrible. I get where someone could enjoy it, and I appreciate the bi/lesbian rep, but rep alone doesn't make something good. The insta-love aspect of this relationship was enough to make me gag. I saw someone refer to the romance as slow burn and I have to ask... fucking WHERE? As I mentioned, Sona takes to Eris immediately, before they've even talked to each other. Eris needs only a minute of convincing to place her trust in Sona and begin making googly eyes once they're out of Godolia. And this is while she is still with Milo.

Yes, queen, we love a bisexual character playing into the harmful stereotype of being a cheater who can't stay in a monogomous relationship. 🥴

No, really, she gets weirdly intimate with Sona while still dating Milo, like wrapping arms around her from behind and pressing a cheek to Sona's back and then asking her if she wants to slow dance in an empty room. And then kissing her relatively shortly after breaking up with Milo because she doesn't actually need time to heal from that relationship as she was already romantically invested in Sona before it even ended. 

Every sappy moment between them just had me thinking, "Jail for author! Jail for author for 1000 years!" And sure, not every bit of representation needs to be perfect or morally good, but it should at least be emotionally tasty to make up for it. (See: NBC Hannibal.) This was not tasty. This was not even palatable. :( 



Overall Enjoyability: .5/5

The TLDR is that the romance was underdeveloped, the characters were underdeveloped, the world was underdeveloped, and it all came together in a silly little diet grimdark novel. I can understand what would draw people to it and make them like it, but it is very much not my cup of tea.

noah!

i had such high expectations for this & i so badly wanted to love it but tbh it was just ... ok

ahaana bhargava

am i supposed to be okay after THAT ending?? 👀

read my full review and thoughts 
  
    here!
  


(the review will only be live on my blog at 11:30 AM, Wednesday - PST, or 12:00 AM, Thursday - IST)

Taylor

Honestly I went into this with pretty low expectations and it was still kind of a disappointment. I found the world building really confusing and there was just so much happening that it was hard to follow. I'll definitely check out the sequel just to see how things turn out and to see if anything is cleared up. I still love the concept and I think it has a lot of potential, this one just didn't quite hit the mark for me.

Emily 

Nikki Sojkowski

**An ALC was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review**

Zoe Hana Mikuta’s stellar debut is an intense dystopian sci-fi about the country of Godolia and their army of Windups. Mikuta’s take on mechas (a 200-foot giant humanoid robot suit that has a pilot inside) was refreshing and dynamic. One of our story’s main characters, Sona, is one such pilot. Our other MC is Eris, a Gearbreaker, who’s one mission is to fight Godolia and destroy the existing Windups.

When Eris is captured on a Gearbreaker mission, she’s thrown into the midst of her enemy with no friendly faces. Or are there? Sona is a victim of Godolia’s cruelty too, but sided with them because she had nowhere else to turn to. She sees escape in Eris, a place to run to. As they team up and plan their deadliest mission yet, Eris and Sona have to learn to trust each other—as teammates, friends, and perhaps something more...

The pros:
-Well developed sci-fi/dystopian world as the backdrop to the story
-Cool giant robots
-Amazing character creation and development. You will grow attached to Eris and Sona, as well as several of their friends! It’s always an amazing thing when a book is driven by fantastic characters, and Mikuta has done so with this debut.
-Catherine Ho and Cindy Kay are fantastic narrators who each bring such vibrant life to these characters and their story. 

The cons:
-The book ends in a cliff-hanger that will leave you dying for book two. With how attached to the characters I became, and with the ambiguous ending, I’m hanging off the edge of my seat over here!

I’m usually not a fan of sci-fi but I loved Gearbreakers so much. This book is literally everything I need as a queer teenager.

The dialogue and banter between the characters was amazing. The way Eris and Sona talked about each other had me screaming, it was heartbreakingly adorable. I fell in love with all of the characters, the crew was amazing and every single character had their own flaws and strengths. I love the found family trope with my whole heart and this book truly did it justice.

The battle scenes were incredible!! This book has so much action and love packed into it, I can’t even describe how much I adore it. 

This is one of the best books I’ve read this year and I need the sequel right now.

Hayley 📖🌈💜🌸

2.5 stars.
This was- fine? 
I felt confused most of the time, I don’t know if that’s because it was an audiobook and sometimes I find it hard to concentrate on purely audio (hence why I mostly only do audiobooks as rereads). But this maybe just wasn’t for me.


Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for the eARC/audiobook.

Gearbreakers

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