☆☆☆,5 /5
(english review below)

J'ai bien apprécié ma lecture qui se retrouve être un mélange intéressant entre le post-apocalyptique et la science-fiction, bien qu'il y ait des moins qui ont entaché ma lecture.
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Honteuse à jamais pour les actions et erreurs commises par sa famille un siècle plus tôt, Antiquity Grey est une jeune femme vivant dans une ville lointaine d'Erth. Elle mène une vie de danger et de difficultés, de dragons et de technologie de pointe. Mais lorsqu'elle découvre un robot hors-la-loi et opérationnel enterré dans les sables de sa planète, elle se rend compte que ses secrets détiennent le pouvoir de renverser le déshonneur de sa famille tout en défiant la puissance oppressive de l'Imperium hors du monde.
Quant à lui, L'Imperium n'est pas si disposé à desserrer son emprise, ayant besoin des précieuses ressources en titane d'Erth à un moment où la guerre se propage parmi les étoiles. En réponse, le gouverneur d'Erth envoie Star Sentinel, son robot le plus puissant, contre lequel rien ne peut résister après Antiquity. Alors qu'elle s'enfuit dans le désert dans une tentative désespérée de découvrir les secrets de son passé et de libérer une planète entière, Antiquity apprend que l'amitié peut signifier plus que la famille, que même le cœur le plus dur d'un ennemi peut s'adoucir, et que l'aventure ne sera pas comme elle aurait pu se l'imaginer.
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Dès la première page, je dois dire que l'auteur a su me happer dans son univers. On se retrouve dans un futur où la Terre a été colonisée par ce qu'on appelle l'Imperium. Les deux mondes se battent pour les ressources que contient la planète bleue. J'ai apprécié ce point de départ plutôt intéressant, qui, je trouve, fait écho à notre actualité concernant les conflits et les colonisations existants dans plusieurs pays afin d'exploiter les différentes ressources de la Terre.
En ajoutant à cet environnement hostil un peu de science-fiction, de technologie, l'auteur a créé un bon cocktail dont les ingrédients piquaient mon palais, comme ce récit dans sa forme m'intriguait énormément.
Aussi, j'ai bien aimé le fait que ce soit les ancêtres de la protagoniste qui ait provoqué cette guerre et qu'aujourd'hui, Antiquity allait devoir tout faire pour sauver son monde, malgré la honte et le déshonneur. On a un peu les connotations de vengeance, de valeur. Parce qu'Antiquity n'est pas sa famille. Elle n'est pas juste le résultat des faits de ses aînés. Elle est une personne à part entière qui doit prouver sa valeur au monde et restaurer son propre honneur qui a été malheureusement dévoré par la chute de celui de sa famille.
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Néanmoins, pas mal de choses ont fait que j'ai fini par ne plus être aussi concentrée durant ma lecture, à la fin par rapport au début.
J'ai trouvé la protagoniste trop... immature. Je pense que c'est le bon mot. Je n'ai rien contre les personnages immatures au début des romans car c'est leur évolution qui se retrouve être intéressante dans l'histoire... Mais pour autant, ici, Antiquity n'a pas changé pour moi. Plus j'avançais dans ma lecture, plus j'avais l'impression qu'elle ne changeait pas, qu'elle restait immature et impulsive, bien que le récit avançait vers une certaine réalisation.
Puis, c'est l'écriture qui m'a aussi déconcentré. Durant ma lecture et à la fin, je suis restée avec trop de questions sans réponses. Lorsque je lisais des descriptions, j'avais de la difficulté à bien visualiser les scènes et les dialogues me paraissaient trop creux. Je pense n'avoir pas assez accroché à la manière dont était narré l'histoire.
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En bref, c'est un roman qui a un bon potentiel, avec un point de départ, un environnement intéressant, malgré le manque de développement dans le texte et la protagoniste à laquelle je ne me suis pas attachée.

