“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.

Gearbreakers was one of the arcs that I was most excited to read this year. It’s a young adult futuristic world with a sapphic romance. It sounded right up my alley, but I was so disappointed by it. My expectations were way too high for this book.

I appreciate how much work the author put into writing this book. It was cleverly written and the amount of skill it takes to create a world like the one in this book is incredible. I think that this book will find its intended audience and people will love this book, but it just wasn’t for me.

The major fault for me with this book was the characters. I’m really into character driven stories, but I couldn’t find any characters that I liked throughout this story. The main characters were the biggest issue for me, especially Eris. Sona was very robotic and I had troubles connecting to her. I felt that her emotions and her reasons behind her actions, especially her hasty decisions, could’ve been delved into deeper, but they unfortunately weren’t. Eris… oh boy, I hated her guts. She was extremely annoying and she was so full of herself, a trait I detest in most main characters that I read about. Side characters can sometimes make a story enjoyable for me, but there were too many of them to keep track of and a lot of them had the same personalities.

Another major issue was the amount of info dumping thrown onto the reader at the start of the book. It was overwhelming and slowed down the pace of the story. It made me lose interest in the story and it was a struggle to force myself to keep reading.

In the last 30% or so of the book, it felt like there was a lot of fade to black for scenes that I actually wanted to see. There were battles left unfinished and romantic moments that would’ve been nice to see, but the fade to black or brief time leaps as some might call it ruined those moments for me.

To end with a positive though, the romance caught me off guard. I knew which two characters would fall in love but their romance was a slow burn with lots of chemistry that made my heart flutter because it was cute.

Was this the worst book I ever read? Absolutely not but so many parts of this book disappointed me and the book was a drag to get through.

Are you ready for your next sci-fi read? Look no farther.

Let me start by saying I’m typically not a sci-fi reader, however Gearbreakers was an amazing introduction into the genre. Sapphic cyperpunk was honestly exactly the book vibes I didn’t know I needed. First I loved that both girls were able to explore their sexuality without it having to be they were coming out. They just were and it was perfect. I also adored the found family aspect of this story.

The first 30% of the book I will say is a slower start, but after that it really picks up and I was flipping through the pages on my kindle that I read 70% of the book in a day.

Fans of enemies to lovers will love the banter and the opposites attract mentality this books displays. Our main characters find themselves on opposite sides of a war, but sides can be deceiving.

I was on the edge of my seat for a majority of the book needing to know what happened next. And the ending??? Let’s just say I need book to ASAP!!!

I picked up the Gearbreakers by Zoe Hana Mikuta because I was sold on the intriguing premise of a cyberpunk adventure, queer romance, and that gorgeous cover. Overall, I liked the book however, it could have been better.

Mikuta’s writing is beautiful, and the world-building is incredibly solid. She executes the science fiction lingo perfectly. Her visually descriptive writing conjured awe-inspiring images of gargantuan machines (called mechas) serving the oppressive regime of Godolia and crushing the rebels.

It’s action-packed. Barely a page goes by without a (jocular) fight breaking out among the rebel crews or a showdown between a mecha and a group of rebels.

Moreover, Gearbreakers is perfect for young adult readers. There is so much angst in almost all the characters. Why wouldn’t there be? Everyone in the Badlands has lost someone to Godolia’s cruelty. The rebels wear their anger on their sleeves.

This suits its target audience, unfortunately, I found it overbearing. I would have liked the book better if Mikuta had dialed down the angsty tone a bit. Further, the book is intricately detailed. Her descriptions of the gadgets and the mechas were a joy to read. However, sometimes too many details bogged down the story.

Between the two protagonists, I liked Sona more than Eris because the author describes her emotions better than Eris’s. The book is touted as a queer romance. The romance between Sona and Eris is not traditionally romantic, but there is a tender connection between them.

To sum up, Zoe Hana Mikuta is an author to look out for. Her Gearbreakers will win many a hearts.

Many thanks to the publisher for my free copy of the book. This does not affect my opinion on the book.

Gearbreakers was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, so I am a bit disappointed. That said, overall, the vibes were excellent, as was the diversity, though the plot felt underdeveloped.

The language in the first 20-30% is definitely flowery. I tend to like flowery imagery so I wasn’t too bothered by this, though there were lines here and there that felt convoluted. What bothered me more was the handling of the world’s context. There was a page or two that was very heavy with information, but I still feel like I gleaned “Godolia bad, Badlands good” and not much else. Don’t get me wrong, the premise is still compelling—there’s something so cinematic about intelligent, reckless teenagers bringing down God-like mechas—but there’s ample room for development in this world, and I do think it will shine through better in a sequel.

The heart of this novel lies in the relationship between Eris and Sona, two queer Asian girls on opposing sides of a multigenerational war. Gearbreakers actually reminded me of The Poppy War in the way that Mikuta depicts teenagers struggling to find family and love in the midst of a senseless, overwhelming war. The characters—even the more bloodthirsty ones—are all likable, though I admit to having trouble distinguishing some of the side characters. Throughout the novel, I physically felt the characters’ rage as well as the fierceness with which they protect one another. Gearbreakers promised the found family trope, and it delivered.

The plot, in comparison, felt flimsy. The recklessness suited the characters, but I guess I expected more precision by the end. There was a lot of rising action, but the actual climax confused me, and I think the big reveal and the subsequent falling action passed by too quickly. It left me unsatisfied, though I suppose that was intentional considering that there is a sequel planned.

Come for the vibes, stay for the characters, and hopefully, return in the sequel for stronger worldbuilding and pacing.

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review!

There's a lot of great things about this book -- the concept of mecha fights and rebels bold enough to climb inside them and shut them down was really cool. I liked both of the main characters, Sona and Eris, and there's a lovely found family aspect to this book as well. This is also a great choice if you're looking for a sci-fi sapphic read! Reading this overall was a really enjoyable experience.

However, there were a few things that kept me from giving this a higher rating, and I want to give my honest opinion. Sometimes I got a bit disoriented by the writing, not understanding exactly what was happening or feeling like I missed something that I guess I was supposed to assume happened. The sequential movement of time could have been a little easier to follow. It also took me a long time to get through the first part of this book, but once I did I read it pretty quickly and was very curious to know what would happen.

And the ending ... let's just say I would really like book 2 in my hands right now but I guess that'll be over a year from now, sadly. If you like betrayal and suspense and a good cliffhanger, Gearbreakers will supply you with all of that.

Gearbreaks is a nice antidote to many YA books in that our heroines are much more nuanced than simple 'good person fighting bad guys.' The author does not shy away from the young women killing masses and messily nor being casual in sex. In this way, the dystopian genre gets a nice reboot. At the same time, it does feel very much like a debut effort with some clunky writing and flow issues affecting the reading experience. But I think most will find this an exuberant and action-packed read with some truly kick-butt heroines.

Sona is a mecha pilot - the elite of the elite protecting Godolia interests. She has gone through cyborg-like surgery, body parts replaced with machinery, in order to pilot the god-like mechas. Rebel Eris scrabbles for existence in the outlands. Her mission is simple: destroy the mechas and kill the pilots or die trying. But Sona has a secret - she is from the outlandes originally and saw her family destroyed by Godolia. Now, all she wants is revenge. She's going to find it with Eris - if she can survive the rebels first.

Right from the start, when one of our main characters casually gets out of bed after a night of meaningless sex, you know you are going to be in a harder-hitting YA novel than most. Combine that with the merciless nature in which both heroines slaughter individuals and this hits the right notes for a more grounded and truer dystopian society than most.

Sona is a more broken character, having lost everything early in her life and now enduring more than living. Her mission is to destroy Godolia from within - she just doesn't know how she is going to accomplish that yet. Eris, on the other hand, is all spark and fire; she knows she will die young and have to watch her teammates/friends die one by one. She is a product of the tyranny of Godolia and the environment. When both meet, one personality is cold efficiency and one is fiery ambition. Yet ironically ice wields fire and fire wields ice as weapons.