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ENGLISH REVIEW:

I enjoyed my reading which happens to be an interesting mix between post-apocalyptic and science fiction, although there were negative points for me.
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Forever shamed for family actions a century earlier, Antiquity Grey is a young woman living in a far-future city of Erth. It is a life of danger and hardship, dragons and advanced technology.
But when she discovers an outlawed and operational mech buried in the sands of her planet, she realizes its secrets hold the power to reverse her family’s dishonor while challenging the Imperium’s off-world oppressive might. The Imperium is not so willing to loosen its grip, needing Erth’s valuable titanium resources at a time when war spreads among the stars. In response, the Governor of Erth sends Star Sentinel―his mightiest mech, which nothing can stand against―after Antiquity.
As she flees into the wilderness in a desperate attempt to uncover the secrets of her past and free an entire planet, Antiquity learns friendship can mean more than family, even the hardest heart of an enemy can soften, and adventure is not what she thought it would be.
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From the first page, I must say that the author was able to snatch me into his universe. We find ourselves in a future where the Earth has been colonized by what is called the Imperium. The two worlds are fighting for the resources that the blue planet contains. I appreciated this rather interesting starting point, which, I find, echoes our news concerning the conflicts and the existing colonizations in several countries in order to exploit the various resources of the Earth.
By adding to this hostile environment a bit of science fiction, of technology, the author created a good cocktail whose ingredients stung my palate, as this story in its form intrigued me enormously.
Also, I liked the fact that it was the ancestors of the protagonist who caused this war and that today, Antiquity would have to do everything to save her world, despite the shame and dishonor. We have a little connotations of revenge, of value. Because Antiquity isn't her family. She's not just the result of the facts of her elders. She's a whole person who must prove her worth to the world and restore her own honor which has been sadly eaten up by the fall of her family.
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However, a lot of things made me end up not being so focused during my reading, at the end of the book.
I found the protagonist too... immature. I think that's the right word. I have nothing against the immature characters at the beginning of stories because it's their evolution that I found to be interesting... But for all that, Antiquity has not changed for me. The further I read in my reading, the more I felt that she didn't change, that she's still immature and impulsive, even if the story progressed towards a certain realization.
Then, it's the writing which also distracted me. During my reading and at the end, I was left with too many unanswered questions. When I read descriptions, I had difficulties visualizing the scenes well and the dialogue seemed too hollow to me. I don't think I clung enough to the way the story was told.
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In short, it's a book that has good potential, with a starting point, an interesting environment, despite the lack of development in the text and the protagonist to whose I didn't attach myself.

I picked this book because of its great title, The Tempered Steel of Antiquity Grey, and the wonderful cover. It’s the debut of its author, Shawn Speakman, and it starts a series of the same name.

In far future, the earth is nothing but a colony of the Imperium, people who have left the earth millennia ago and have become almost a different species called celestials. A century ago, a war between Erth, as its now called, and Imperium over natural resources ended with Erth losing.

The person held responsible for it is the great-grandmother of Antiquity Grey, a sixteen-year-old girl whose family have been ostracised as a consequence. One day, she stumbles on a truth about what took place during the war, and ends up bringing the wrath of Imperium on her and her three friends with whom she has to flee. Bent on revenge, she travels after clues left by her great-grandmother to find resources that would defeat the Imperium once and for all.

I wish I could say I enjoyed this book as much as I hoped I would, but I have several issues. First up, I think it was written by a mansplainer. Nothing else explains why characters regularly put words to other characters’ mouths, explaining their lives for them, persisting in this even after being told they’re wrong (along the lines of “In your culture women aren’t allowed to carry a sword.” “You know nothing about my culture.”). The dialogue in general was odd. Maybe it was meant to sound old-fashioned, but it came across as stilted.

I’m not sure either, why the author thought a teenager was a good protagonist for this story. Especially one who is wilful, annoying, and stupid, and remains so. She definitely doesn’t have the tempered steel the title promises. Manor (? I can’t remember his name) came across as even worse, considering that at eighteen he was deemed old enough to become a member of the leading council (all men, naturally, now that the pesky rule of women had been obliterated), yet he behaved like a child. The proposed marriage between the two was creepy and a full-on patriarchal assault, no matter the reasons given for it later.

The rest of the characters weren’t any better, but mostly they remained sketches, existing to serve the needs of the main character. It doesn’t give me much hope that the future of the Erth is in their hands. We’re spared of the YA staple of a romance, at least, though the seeds are there.