The worldbuilding is established enough but told in rather simplistic terms. Sona's mecha pilot teammates are your prototypical 'imperialistic' soldiers, assured of their power and righteousness. The rebels are rag tag and lacking organization; a fatalistic and loosely held together group. Eris' group in particular is a 'bad bunch' rejected by other teams and fiercely loyal to her. Both groups were well established and had a variety of personalities; and yet, those personalities felt somewhat shallow and cliche. more prototypes than people.

There is a subplot of a jealous teammate of Eris' that was tedious and one note. And at times, I had to reread several times to understand what was happening in both action and downtime scenes. The book ends on a clear cliffhanger but does complete an arc of sorts in that things come back around to the starting point neatly. The romance is nicely understated (it never overshadows the dangerous situation they are in) and does evolve organically. As well, this is a character driven piece with a nice mix of action sequences.

In all, an enjoyable read with a lot of twists, action, anarchy, and with two very strong heroines. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

I may have had too high an expectation for 'Gearbreakers', to the point where I’m left feeling disappointed after reading. Despite this, there are a lot of things that I enjoyed in this book, especially the found family.

'Gearbreakers' is told through a dual POV and the main characters are two young girls named Eris and Sona.

Eris is a Gearbreaker and one of the youngest captains. She leads their crews on missions to take down Godolia’s mechas. She’s intelligent, tough, and incredibly brave. One would describe her crew as the rejects, but she fights to give them a family with a place to call home. Eris fights with her heart on her sleeve and I admired her character so much.

Sona is a newly enhanced Windup Pilot and a product of Godolia. The government has taken her apart and replaced her with parts that no longer make her physically human. She’s fierce, strong, and underneath her hard exterior, she’s a kindhearted person who just wants to be seen.

These two characters may seem like they are polar opposites, and in some ways they are. Despite being a weapon for Godolia, Sona shares the same goal as Eris, though. They both want nothing more than to see Godolia torn to shreds. This is how the two eventually end up on the same team instead of fighting one another after their paths cross.

I really enjoyed both Eris and Sona. In fact, I loved all of the characters in 'Gearbreakers'. There were a lot of them to keep track of, especially in the beginning when names were just being thrown around. Once the story hit the middle mark their individual personalities began to stand out on their own, though. I was able to enjoy them all more and they were the saving grace of this book.

The plot held a lot of promises, especially after reading the blurb, but overall it was very confusing. I had a hard time following along because of the writing. The pacing was off and I was left with more questions than anything else. Zoe Hana Mikuta had a great vision for this story and the writing held promise. There were vivid descriptions and well-thought-out plans, but unfortunately at times it felt like there was too much telling rather than showing. Usually, I find it hard to connect with books with this writing style and that may be why I didn’t enjoy my reading experience as much as others.

When Eris and Sona begin working together the plot feels a lot smoother. The world is more fleshed out at this point and it was easier to follow along with. There were still moments where I was left confused, though. It just made me want more from this book than what I got.

Overall, 'Gearbreakers' fell short for me. There are a lot of fun aspects to this story, especially for readers who love sci-fi and mecha stories. The characters are fantastic and the splash of romance we see from two Asian female characters is lovable when it’s so rare to see in YA. But the plot is extremely confusing at times and probably needed to give readers fewer descriptions.

If you’re a fan of sci-fi then I would still recommend checking out 'Gearbreakers' to give it a try! This may just be a case of this book wasn’t for me but others will love it.

Thank you to Feiwel & Friends and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Trigger warnings: blood, body horror, child death, death, death of a parent, emotional abuse, gore, grief, gun violence, kidnapping, medical content, murder, pyshical abuse, torture, violence, and vomit.

I’m not much of a sci-fi reader, but even still, Gearbreakers found its way onto my anticipated reads of 2021 list. After all, how could I not be interested, after hearing “Two girls on opposite sides of a war discover they're fighting for a common purpose--and falling for each other”?