The plot read like an RPG, a quest from place to place to find clues. Not that the reader knew that that was the objective until at the climax when Antiquity suddenly puts together random facts she has noticed during her journey. There’s a lot of action, but it doesn’t really lead anywhere. However, unlike so often in YA, characters die too. I wish I could say that I cared, but it’s difficult to care for someone you know nothing about.

My biggest issue, however, is the handling of the other. First up, why does a far future earth still have cultures treated as the other, with the white ‘western’ culture as the norm? And why does a far future world that is so different from ours have a warmongering, zealous, religious sect called arabi? The author couldn’t come up with any other word for them? Persai as their more acceptable (inoffensive) counterpart wasn’t any better word when they only served as a way to emphasise how horrible the arabi were with their swords and beheadings, and when their otherness to the main character’s ‘normal’ (white) culture was constantly brought up.

That one of the characters was arabi didn’t help. The opposite. Like white colonists of the past, the main characters kept repeatedly judging her and her people to her face, refusing to accept her word about her culture. Moreover, these characters were constantly referred to as arabi and persai (in italics), as if that was the only thing that defined them; all the more pronounced because Antiquity and Manor(?), the white characters, were called by their names.

All in all, a disappointment. I didn’t care about the characters or the plot, the mechs weren’t as exciting as I’d hoped, and the promised dragons were a huge let-down. I don’t really see how Antiquity would be the person to lead the Erth to rebel against the Imperium. I don’t care to find out either.

I thought this book had an interesting premise, combining both sci fi & fantasy elements. The mech that Antiquity discovers is a giant war robot, controlled from the inside by a human. She is sent on a quest by family (I won’t say more on that due to spoilers). She’s joined on the quest by her best friends, guardian robot, and her sworn enemy. This is one of the areas that lost me; her complete willingness to work with him was really odd. In addition to this the pacing was rather slow, and there’s a lot of very cryptic passages & memories & family secrets that get frustrating — just tell us already! An interesting side story was the Arabi peoples, a thinly veiled reference to the two main sects of Islam followers.

DNF @ 50%. After a strong start, this book just rapidly lost me. There is some interesting world-building here, with a dystopian far-future Earth, giant mechs, dragons (supposedly - we don't see much of them, at least not in the half I read) and precarious politics. The plot hits the ground running and I was initially quite intrigued by the elements the book introduced: a coming-of-age story set in an eyrie-like city in the mountains, a desert full of buried tech, robot sidekicks, enemies-to-allies (to friends to lovers later, I assume), epic adventures with mech suits, friendships, a Star Wars-ian conflict with an almighty Empire.

However, it just didn't come together for me, and I felt that the plot lost steam quite quickly. The protagonist seemed very immature for her age; I initially pictured her as about 12 and was genuinely startled when it's revealed she's meant to be 16. She has very poor impulse control, does not ever stop to think anything through, and was petulant a lot in a way that made her read much younger. The other characters were also lacking nuance, so far they're mostly there as sidekicks.

It didn't help that the writing was rather clunky, with odd pacing and stilted dialogue. Some of the simplistic cultural representation also rubbed me the wrong way (the persai are all peace-loving and wonderful and the arabi are all religious extremists? Really? All of them?).

Basically, not quite my cuppa. However, I suspect I would have enjoyed it quite a lot as a kid.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book wasn't for me, unfortunately. I really loved the concept, and was attracted by some of the praise by some well-known authors, but I couldn't fully get into the story. This is possibly down to the way exposition is done, which felt a little heavy-handed but I really appreciated the setting, and the history was interesting. I also enjoyed Chekker and the way the robot had a personality of its own, as well as the way certain tropes of the genre were subverted. I think this story will grab a lot of people, but I wasn't one of them.

Antiquity Grey bears the name grey, a label given to disgraced families in the land of Solomon Fray on Erth. In the desert, one day, she finds a long-buried Mech that will toss her into a battle to free her world—woven into a story that draws you in from the moment the Mech is uncovered and keeps you turning pages as Antiquity battles to fight for a better world. A world currently controlled by Dreadths who have ruled and done everything in their power to drag her family through the mud.

With Antiquity discovery, she unlocks a power she has never known before and will use it to unite those who want freedom from the Imperium and dreadths of the world. Enemies will need to set aside differences to unearth the rot that has invested Solomon Frey. New allies will emerge, and from the dust will arise a stronger nongrey version of Antiquity. Antiquity asks those who survived one question "Will you fight and be free beside me?"