Admittedly, I’m still not entirely sure how I stand with Gearbreakers — I’d picked up and put back down Gearbreakers maybe four or five times until I finally got into it. I never really made it past the first ten pages each time, until one night when I turned off my electronics, and told myself that I’d be finishing this book that evening no matter what. I’d read a couple reviews prior to starting Gearbreakers that said it picked up around 25% in, and I’m inclined to agree. I’m unsure if the slow start to Gearbreakers is typical for sci-fi stories, or if it’s just the book itself.
I’ll start with what I liked about Gearbreakers — I enjoyed the yearning, and the soft moments between Sona and Eris, the found family, and for the most part, most of the characters. Eris and Sona — as well as the rest of the Gearbreakers — were messy and flawed, and I loved how chaotic and feral they could be. I loved Jenny’s protective nature, and her fierce loyalty. What I enjoyed most of all, was the anger, grief, rage, and hope that the Gearbreakers were allowed to feel. The way Gearbreakers explores identity is one of my favorite things about it. It’s character-driven, and quite fast paced too — once I got past the initial 20% that I kept getting stuck on!

I also really appreciated that it’s told from a dual perspective; being able to read from both Sona and Eris’ different points-of-view really highlighted their differences and experiences. I found them to have very distinct voices, with Sona being a little more emotionally detached, and Eris being a lot more warm. Unfortunately, I found that at times I struggled to keep track of what was going on, and I’m not sure if that was due to structure, or if I was simply reading too fast.

While I’m struggling to distinctly identify aspects that stood out to me, I did tab a lot of quotes, and enjoyed the way Zoe writes. I think overall, Gearbreakers is a book that’s based on vibes and the aesthetic, and I admire it for that. On the other hand, I didn’t love the worldbuilding as much, and was left confused a couple times. I’m not sure that I still understand how Godolia works. I also wonder if the majority of this book is really to set us up for the sequel, and I suspect that I’d like it a lot more if I read both Gearbreakers and its sequel in one sitting.

All that being said, while I was a little disappointed by the execution of this story, I’ll probably be thinking about the ending forever — and will definitely be checking out the sequel!

Zoe Hana Mikuta said she likes to write about angry kids. In this debut novel, she does it to perfection.

"Gearbreakers" is a non-stop, intense ride through giant mecha fights and explorations of PTSD and complex grief. Set in a Mad Max-esque, fight-for-survival Badlands ruled over by mega-tech city Godolia, "Gearbreakers" also explores morality and the meaning of revolution.

To make a long story short, this is one of the best rebellion stories I've ever read. You see kids so fervent on their mission they're tipping the scale to fanatical, and using tactics of mass destruction that make them question their morality. Which is something I absolutely loved about this book. Often, there's only one big antagonist; but this is an entire way of life that they're bent on eradicating. And Mikuta makes you wonder if they made the right decision.

I literally cannot say how much I loved Sona and Eris. Two angry girls who are bent on taking down the system that oppressed them, killed their friends and family. Also, the found family trope in this book is explicitly queer and so well-executed.

More than the setting and the themes it explores, "Gearbreakers" is just pure fun. As a fan of giant robots and angry girls who are allowed to be angry, this book was right up my alley. I loved that technology had become similar to gods; that layer was so incredibly poetic and the quotes that came from it are honestly tattoo-worthy.

I actually have no complaints about this book, except that I'll have to wait for the next one.

This book depicts a very interesting dystopian sci-fi world, where the line between the haves and the have-nots is immense. You will be rooting for Eris and her crew the whole time! The battle scenes are very detailed and really entertaining. I will say that I was a bit disappointed there was much less of a relationship between Eris and Sona than I was led to believe. The book is being label as having queer romance, but it doesn’t. Basically towards the end of the book they realize and acknowledge that they have feelings for each other, and that’s it. Nothing happens. My assumption is that it’s being set up for more relationship details in the second book coming out next year. Oh, and I wish that the name of the country was different. Godolia looks way too much like gondola, and that’s how my brain kept reading it. But I was definitely entertained while reading this book and would certainly recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for this advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

As always thank you to NetGalley, Zoe Hana Mikuta, and Feiwel Freinds for an advanced copy of this read!