This book starts out with a bang—I was invested from the very first page. Basically, the image on the amazing cover is what is described in the beginning of the book, so I could already put names and faces to the descriptions. Unfortunately, my interest waned as the story progressed, and I ended up not loving this book as much as I expected and hoped to.

One day, Antiquity Grey discovers the remains of a giant mech buried in the sand, what she believes is the last of its kind. She wants to unearth it and take it home in an attempt to recover her family’s reputation, but she is thwarted by Manson Dreadth, the son of the enemy family, who tries to claim the mech for himself. What ensues is a battle between enemies who may have to make an uneasy alliance to fight a grander off-world enemy trying to destroy the mech altogether.

When I discovered that this book features both futuristic technology AND dragons, I was so excited!! Two of my favorite things. This is a coming-of-age story with lots of adventure and big bot battles. Despite the descriptions, however, there were hardly any dragons in this book, which disappointed me. There were mentions of dragons, and they talk about going to the Dragonell Mountains a lot, but none actually made an appearance until over 70% into the story, and even then they were barely present.

This book features my least favorite trope, which is the coming-back-to-life trope. This book is kind of different because here there’s a hologram of a dead person, but it has that person’s memories and can communicate as if they were alive. So that kind of bugged me, and the fact that this holo-dead person is who gives Antiquity the quest that she spends the book working toward. And then of course the fate of the whole world rests on whether she can accomplish this quest or not. I don’t like when books (or movies) have the protagonist in charge of saving the whole world or the whole galaxy, etc. because that’s too unrealistic to ever be believable. I like when books have smaller stakes, but that’s just a personal preference for me.

Another issue I had was that Antiquity and her crew spend almost the whole book going on this adventure, and then in the span of a single page, they go back home. That’s just poor writing, in my opinion, and it kind of made the whole adventure feel pointless.

The dialogue between characters felt stilted and contrived to me, like people wouldn’t really talk like that, and the characters themselves were two-dimensional and needed more depth. I attribute those shortcomings to bad writing as well. I admit that I didn’t love the overall writing style in this book, and I think that was my biggest problem. I liked the story and the setting, but I don’t think it was put together well.

The pacing is kind of odd in this book. It feels slow-paced during each scene because the dialogue is slow, but then the book will jump between scenes quickly. Like all of a sudden the characters were in a new place and barely any time was spent getting from A to B, but then they will spend forever in that place, talking. It was kind of jarring and not super enjoyable for me.

I would have liked more explanation surrounding the technology, the government structure, the original purpose of the mechs, and the politics surrounding the Imperium and the Celestials and Erth. The setting itself was really neat, but there was not enough world-building done to really make any aspects of the story come to life for me.

From about the 50% mark to the end, I struggled to maintain focus on the story. I just wanted to be done. This book had so many components that I love in fantasy/sci-fi stories: a dystopian setting, futuristic technology, dragons, giant mechs, a mysterious quest, a female protagonist, enemies to friends trope, and so much more. But I didn’t entirely care for how it was executed. There wasn’t enough substance here, and the writing style wasn’t my favorite. If anyone knows of a book with similar elements but with in-depth descriptions and more sophisticated writing, let me know!

I don’t know if I’ll be continuing on with this series or not. This first book wrapped up nicely and I don’t feel super inclined to continue the story. If I can find audiobooks for future installments I might give it a go, but I can’t see myself reading more books with my eyes, based on how I struggled so much to get through the second half of the book. I do, however, think The Tempered Steel of Antiquity Grey would make a great tv show, and I would love to watch it if that ever happens.

This is a great YA story. Antiquity Grey hates that her family is "Grey Shamed". She is not even allowed to say her real last name in public. Until, one day, she finds a Mech buried in the sand near her home. She realizes that this is her great grandmother's Mech.and decides to bring it home.

When this decision leads to her grandmother being murdered, she takes the Mech and sets off with her best friends and a boy she considers to be her enemy on a journey to clear her family's name.

The mix of fantasy and sci fi is well done and I enjoyed the world building. I recommend this to YA and not so YA.

"The Tempered Steel of Antiquity Grey" is a pretty fantastic YA sci-fi/fantasy mix that I thoroughly enjoyed. It has a great plot (which hooks you from the first page), fascinating characters (who never grow dull), and is written very well. The world in this book is perfectly crafted, with plenty of atmosphere. Can't wait for the second book!

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

Family secrets sometimes surprise even those who are involved in them. Because of secrets revealed to her, a young teen receives pressure to succeed and the drive to save her whole town in The Tempered Steel of Antiquity Grey by Shawn Speakman. The heroine finds a gigantic robot buried in the sand near her home, which causes her grandmother to tell her the story of her destiny. What follows is a pilgrimage to find answers which may save her threatened village. Antiquity enlists her best friends and also picks up some odd balls along the way. This group comes together to learn the skills needed in the exotic lands that they visit. Be aware that there is a glossary in the back of the book that can aid in grasping the science fiction and fantasy terms specific to this novel. I appreciated the pace of this story, seldom slowing down for descriptions of the world in which the group was traveling. Consequently, the characters had little grieving or discussion of how they were handling all the changes in their lives which was somewhat unrealistic to me. However, I believe there is plenty of room for sequels and plenty of folks in the characters’ family trees for a prequel. Think of it as a cross between Arabian Nights and Transformers, but with a lot more female characters. I enjoyed this book and look forward to others in the world, and am thankful for an ecopy from NetGalley which I received for an honest review.

dnf at 32%

I don't like to DNF, and wish I could say that I stopped reading because the author wrote for a younger audience, but I've read amazing YA sci-fi and fantasy books so that's just not the case here. I think in this particular circumstance, we are thrown into the action of this book, but not given much character development or a decently paced plot to really care about what's going on. I felt like I was reading the same thing over and over again and getting nowhere. The writing was stiff, and there were also a few themes I wasn't fond of from the beginning.

I find it hard when there are character deaths (usually in YA it's family members of young people/teens) that are only written in to serve the plot and do nothing to affect the characters. If one of my close relatives died, I'd at least have some kind of reaction and grieving to go through even if I've got to save myself and go on an epic journey to save the family name.

For me the writing execution I like is the difference between telling me "they appeared to live hard lives. They didn't like us," and showing me something like, "Stoney eyes watched from behind bins filled to the brim with filth. Backs bent from years working in the sun, the people here were wary of us." It's showing vs telling and I sometimes I can put up with it, sometimes I can't. With this book I couldn't.

Overall this may be a better option for people looking for a simple, younger-read, YA sci-fi that doesn't require much thinking and is something you can just experience. For me, I need the story to be a little more immersive, especially if it's sci-fi/ fantasy.

xx
-Christine

I received this ebook for free to review.


The premise of this story was interesting. A conquered earth, titanium mechs and a deposed ruling family seem like the start to a great book. It did have those things going for it but I struggled to connect to the characters. Nothing about them felt particularly likable or hated. They did not elicit strong emotions though they clearly were meant to. Some of the dialogue was choppy to me.

I felt like we didn’t get enough of the history of this planet or the oppression of the people to really be able to get behind the main characters cause. I could never really feel the high stakes.

I will say that i never expected to cringe at the detailed destruction of a mech the way i would cringe at a particularly terrible death of a character. Also what a killer title!

This book is part sci fi, part dystopian with a futuristic " Erth " as its setting. Antiquity comes from a long reviled family who are forbidden from using their rightful name and are instead considered Grey shamed. Her ancestor apparently disappeared during a war with the Celestrials and now Erth has been conquered. When Antiquity finds a lost Mech she unknowingly sets in motion a journey of many challenges but also one of great loss !
Ok I've read the reviews for this and there are several glowing endorsements from highly respected authors but for me personally this certainly whilst good was not perfect. I enjoyed the beginning with Antiquity thinking for herself but thought there were far too many characters sending her hither and yon whilst admitting to her that they were withholding secrets ! I found this meant I viewed Antiquity as weak and easily led at times by a very annoying supporting cast.
The ensemble cast includes a nasty bully suddenly turned ally , a mystic whose abilities were not really explained, two persecuted girls and perhaps most fun to read about a small mechanical bot that resembled a football ! Oh and of course the giant Mech that the cover hints at although it wasn't sentient so is it really a character ?
I've seen comparisons to Pacific Rim , Godzilla and even Star Wars but to my mind this downtrodden society felt more like Mad Max with lawless scavengers and every man seemingly for himself. What was a hugely welcome surprise was the fact that somehow oddly the author managed to include Dragons ! This is sci fi so obviously I suspend belief to a point but there's certainly a lot thrown in here and you won't guess what type of entity Antiquity decides to save as the ends nears !
Bottom line is I did enjoy this in spite of being frustrated by Antiquity being sent on a journey without being told exactly what she was looking for. I adored that she took a strong stance at the end and think anyone looking for a new YA read with a difference should certainly give this new to me author a go.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