Godolia is merciful, or so they say. Neither Sona or Eris have found it so. As the sole survival of a town destroying even, Sona joined the ranks of the Mechs, aiming for the highest of all giant robots, the Valkyrie. She aims to take down Godolia from the inside. The Gearbreakers do just what their name implies, break down the gears that run these mech-deities. Eris is particularly good at bringing down the giants until she's captured. Sona decides in a split moment that Eris is the key to bringing down Godolia. Will they escape the tyranny of one ruler for another? Or will their vengeance ever be complete?

I loved the concept of this book. Ladies either in giant robots or taking down giant robots in an attempt at rebelling against the system that has done them both dirty, vengeance and sci-fi in spades, as well as a very slow enemies to lovers. I did enjoy this book, but I've got pros and cons.

Pros: LGBTQ representation, giant robots, intensity from the get go, enemies to lovers, so much sass, reasonably well written side characters, found family, interesting plot twists.

Cons: The intensity never stops, there's a weird attraction moment that felt toxic, and the second half just felt... like it was suffering from a little too much filler. We needed x, y, and z to happen but there's going to be a second book. My biggest issue was that even before I knew there was going to be a second book I could feel in the writing. The way plot was left open, the way so many things weren't resolved.

Overall, an enjoyable read but suffers a smidge from filler and sheer intensity.

Read if you like: LGBTQ rep, giant robots, rebellions, and enemies to lovers and kind of back again.

Thank you NetGalley and Feiwel Friends for a digital ARC of Gearbreakers!

CW: violence, torture, death

I have YET AGAIN fallen into the trap of reading an arc of an expected series. But honestly, I don’t care because I enjoyed this book so much. The worldbuilding at the beginning did leave something to be desired, especially in such a complex dystopian/sci-fi society. However, the first chapter had me hooked and the dual POVs allowed the story to pick up quickly. I ended up finishing the book in two sittings.

Sona and Eris are two girls on opposite sides of the war: one a cybernetically enhanced Windup pilot within Godolia, the other a Gearbreaker rebel specializing in taking down said Windups. Naturally, we see some of the hate to love and forced proximity tropes. However, Sona is the biggest reason to stick around because she is such a compelling (and witty) character. Granted, the unhinged side characters and their chaotic found family certainly don’t hurt either.

After THAT ending, I am definitely looking forward to how the next book will play out.

Cyberpunk sapphics. I repeat, cyberpunk sapphics. This is everything I ever wanted rendered in a YA novel. What a phenomenal read.

Gearbreakers was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021 and it definitely did not disappoint! The writing was stunning, and the world immediately drew me in. I loved all the characters and can’t wait for the sequel!

I came for the giant robot dystopia and stayed for the found family. This book checked off a lot of material I love: sci-fi/dystopia, sapphic, found family, stressful ending, interesting world. So, if you’re looking for a sapphic, dystopian robot story with a funny and loveable found family that has an ending leaving you stressed but wanting more, this is the one. Can’t wait to get the physical copy in my hands.

4.5

Okay, let's preface this by saying I typically don't read much sci-fi, but this just drew me in from the description immediately! And it did not disappoint!

Sapphic, found family, violence, Pacific Rim-esque action, this has it all!

The beginning had some pacing issues for me personally, but once it picked up, it picked up fast! I really enjoyed seeing the different POVs and the descriptions and dialogue were top-notch.

Highly recommend! Thank you to NetGalley and MacMillan for the eARC!

What if Transformers or Pacific Rim was told from the point of a view of angry girls on opposite sides of a war? Unexpected, queer, and propulsive with amazing found family vibes, Gearbreakers is set in a post-apocalyptic world where two girls who find something worth fighting for in each other.

Oh, did this fill my Pacific Rim/Transformer heart so well. I loved the world and the characters and felt that this was such an interesting take on story that's well known!

5/5 Stars

I had extremely high expectations coming into this, and I was not let down. The writing truly displays sci-fi and the found family trope at its finest and I was left in awe once I finished reading. Zoe Hana Mikuta has created a stunning debut that is an emotional, captivating, and incredibly fun read. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to survive without the second book in my life, but I can’t wait to see what Mikuta has in store!