Not sure where the Red Rising comparison came in? Tech, Space, Castes? Without the comparison is a good YA dystopian sci-fi with mech, a solid cast of characters, and hope for overcoming.

This was ok. I had really high expectations based on the great reviews from other authors I like, but this was kind of a miss for me. It's really all over the place, being set in a dystopian future with off-planet humans and sophisticated technology, but also sword fighting, magic, dragons, and golems. I would have preferred it as a truer science fiction story, all the magic, mythical beasts, etc. made it feel like anything was possible and removed tension from all the conflict. The characters felt flat and uninteresting. We are asked to believe in the great friendships she has or forms with the other characters in the story with very little to support it, and are just told how much she likes various people. Nobody has anything particularly interesting or profound to say, in spite of several deeply religious/spiritual characters. It's not a terrible story, just too surface level for my tastes, or perhaps targeted at a pretty young reader.

What a fun new sci-fi story, I’m so glad I read this and can’t wait to continue with the series. A new coming of age book with important messages and Star Wars influence 😍 3.75⭐️

What a pretty cover!

What about the story?

What a pretty cover!!!

No, seriously. What about the story?

I abandoned it after reading 25%. There's only so much stupid and clunky writing I can tolerate, even from YA.
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A collection of aggravating excerpts:

“Do you think they would have killed me?”Antiquity asked. The old woman squinted. “Maybe. The Dreadth family has always delighted in violence against others. And that Manson  .  .  . he likes it more than most his age.”
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Vestige darkened. “You are naive and foolish, Antiquity. I have seen what happens to those who challenge the Dreadths,”the old woman hissed, growing angry. “The men, gone. Buried in the mines. Women too. I have lives to keep safe beyond your own. If you do this, I will have to denounce you as a heretic, in public before the Elders. You often do the opposite of what I tell you. It will be the only way to keep the few of us left alive. There will come a time when your discovery will matter. For all of us. That time is not now. Not yet.”
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“Trust me. I am old and have seen much. I have a plan to deal with the Dreadths. Always.”
“What plan?”
“In time, you will come to know it and see as I do,” Vestige said. “In time.”
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New anger flooded through Antiquity. Vestige Angelus had used her sixteen-year-old granddaughter’s life to barter. For societal standing. Used her. One word echoed inside her. Betrayed. “The families of Dreadth and Angelus shall be wedded through the union of my son Manson and Antiquity,” Jackson Dreadth said.
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Thanks to Netgalley for providing this ARC.

I loved the first few chapters of this book however at about 20% in it started to stagnate and I really struggled to stay invested.

The story follows Antiquity who lives on a struggling planet and whose family line has been shamed and ostracised in her community. She comes upon an old Mech in the desert and everything starts to heat up from there. I thought I was going to love Antiquity as a character but I didn't, she just felt hollow most of the time and none of the characters really resonated at all.

The world-building was fantastic and I wish we had got to see more of the lore of Erth. It is action-packed but at the same time didn't feel it, the pacing didn't work for me.

This wasn't awful but it wasn't great either and I probably won't continue following the series.

Thanks to Netgalley for an ARC of this in exchange for an honest review.

Antiquity gray has grown up without a last name her whole life. Then one day she finds a forbidden mech while scavenging in the dessert near her home. This begins a mission that will take her on a journey of self discovery as well as the freedom of her past but also of that of her future. I loved the story it was well written with some original concepts as well as great storytelling with real characters and the writer made everything easy to read and understand. I can't wait for the next book in the series. I would highly recommend it.

Wow! This book was ethereal, so vivid and engaging. Definitely would recommend!! The characters and story were well written and skilfully crafted